Over The Contours

It was a typical Cumbrian morning; wet and breezy. I was staying near Sedburgh for a friend's stag-do-that-wasn't-a-stag-do; basically a collective of geeks, nerds and outdoor enthusiasts in a converted barn in the middle of nowhere. I reckon more board games were brought than alcohol. Anyway, never one to miss an opportunity I escaped early and made the seventy mile round-trip to Fell Foot park, Newby Bridge. This is a parkrun that I've wanted to do for ages. We travel to the Lakes four or five times a year and I'd never managed to get it to work logistically; until now. I parked in the National Trust car park (free for members, obviously) and decided to brave the rain and go for a warm up. A couple of hardy volunteers were already out and about placing cones and putting up signage. The park is beautiful, even in the greyest of conditions. I had a vague idea of where the course would run and followed this as part of my warm up. I followed the shore of Windermere...

I suppose I am now a fully-fledged parkrun tourist as this morning I completed my first parkrun outside of the UK and somehow managed to finish first! We're staying at my sister's house in northern France and the nearest parkrun is Parkrun de Rouen. Rouen is a lovely city on the River Seine and the parkrun takes place on the southern stretch of the river. A 70-mile drive meant an early start through the beautiful rolling French countryside. It was only when I entered Rouen itself that I realised it's a far bigger city than I realised; the city centre rises up the hillsides away from the river with multiple bridges criss-crossing over the Seine. I was aiming for Quai (dock) 106; a former dockyard area that's been gentrified and is now a very smart and welcoming area. The start of the parkrun is relatively easy to find, even with the roadworks currently in place. There's a large free carpark right next to the start. So, on a warm June morning, around thirty pe...

At some point last week, my wife, sister-in-law and her husband decided that we would all drive up to Northampton to see my father-in-law; knowing me too well, my wife pointed out that I wouldn't make the trip unless I got to do a parkrun on the way (I sound like right git reading that back...). Anyway, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to bag a new parkrun. I opened up the parkrun map and looked for one close to the M25, but not so far from home that we'd have to leave at a stupidly early time...that's when I noticed Gunpowder. With a name like that, I'd already made my mind up. Now, as you may know from my previous post, I'm a stressy sort and as I wasn't driving I wasn't in complete control of the time we'd arrive. We left Kent a little late and the sat nav listed our ETA at 8.59 - not good. If we were to hit any traffic on the way it would be a disaster. Anyway, remarkably, Dave managed to shave over ten minutes off the ETA (legally,...

Some things are found by chance; the inaugural Dartford Heath parkrun was one of them. Friday, I was eating my lunch and killing time between meetings by exploring the parkrun map. By pure chance I inadvertently zoomed into the west Kent area and noticed two parkrun icons in the Dartford region. Strange. I knew about the existing Dartford parkrun, but I wasn't aware of anything else nearby. I quickly discovered this was the Dartford Heath parkrun and that this was due to have its inaugural event the very next day. I know there's something of an unwritten rule that tourists (and pseudo-tourists like me) should avoid inaugural events in order to not overload the volunteer team and cause unnecessary work, however, the serendipity of finding this event and the fact that it would start the very next day, well....surely it was a sign! I decided I'd break the unwritten rule and make the 55 minute journey to Dartford... I was in the same county at least. The course is on the h...

This is a parkrun that's nearby, but not so nearby you could just nip up the road to do it. Nonetheless, I'm keen to finish all of the parkruns in Kent and I'd heard really good things about the Royal Tunbridge Wells one, so decided to make the 100 mile round trip on this lovely bank holiday weekend. I set out nice and early in the morning sunshine which was probably for the best as I was soon passed by a precession of Police cars along the M2. I only realised they were heading in the same direction as I was when I reached the A249 and was confronted with a huge queue of traffic. In the distance I could see smoke billowing around three or four miles up the road. I was extremely lucky; had I have been perhaps two or three metres up the tarmac, I would have missed the one and only opportunity to do a u-turn...a tiny access ramp between the carriageways. Anyway, a u-turn is just what I did and I quickly re-routed via Blue Bell Hill. So, at around 8.30am I pulled into Dunor...

Finally my hometown has a Parkrun ! Despite now living over 200 miles away, I'd spotted some mutterings on Facebook and in other places about a Northwich Parkrun. It's had a junior Parkrun for some time now, so I thought it was only a matter of time before it would get its own proper one. I managed to work it so that Abigail and I could be staying at my mum and dad's place en route to the Lake District; in doing so, I was able to get to the inaugural event. The course is based in Carey Park, just to the north of the town centre. There is ample free car parking nearby, although I took advantage of its proximity to my parents' place by running there. After a friendly welcome from Amy the Run Director and some warm applause for everyone that made the event happen and we were off. The first mile is a loop around the gravel track circling the large cow field; midway through the loop there's an energy-sapping hill/switchback to watch out for. After mile 1, you then ...

The 3rd March 2018; the day the earth stood still. Well, not quite, but most of the UK did as a blanket of ice and snow - "the Beast from the East" - covered the country. Parkrun took a huge hit this weekend; somewhere close to 410 cancellations. I'd been keeping a close eye on forecasts for much of the week as Abigail and I were travelling to Brighton for a gig on the Saturday evening. Over the duration of the week, forecasts shifted constantly and it became increasingly apparent that travel would be tricky. By the Thursday a number of parkruns had already been cancelled as a precaution; in fact, my local runs at Pegwell Bay, Canterbury, Whitstable and Margate had already cancelled by this point. Fortunately, the parkruns in the vicinity of Brighton and Eastbourne all looked to be going ahead. By Friday the list of cancellations had continued to increase and the weather forecast was increasingly dire. A snow-day email from work gave me the opportunity to reassess thi...

This is one I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Lancaster was my second-home in 2005/2006 when Abigail was doing her Masters up there and I quickly warmed to the city. What I didn’t realise was that the Lancaster Parkrun takes place in Williamson Park around the impressive Ashton Memorial. I only discovered this a few days before whilst working out how to get from our hotel to the Parkrun. Anyway, on a chilly and rainy October morning, I finally made it to the Lancaster Parkrun. During my warm-up run I knew I was in for a tough one as the start (next to the butterfly house) is a good 100m-150m higher than the lower parts of Williamson Park. After a very friendly run briefing and a ‘cosy’ start line gathering I was off; within seconds I was descending down the the wide tarmac paths that spiral around the Ashton Memorial. The paths are wide enough to find some space and to get into a comfortable position.  The sharp descent at the start is a little unnerving though, especially o...