After a flurry
of e-mails around whether to walk last Saturday, it turned out to be pouring rain as
predicted, and so our walk was moved to Sunday.
At 8:00 Sunday, therefore, a group of gathered at the restaurant as
usual, quickly joined by Phyllis, who had walked 10k from home. There were 13 of us
in total, wearing bright rain jackets and other colours. It was lovely to see
so much colour after the drab weather of the previous day. Various TPW members chose different distances
for the day.
I first walked with Carol
who turned back near Ontario Place .
I continued on and encountered Phyllis, Bev, Ela and Mary, a fastwalking newbie, who were also
returning to the restaurant. I continued on again and eventually caught up with
Laurel, Sue B. and Diane. Since the 4 of us are training for Kitchener in two weeks, we decided go “go the
distance” of 18k. We continued past the washrooms, past the Porter Air
terminal, and did a little loop through a
park which I have never seen before.(Music Garden?)
As we returned
to High
Park we
realized we did not have quite enough mileage on the Garmin, and so instead of
going straight up the hill after crossing the Queensway, we turned right,
walking parallel with the Queensway, before turning back in. We then found
ourselves walking north, parallel with Parkside Drive until we reached the zoo.
Perhaps because it was feeding time, or perhaps because of the coolness of the
day, or perhaps because the area was full of families and life, the animals
were lively and frolicking. We were thrilled to find ourselves entertained by 3
young Capybara (the largest rodent in the world!) frolicking in the water. They were appearing, disappearing and re-appearing on
the surface, and catching rides on their mother. They kept jumping on her and
sliding off again. Suddenly one of them leaped unexpectedly out of the water to
the delight of a young girl standing beside us, who applauded the effort. All
this young life made me feel happy and energetic.
After a bit,
we quickly turned toward the restaurant, where we gratefully saw Carol holding
seats for us.
Thanks to all for a lovely morning!