Rheinpark parkrun, Cologne, for Germany Unity Day 2025

A bit of background- parkrun countries can hold an additional parkrunday (as well as NYD) if they so wish. Each country has a set one (all the Nordic countries have Ascension Day, UK has Christmas Day), and for Germany they have Unity Day, which is always on 3rd October. This year that happened to fall on a Friday, so it was perfect for a weekend to Germany to visit two different parkruns.

Branka and Holly had booked their transport and hotel a while back- I had an invite but was not sure where I would be with regards to working, so didn’t book it until quite late on. They had chosen Cologne as it was easy to get to via train and had two central parkruns, and I was happy to head there, having previously been there for a Christmas market weekend. When I looked at booking (hooray for the Eurostar sale) the hotels for the Friday night were very expensive, and this turned out to be because the Cologne marathon was happening that weekend. This resulted in my only staying in Cologne on the Thursday night, and getting the train elsewhere for a different parkrun on Saturday- more on that next time!

So, Thursday was travel day- a train into London, a Eurostar to Brussels and then a train to Cologne. It was all very relaxed as I had lots of time between trains, getting into Cologne around 8pm. Holly and Branka had arrived much earlier and came to meet me at the station as my hotel was very close to theirs, and we sorted our plans for the morning.

We met around 8:15 am (read Branka’s blog for their early awakening) and started to head to the bridge to get to parkrun. As they were going to both in Cologne, they let me choose which one I’d do on the Friday, and I opted for Rheinpark as it was the closest (I had an 11am checkout to make) and just looked pretty by the water with stunning views of the huge cathedral. Anyway, it turns out although it was 1km away, we must remember that is as the crow flies, and so our actual walk there was 1.4 miles- a little further! We joined the huge queue of tourists getting their photos by the pop up, which had a lovely bespoke metal sign for you to hold, as well as some little German flags.

I enjoyed spotting all the German signs and labels on the volunteer vests (“Helfer” is a particular favourite) and just seeing big groups of happy tourists together.

We had a wonderfully welcoming briefing (the RD jokingly asked if there were any locals), and the team shuffled everyone over to one side for a photo- it’s on their facebook page but everyone is tiny as there were around 300 people in the photo (participants plus volunteers).

The course is one lap- a round loop of the park that you start in, and then what looks like an out and back but is really just a thin loop going to the end of a park that juts out into the river. Coming back we had stunning views across the river to the city- it certainly was memorable. It is totally flat so would be potentially a very fast course too. I ran with Holly and we as usual had a lovely chat. It was great to spot all the tourist tops and buffs and hear everyone saying “danke” to the marshals.

The finish area was decorated with strings of German flags and also bunting made up from old volunteer tabards (Wonky Bear style). Once finished I saw that they had moved the pop up and someone had donated a massive German flag- I decided to risk it and join the queue- just as we got to the front, Branka appeared so it was perfect timing for us to have a photo with the city as a backdrop. I then dashed back to the hotel on my own.

I was very excited to get the results email through- I love getting the emails in different languages- and with that I had been to my 140th parkrun location and my 420th parkrun in total, my second one in Germany.

Clockwise from the top left- Exploring Cologne- posing by the sign, cinnamood buns (white chocolate macadamia nut and spiced apple), gorgeous stained glass window in the Dom, delicious tofu salad from the vegan restaurant.

After a speedy shower and tea in the room, I checked out and left my case at the hotel, and then the three of us met in the lobby of my hotel to have a fab day in Cologne. Branka had arranged for the two of us to give Holly a German notch as it was her first parkrun in Germany. Holly then gave us each a Unity Day notch (with the map of Germany on it), and Branka also handed over my little Lego figure- they had gone to the Lego store on Thursday (as it was closed on the Friday) and made little custom mini figures to commemorate our trip.

At first our meal plans were slightly scuppered by us missing the brunch window at a lovely looking restaurant, and then we walked to a different one only to find it closed, but on the third try we found a wonderful vegan restaurant where we had lunch, before more exploring. We went into the cathedral (and I made it part way up the spire- somehow I managed the spiral staircase but when I saw the metal stairs that you can see through I knew I had reached my limit), bought some amazing buns from Cinnamood and spent ages chatting about parkrun plans (and of course life in general).

I’ve been thinking about why I loved the atmosphere so much, and I have come to the conclusion that I agree with the sentiment of their special day if that makes sense. Not being religious I did not really know about Ascension Day, and it seemed to be more like a UK Bank Holiday- something from the past which now just means most people have a day off work. Unity Day felt different. It was 35 years ago this year, so I have vague memories of seeing the Berlin Wall fall (probably on Newsround), but as a fan of Europe and of countries working together, it meant I could get behind the reason the day is celebrated far more than I could with a more historical day. Something about the atmosphere really spoke to me and I am so glad that I was there to join in with the celebrating. Yes, the weekend was a fun way to visit two new parkruns, but it’s always more than that, and this weekend showed me that again.

Lego figure (I am holding a cup of tea!) and new notch for my keyring

Back to the Friday- I hadn’t booked my next train as I could buy a ticket on the day for a commuter train rather than a high speed booked one, so around 6pm I left Holly and Branka in Cologne while I headed on the train to Aachen (just under an hour away on a regular train- I think the super speedy ICE trains were more like 30 mins).

And the parkrun adventure will continue in another post…

Local parkruns to keep the tourist streak going!

A few weeks ago I was looking at the 5K app (the purple one, that incidentally is going to be the official parkrun app from December), and noticed that I was on my highest ever tourist streak (the number of different parkrun locations attended in a row). It’s not a challenge I have actively chased before, but previously my highest streak was 12 runs, so I was surprised to be on 18 without really focusing on it. With some tourism to Peckham Rye already in the diary (a few weeks ago) and more tourism coming up at the start of October, I decided to try to keep the streak going. This meant that for the final two weekends of September I could not repeat an event that was already in that tourist streak.

The streak started back in April when I went to North Walsham while we had a weekend in Norfolk, and then includes some local events (I will put these in bold) and some tourist trips:

North Walsham, Victoria Dock, Hackney Marshes, Pymmes, Ben’s Yard, Tokoinranta, Haga, Jersey Farm, Panshanger, Beckton, Letchworth, Preston Park, Jubilee, Egham Orbit, Clermont Waterfront, Harrow Lodge, Cassiobury, Irchester Country, Peckham Rye.

Often I’d easily repeat either Panshanger or Jersey Farm in between tourist trips, but for various reasons I’d not. A few of the trips were spur of the moment- sometimes I joined in with some OH ladies (Pymmes/ Cassiobury/ Irchester), some of them were planned trips for Cowell celebrations (Preston Park and Egham Orbit), some were while on holiday (Finland/ Sweden/ USA), but somehow I just had managed not to repeat any in all these months.

I also try to run with Dad when he is around, but happily he was keen to repeat venues rather than go to new ones as he is close to his Cowell (100 different parkrun locations) but doesn’t want to end up doing that while he is away. So last weekend we went to Oaklands College parkrun- it’s around a 1.2 mile run from where my parents live, so I drove there and then we ran up and back for a parkrun sandwich. I’d only been there to take part 3 times before (and once to marshal), despite it being so close, so it was very enjoyable to revisit. The ground is still quite rutted so for some of it we had to run single file rather than next to each other, so the chatting was harder, but it was enjoyable as always.

This Saturday I opted for St Albans parkrun. This was where parkrun started for me, and my brother decided to come along with us too which was fab. The weather was amazing- beautiful blue skies, calm air, perfect running weather. The last time I was there was April 2024, but the course was the same- out through the park along flat paths, into an old golf course where you do 2 undulating laps, and then back onto the flat path to go back to the start/finish area. The car park there charges from 9:30am onwards (and you could not just buy an hour, you had to get a minimum of 3 hours), so Dad was very tempted to not get a ticket, but I am glad I still got one as the run didn’t start bang on 9, and there was a bit of a queue in the funnel as we finished in the busiest section, so when I looked at my watch it was already 9:36 before we scanned. It meant we could take photos by the pop up and hang around the finish area for a bit- we ended up chatting to a few other runners and of course taking a few photos for other people too.

So, two more parkrun mornings complete, and two more venues added to the tourist streak! I don’t think I will be able to continue it all the way through October, as it is Panshanger’s birthday at some point and I do like to go to that. I have a few local events that are not in the streak yet, including Stevenage and Westmill, but there are 4 weekends to fill between that and my next parkrun tourist trip so I don’t think I can stretch it out.

Next up- some tourism involving some train travel- I am very excited about this! All will be revealed soon!

Do you use the 5K app? Are you excited that it will be an official parkrun app soon? What changes would you like to see?

Peckham Rye parkrun- learning about the Southwark Slam!

Excitingly, after setting up our joint instagram account with Branka and Holly (threepeasinaparkrun) this weekend the three of us reunited at a parkrun for our tourism!

We headed to Peckham Rye parkrun, all getting the trains down to Blackfriars and meeting there, and then getting another train a few stops down to Peckham Rye station. It’s then a 1.25 mile walk from the station, so it’s not the closest, but the walk was simple as the main road led to the park so thankfully no directional errors from us.

The weather was so changeable- it was bright sunshine at Blackfriars and I was saying to Holly and Branka that I was regretting not wearing my sunglasses- however when we arrived at the parkrun start it rained quite hard and we sheltered under a large tree. Thankfully the rain eased off and we got out pre parkrun pop up picture, and hung our bags in the tree of trust (some people had propped their bags against the base of the trunk but after witnessing a dog mark it’s territory at the base of another tree I decided that off the ground would be better).

If you hang around the pop up you often end up chatting to other tourists, and this day was no exception. Aqasa Nu (who has a blog- Nu Horizons) approached us to chat all things tourism and told us about the Southwark Slam- he then revealed that under his jacket he was wearing a t-shirt for it which dated back to 2015! My understanding is that the Southwark Slam means taking part in all 4 parkruns in the Southwark borough in September- beginning with Southwark, then Peckham Rye, Dulwich and then finishing with Burgess. After taking part in Peckham Rye this weekend I have now completed all of those events, but not in order and not all in the same month! It sounds like a fun thing to take part in though, especially if you were nearby.

After a really clear first timers welcome, we lined up and were off! It’s a three lap course on tarmac paths, and although “a hill” had been mentioned, the park looks fairly flat. However, we realised once we set off that it is quite undulating so it is definitely harder than it looks- nothing terrible but I really thought it looked flat and it definitely isn’t! It’s a really scenic park though- we started off on wide paths that reminded me a bit of Clapham Common, before heading off into more twisty paths between various play parks and gardens, including a beautiful Japanese garden. It never ceases to amaze me that London is full of so many huge pockets of green space- we really are so lucky.

I ran with Holly and we had a lovely chat as always- I actually checked my watch after the third lap to be sure we’d done the 5k and didn’t need to do another lap as they felt so short- time flies when you are having fun!

At the end, Aqasa’s partner, Shveta, chatted to us as well- we got some recommendations for Finnish parkruns as well as some chat about the German unity day (extra parkrun day). Aqasa was so enthusiastic when he heard my home parkrun was Panshanger as he had loved his visit there, seeing the long horned cattle (check out his blog if you are interested- there is lots of other info on there too). We were chatting for so long that the team closed down the event around us- by 10am there was no sign of parkrun and it was just the few of us left! We walked back to the station, and by this time it was sunny again.

We had decided to head into the centre of London to get some breakfast (possibly around Borough market area), however when we got off the train at Blackfriars we could see people marching and carrying flags as far as the eye could see and I realised with some dread that it was a right wing march. I’d actually seen some warning posts about it on social media the night before but hadn’t thought that many people would come. The exit to the station was totally rammed and even though we tried to exit away from where we thought the flag people were going we ended up surrounded by these people. It was not nice to put it mildly. After battling through the crush of people we got to the embankment and I knew there was a Caffe Nero close by so we went in there for hot drinks and breakfast- sadly no vegan raspberry croissant so I had an apple crumble slice thing as that was the only option aside from cheesecake- and it seemed more breakfast-like! It was fab to spend time planning future touring adventures, but I did not enjoy the battle to get back to the train as the flag people were multiplying.

We did walk past a hatch selling Crosstown doughnuts so we each bought a couple to share with our partners back home- happily for me all but one of the flavours were vegan so I had a lot more choice than with breakfast!

Onto the stats- that was my 417th parkrun and 139th location.

The 5K app let me know that I had achieved another tick on the date bingo challenge, and of course Peckham Rye counts towards Lon-done, with that being my 35th of 65 of the current London events- I know there will always be more getting added.

There’s a nice gap in the map now (Brockwell) so that’s got to be on the list to fill in, although we are coming up to the season where touring is less appealing. It wasn’t dark when I left home on Saturday morning (to get a train before 7am) but soon it will be, plus you have the added “fun” of the bad weather forcing last minute cancellations.

Up next- a few weekends of local parkruns and then some touring plans with the three peas!

Do you like the sound of the slam? I think challenges like this are such fun, and what a great way to bring local running communities together.

Some repeats but keeping a tourist streak!

For the last couple of Saturdays, I’ve repeated events rather than visited new ones.

Cassiobury parkrun

First up was my 4th time going to Cassiobury, with a few club mates. Cassiobury is in a huge park in Watford, and it’s fast and flat. I think when St Albans switched to a more cross country route, people who preferred the flatter paths headed over there instead, as they regularly get big numbers. The week we were there, they ended up with their highest attendance of 783!

They had a pacer event going on, and later on that day there was a Pride celebration in the park, so some people were running in rainbow outfits, carrying flags etc.

I didn’t think I’d be near by pb here, so decided to run on feel and enjoy it, which turned out to be a good decision as it was quite busy at the start and took a while to thin out enough for me to feel like I could settle into my own speed. The route starts on grass and heads onto tarmac paths, where you do nearly 3 laps. As it narrows to the path quickly, you do get a bit of a bottleneck but after about half a lap it was OK.

(Inspired by Branka I have used Canva to make some collages rather than the regular ones!)

I really enjoyed it- for a large event they manage to retain a friendly and welcoming feel, and there were lots of walkers out completing the course too. Now, this did’t bother me, but despite them operating a double funnel, when I came to finish I had to queue to get into the finish funnel- probably for around 40 seconds which doesn’t sound like much, but if you are following a pacer to get a certain time and you make it, but then have to wait for that time, it would be frustrating. The team were doing as much as possible to move people into the funnels (and move people on within them) but the sheer volume of people meant it had backed up over the line and was just getting busier and busier. A few people around me were making quite snide comments at the volunteers which was disappointing to hear- I made sure I thanked them and moved up as much as possible once our side of the funnel got going.

It was my 415th parkrun, and I got token 416! So close! I did get token 200 on my 200th so maybe I’ve used that coincidence already!

Irchester Country parkrun

The following week I went to Irchester Country parkrun for a second time. The first time I went with Dad, and it was the final week of parkrun before they paused for covid, so it had a weird feel, with people wondering how close they should be to each other. I completed my UK parkrun alphabet (as there is no Z in the UK), and I remember really enjoying the route, so when a few club mates said they were heading there, I decided to join them. We arrived super early, having slightly overestimated the drive time, so we were in the car park before even the car park marshals turned up! There are a few car parks there- the higher one (that we parked in) is right by the road, but if you keep driving in, you will drive down a short hill and be directed to park by the start/finish area. We walked and it was not far- less than half a mile- but it would have been handy to leave bags in the car.

The start and finish are in a slightly different place too- the course is a lollypop shape- basically out past the finish, run a loop, then run back, but the run back is a little shorter as you pass the finish on the way. They had some large bags to leave belongings in, that would be carried to the finish area, so we left our bags in there, but if I went again I’d use the lower car park and leave my bag in the boot instead.

They also have a lovely culture of walking, and this week were advertising that someone was going to walk the course and tell the people with her about the park too. The park as a whole is really interesting as it used to be a quarry and there is a museum about the railway that ran through it too. There were 287 participants were there that day- a bit different to the previous week! It doesn’t feel busy- you had to keep to one side (left I think?) as on the out and back section the front runners were heading back while the majority were still heading out, but the paths are super wide as you can see in the photos, so it wasn’t an issue.

When I finished, I spotted Mary, who used to write a blog about her running, and particularly her ultra running experiences. She’s on instagram (@ahealthiermoo)- I had messaged the day before with a few questions- and we had chatted last time I went but with the approaching pandemic had not chatted for long! It was lovely to catch up and chat about parkruns, ultras (well, two of the people from my club who came along are quite into ultras so that was more them than me)- and to hear about how they don’t even use the parkwalker vests at Irchester because they have so many walkers already.

After chatting for a bit, I went to join the rest of the OH crew- they were at the cafe already and had got a picnic table in the shade. The cafe was more of a hatch serving food and drinks, and I was impressed that they did a vegan sausage roll, pasty and some sort of chocolate slice thing. Of course the main thing was that they did oat milk for tea! (I had breakfast before I left and had packed a cereal bar to enjoy with my tea). We spent a while sitting in the shade of the trees before it was time to start the drive back home again.

I was so glad that I’d been encouraged to go back though – I love a one lap course and this one through the woods is just so gorgeous. A bit like Panshanger but much flatter! When I was leaving home before 7am I did briefly wonder why I was going, but it was great fun to be there and of course we had lots of chats in the car too.

I’m now up to 416 parkruns, so if I do around 40 parkruns a year I am pretty close to a 2 year countdown to the 500 club! It sounds close but it really isn’t. Up next will be some more tourism. I noticed in the 5K app that my tourist streak is now at 18 (this is the number of events in a row you have been to without repeating)- this goes back to my North Walsham visit back in April. I think the highest I’ve noticed before was 12, and I didn’t really think I’d get higher than that, but you can repeat events, just not repeat events within the streak if that makes sense. So maybe I will see if I can keep that going a bit longer as I’ve got some definite tourism plans this weekend and at the start of October which will be good to incorporate into the streak.

Harrow Lodge parkrun (not in Harrow)

This past weekend had been earmarked as a tourist trip with Branka, and Dad was also keen to come along, and so after looking at a few of our nearest (it’s all relative) options, we decided to head to Harrow Lodge parkrun, in Hornchurch. Confusingly, there is actually a Harrow parkrun, in Harrow, which I have been to with the OH ladies, so if you are going there make sure you check the correct course page! A fellow With Me Now listener and parkrun friend Rory is on the core team there, so it was good to know that we could meet up with him too.

We had a bit of a staged transport operation as my brother had also decided to come, with Branka driving to me and then me driving from there, my Dad picking up my brother and driving to Cheshunt, and then we picked them up and travelled most of the way together. There was lots of car parking available at the leisure centre (and toilets), and Rory very helpfully sent a little video showing which direction to walk once parked (aim towards the tall buildings). It’s a bit more than half a mile through the park, and although the route goes past that car park, we didn’t see any parkrun route signs as we walked, so we were relieved to see some high viz jackets as we got closer to the bottom of the park.

Pop up photos taken after- in the background you can see a small car park but that was full and the official course page asks you to use the leisure centre. We had to get a photo of the two of us for our new “three peas in a parkrun” insta page that we have created for Branka, Holly and I.

As we got there, they had just started the first timers welcome, but as it was one lap (hooray!) it was really a case of following the person in front for us (the first two finishers were first timers here though). We were reminded that there were lots of dogs in the park, but according to the volunteer, they were all friendly and we could stroke a dog on our way around if we wished (which seemed a little bit of a strange comment) and then we were on to the main briefing. It was concise and clear, and then the timers counted us off.

The run was really enjoyable with so much variety to run past- a few football pitches and that sort of thing, but also wilder scrubland, small wooded areas and some lovely shady patches. I really liked their direction signs, which seemed to be permanent, and showed the direction you had to go by the way the arrow curved. We saw a few of the marshals a couple of times(as you pass the same part but in a different direction) and it was all really friendly. I always love a one lap course, and it seemed to fly by, with my dad saying to me things like “we must have gone 1km by now” and then me checking my watch and seeing that we were nearly half way! As it was a bit twisty you could not look at the same view for very long, which I think added to the variety and enjoyment.

A few photos from the run and the briefing

It wasn’t flat, but it was not hilly either- a few slopes and undulations here and there. Most of the course was on grass (or just dusty paths after all the dry weather) with a few short sections of tarmac, so I was fine in road shoes but after any sort of rain I would think trail shoes would be needed. I could imagine that it would be very muddy in the winter!

Check out the parkrun signs!

Once finished we scanned, took pop up photos and chatted to Rory for a bit.

Rory-Branka-Me-My brother, and then Rory-Branka-Me for the With Me Now crew!

We looked in the cafe but there wasn’t anything vegan that I could see- I didn’t mind if other people had food (as I could just buy a drink) but the queue was quite long and didn’t move while we tried to decide, so in the end we headed back to the car. The journey back home wasn’t too bad either, maybe five minutes longer than the way, and with the M25 that was very impressive as so often it feels like the journey to parkrun is OK and then the journey home takes ages.

So that was parkrun 414 for me, and location 138. Another one towards Lon-done too.

Before and after!

The voronoi map was very satisfying too- compared to some of the London ones it was a nice big chunk- we noticed that there are 3 stacked above each other- Ingrebourne Hill below, and Raphael above, so both of those will be added to the list as they should be fairly easy journeys.

Up next? No concrete plans- my dad is now on 95 different locations so his cowell will be at some point in the autumn, and of course I will do some more touring, but nothing is in my calendar at the moment.