I've Lost That Homing Instinct

I seem to be making a habit of straying off route - it must be my age!

I was terribly hung over on Sunday following a friends birthday party. I think I was actually there longer on Sunday morning than on Saturday night, and definitely saw more of Sunday morning before going to bed than after getting up. Suffice it to say that I was in no fit state to run, so I put it off until this evening.

With the Humber Bridge half marathon this Sunday I'm having an easy week, so my planned LSR was the 5½ miles home from work, to be taken at a gentle jog. The gentle jog bit played out more or less OK, in as much as I averaged only just under eight minutes per mile, though I was held up quite a bit at road crossings. The 5½ miles, on the other hand, became almost 6½. I followed national cycle route 5 south from the city as far as Edgbaston Road where I was supposed to turn left and follow Salisbury Road toward Moseley and thence home. Unfortunately I'd slipped into auto-pilot and stopped at Edgbaston Road, pressed the crossing button, waited for traffic to stop, crossed the road, went into Cannon Hill park and ran past Fergal's Corner, the Garden Tea Room, the station (ooh, looks like the public loos might be open, wonder how long til they get vandalised again), the bandstand, the Golden Lion and was approaching Red Carriage Bridge before I realised I'd gone wrong!

I toyed with the idea of continuing south and leaving the park via Holders Lane and Reddings Road back to Moseley, but instead opted to complete the lap of the perimeter path (albeit on the 'wrong' side of the lake) and leave the park where I came in. That added almost a mile to my route.

I was asked about my GPS watch this afternoon, by someone who assumed it was a navigation aid. Perhaps that would be a good idea.