There I was a couple of weeks back fighting for the rights of Wellesley’s runners, little realizing I’d need to scale back to walking this week due to a leg injury.
While I prefer to run than walk, I won’t deny that slowing down does increase awareness of surroundings.
One route in town I generally avoid running is the rooty Guernsey Sanctuary Trail at the junction of Wellesley, Dover and Needham, and accessible via a parking lot on Winding River Road. But it’s great for a walk, as it meanders along the private Sabrina Lake, veers off onto Oak Island via footbridge, and includes a cool system of QR codes identifying the flora along the way.
Now too it features several sections of tree wafers, big slices of wood repurposed from recent blowdowns of white pines. Wellesley Conservation Land Trust volunteers sliced and diced the trees into walkable wafers.

As I note in this video, they reminded me of trundling across the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland that’s made from interlocking basalt columns. OK, maybe I have a vivid imagination, but it’s still kind of cool, and kept my shoes from getting muddy.
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