It's amazing what new things you see when you run a familiar route in reverse. On Sunday, as part of a longer training session, I ran the shorter of the Hart Road Runners Saturday Bridge Club run but I did it the wrong way round. Whenever, I have turned up for this run we always follow the tow path from the Barley Mow bridge to Sandy Hill bridge, returning to our start point via the small copse on the opposite side of the canal and Sprat's Hatch Lane. Because I am unfit, the long drag up Sprat's Hatch Lane leaves me breathless and in this heaving lungs state, my senses are dulled. Well, today I ran alone and I went off running easy down Sprat's Hatch Lane instead of puffing up it and almost immediately I began to see things that I had not really noticed before; in this case a series of standing stones. The first of these stones can be found in amongst some scrubby trees just past a ruined wooden shed and what looks like heaps of old garden detritus. The second of these stones can be found further down the lane squeezed between a small tree and a boundary fence and the third stone stands alone in a small field just past the thatched cottage that backs on to the canal. These standing stones carry no markings but they do appear to be equidistant from each other and that suggests to me that they have or have had a purpose. Being inquisitive, I would like to know what that purpose was. Anyone know? Oh yes, why don't you break away from the 'norm' sometimes and do a familiar run in reverse. I guarantee that you will see things differently. Always a useful skill to have in life, don't you think.
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