A fun day out: Basingstoke Canal Path

The start at Greywell

The original plan was to “race” Marlborough Downs Challenge on Sunday…

The revised plan was to run the entire length of the Basingstoke Canal Path mostly solo, but the early sections with huskies – before it got too hot for them.  The Canal Path route was chosen as it had a lot of trees offering shade for the huskies.

I decided not to race Marlborough Challenge as my mind was quite simply not in race mode and I didn’t just want to plod round on my own admiring the view.  I would much prefer to have a fun jog with the huskies and share some of it with Ian.

The good news was that I had already packed and prepared all my food and running gear in preparation for a race, the bad news was that the route descriptions were all for the Marlborough area and not for the route that I was about to run and Ian was going to try and follow via car!

Fortunately Ian is an expert on following running routes via car after practising with me on numerous occasions!  With the correct tools at his disposal to aid navigation… he dropped me off at the start of the Canal Path in Greywell, near Odiham with Kez and Kroi.

Brothers in perfect unison...

Knowing that the route is narrow and that it was likely to be very busy with walkers and their dogs I chose to put harnesses on the huskies.  As soon as they wear harnesses they go into “work mode” and will ignore most other dogs and distractions.  Kroi is still working on his “ignoring every dog” rule, but Kez helps me out on those rare occasions and either pushes or drags him past the offending dog.  It is the naughty dogs that Kroi has trouble with ignoring, the ones that try to bounce him or are rude to him.  If a dog is under control and well behaved, Kroi  will just gently trot past.

Kroi was initially a little bit too enthusiastic, but he soon dropped down a gear and sedately trotted beside Kez down the path around 8:30 minute mile pace.  Lines loose in front of me unless I asked them to speed up and then they instantly responded.

We jogged along admiring the view, they were fascinated by the ducks and geese floating on the canal and ran with their heads to one side watching them rather a lot – I do hope they don’t have stiff necks this morning.

Spike waiting to run his relay leg

I had opted to wear my Salomon XR Missions as my ideal road to trail trainer, which were almost perfect for this run apart from the fact that my ankle gets troublesome on very flat and hard surfaces.  The canal path is a mixture of gravel, tarmac and well-drained soil, with very little mud.  After two hours of constant running on a hard and flat surface my ankle started objecting and I longed for some more cushioning.  I love my Salomon shoes, but I will need to find an alternative road shoe with suitable cushioning to ease the pain in ankle and toes….

Running along the canal path I was very aware that I had no idea where I was in relation to towns, major roads etc.  I knew that I was in no danger of getting lost, but I couldn’t relate the route to any area that I was familiar with, especially as I don’t really know the area East of Basingstoke…

Not a problem, until you suddenly reach a large metal fence advising you that you can go no further along the canal path due to landslide.  Had I been on my own, I would have probably found a way to “negotiate” the barrier, however I had two dogs’ safety to consider.  Therefore I headed away from the canal path and into civilisation.  I had no idea where I was and called Ian knowing that he was waiting for me just a little further up the route.  He suggested using the navigation on my phone.  I saw a footpath to my right and decided that I would “use my sense of direction” to get back on the canal path beyond the closed section instead….

All was going very well, until the footpath signs indicated that I had to negotiate a non-dog friendly stile into a horse field.  No problem for Kez as he has had years of practice in leaping over stiles and instantly was over on the other side.  Meanwhile Kroi very politely stood there and waited for me to lift him over!

Running dog in the making...

Mission accomplished we headed off to the woods and a path that I hoped would take us back to the canal path.  It worked and I was soon back en-route and on the phone to Ian arranging to meet him, although he had to do some very complicated research to determine where I actually was and if I had in fact bypassed him during my detour….

I dropped off Kez and Kroi with Ian and continued a few miles with Krofti and Spike at a pace that can best be described as “leisurely”.  It was getting a little hot now and Kroft was in a bit of a strop and refused to be motivated in any way.  No matter how much I tried to persuade him, he just glared at me.  To be fair though we had spent all day out and about on Saturday and he does struggle with travelling and stressful situations.  Spike on the other hand was a bundle of joy.  He bounced around smiling at everyone and jumping at me and at Krofti.  He ran in great leaping bounds and tried to pick up sticks along the way….

I dropped Krofti off with Ian and headed back down the canal path with Spike on his own.  He happily left the others and trotted
off down the path with a big smile on his face.  We soon speeded up and he ran along behaving impeccably.  I was so impressed with his behaviour that I even shared my croissant with him.  Probably a bad idea as I think he thought that he could have croissant for breakfast this morning instead of doggy kibble!

The end is the middle of this bridge

All too soon and I handed little Spike back to Ian, with the intention that I ran the rest of the way on my own.

My intention was to jog along at 8:30-9:00 minute mile pace, enjoying the view and munching my picnic as I ran.  

The reality was that I ran most of the way to the end a lot faster and still enjoyed the view.  My legs and body went into “coasting” mode – an almost effortless speed where I feel I can run for hours and hours, talking and eating as I run.  I wear my Suunto Ambit watch every day, but I rarely switch on the GPS as I have no interest in knowing what speed I am running at, I merely want to enjoy the experience of running without the pressure of time or distance.  I did want to know exactly how far I ran this day, so had switched it on from the start and was fully aware of the speeds I was running at with each dog and also on my own.  This will surprise many, but I was faster running solo than with any of the huskies.  There was a lot of “down time” with the dogs, taking that into consideration, my pace when moving was 30-60 seconds faster without huskies….

A lock on the Wey Navigation canal 

I kept on thinking I will slow down and jog the remaining miles, but my body refused to slow down.  It was in comfortable running mode and was happy running at this faster pace.  I realised that perhaps my fitness is actually better than it has ever been and perhaps Kroi’s insistence that we run faster during our daily runs is actually having a very positive affect on my running ability!

This discovery has certainly given me a lot to think about…

I would strongly recommend this route to anyone, but advise caution as to when you do it.  Sunday was a lovely day and as such there were a lot of walkers and cyclists out and about.  Most are courteous, especially in the first 10 miles of the route.  However there are sections where out of control dogs and children roam, posting potential hazards.... Also look out for cyclists as some of them treat the route like it is a racing track!  Thankfully they are in the minority as most people I met were lovely and some even said hello :-)

(Photos mostly thanks to tzruns)