The Netherlands and DLP May 2022

For May half term we had a bonus day for the Jubilee (the Friday before), which meant plenty of time to train it around Europe.

First up were a few days in The Netherlands, visiting The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The main reason for The Hague was to complete my parkrun alphabet, but I am so glad we went there as it was just wonderful.

The Hague

The city centre had lots of pretty buildings, and loads of canals, lots of parks and green spaces and then by the coast a huge beach.  We did have a slight problem in that we popped into a shop (AH I think it was called- there were lots of them around) to get some water and snacks and found out they didn’t take credit cards- we hadn’t taken much cash as you just never need it.

The cities were all easily navigable by public transport- trains between cities and then walking of the tram to get around.

I really liked the cute little “tourist trams” in Rotterdam- they looked like the ones from San Francisco!

Rotterdam (plus a photo from parkrun – you can see my huge plait in the bottom left)

Rotterdam had a port to wander around, and a huge hall filled with food stalls and market stalls. I couldn’t resist the acai bowl. We found an awesome vegan pizza bar (even better than Purezza pizza we both decided) for dinner.

Amsterdam

We found a vegan pancake place (Mr Stacks) which was just so good. We got one savoury and one sweet to share, and that was a very good idea.

After a few days it was time to get the train over to Paris- we’d booked (you have to) and so got some lunch bits to take on the train as it was around 3-4 hours.

Then we had a few days in the parks! We do go on rides but also are happy to wander around and enjoy the atmosphere, but over the 3 days we managed to go on all the rides that we wanted to. I have to say that although I love Florida, DLP do the catchiest tunes. There were rainbow flowers to mark the start of Pride month.

DLP. That bottom left picture is from the pre fireworks show where they use drones to make various shapes in the sky. It’s pretty amazing.

DLP were celebrating their 30th anniversary so it’s a great time to go as there are extra events, extra shows, extra parades and also extra food items. The extra parade was pretty special, with cast members dancing down Main Street, characters following in floats, and then they all got up onto stages in front of the castle and danced (for ages!)- they even rotated around so you could end up being close to all the characters at one point.

Character meets were back! Last time you had to stand back and also still wear a mask, but this time that was all gone and I got to hug Stitch! The queue was quite long but it was entertaining as he’d interact with each guest in a different way, pretending to eat their pen or adjust their ears or run away.

Food highlights:

Top tip– don’t buy a tea in the park as they are small and super expensive. Go to the Starbucks in Disney Village for huge cups plus plant milk.

They did a special vegan panini for the 30th with vegan cheese and loads of veggies. There were food stalls in the studios, including a Vegan Kitchen- the poke bowl from there was tasty, but the star was the chocolate cake as they warm it up for you and it is so good- more like a brownie in a way.

Of course I was very excited that Dole Whips were on sale (historically in DLP they were not the same, they were horrible whippy ice cream with pineapple mixed in)- actual pineapple ones! Although the café was hidden from the path- we had a few people ask us where we had got them from.

We also tried the vegan fish and chips as Andy was quite intrigued. Neither of us like fish (obvs I don’t eat it but I never liked it when I was a child) but thankfully the filled didn’t taste fishy, just sort of like battered quorn.

Yes I have my Dole Whip t-shirt on. When in Rome…

I also bought  one of the mugs because I liked the design. It came with chocolate cake, but what they did was scoop some batter into the mug and microwave it. It wasn’t vegan so Andy ate it, but he wasn’t that impressed- it was very pale looking! The chocolate cake in the studios was much nicer according to him.

After a few days there it was time to get the train back to Paris to get the Eurostar home. What a wonderful few days.

Did you enjoy the Jubilee Bank holiday?

Zuiderpark parkrun- my parkrun alphabet is complete!

Ah, this has been such a long time in the making!

 

Fast forward over 2 years and I finally got to run there!

The Queen’s Jubilee meant that we had an extra day off work on the Friday before half term, and the day before was a training day, meaning we could book a Thursday night Eurostar and then have all day Friday to be in The Hague, minimising the chance of me getting lost. (And of course also sightsee).

The journey was good although there were very long queues at the Eurostar check  in- at least unlike flying you know they are not going to let you get stuck in security. The train went to Amsterdam but we had booked to Rotterdam, and then it was around a 20 min train journey to The Hague, all very easy (apart from the ticket machines being outside of the barriers of the station in Rotterdam). Our hotel was right by the station which helped.

I will do a separate post on the trip, but I absolutely loved The Hague and am so glad that I went. Without the pull of the parkrun alphabet, I would probably have never been there, but I am so glad I did because it was a wonderful city- so pretty with canals and parks, but also by the sea with a huge sandy beach. Honestly, even if you don’t care about parkruns or alphabets, have a look at it.

The huge copper building in the centre of the park is amazing! Plus makes it easy to find the start. I loved the Dutch signs.

Zuiderpark parkrun is a few km from the station, and there was a tram (9) that went straight there. After my disaster in Dublin it was just sensible to get the tram there. I couldn’t quite work out the times, but they were pretty regular (every 10/15 mins), with pay stations on board to get your ticket. I had only packed a t-shirt, no long sleeved tops, but it was pretty fresh at 8am and so I took my rain jacket with me for an extra layer, and standing by the station in the wind I was pretty glad of it.

I got on the tram and tried to buy a ticket, but it said “no tickets available, no card purchase available, no cash accepted”- a woman approached me and asked if I was going to parkrun- she was too. I showed her my tram ticket from the previous day (bought on board) but neither of us could get the machine to work. We had to hope that if a ticket inspector got on the tram we could explain why we didn’t have tickets for that day. We had a lovely chat on the way- she was based in Brussels and had been doing lots of European parkrun tourism (that morning she’d got a bus at something like 4am to get over here)- it turned out we had been to lots of similar parkruns in the UK too.

The trams were easy to navigate as they all had electronic screens announcing the next station, so it wasn’t long before we arrived in the park and started looking for the start. I’d seen the big copper building on their course page, so knew to head to that. Of course we met more tourists walking through the park, and it didn’t take long to see the sign directing people to the start (if you walk the circumference of the building you will find it).

Photo op by the big sunglasses!

The run briefing was completed in English first, and then in Dutch, and of course there were plenty of tourists. We were warned to watch out for bikes and with perfect timing a bike sped past. Some people had emailed in about them completing the alphabet, other people were doing their 100th- it felt as if everyone was celebrating something. I took a few photo by the huge sunglasses, and some of the signs in Dutch (making the most of a new parkrun country too), and decided to tie my rain coat around my waist as I knew I would get warm running. I particularly liked the “Let op:renners” sign which means “watch out riders”- I think warning cyclist of runners?

Then we walked to the start and we were off! It is a fast course- two flat laps around the park. Lots to see on the way around, and a few marshals at key points who were all very enthusiastic. I had a total mental blank over what thank -you was in Dutch, but they all seemed to be speaking in a combination of English and Dutch anyway.

My pace was fairly quick (and a lovely royal flush negative split too)- 8:55, 8:46, 8:44 and 8:30 for the finish. But it was pancake flat with nice wide paths and not many runners so no congestion at all. I didn’t want to rush through and not enjoy the experience, I was so happy to be there after the 2 year wait.

There were 85 runners and I had token 50. I took a few more photos at the finish but didn’t want to keep Andy waiting too long (and we had a train to Rotterdam later in the morning) so I jogged the 1/2 mile back to the tram stop and got one a few minutes after arriving. Perfect.

Starbucks from the station to warm up after too!

So there we have it, the parkrun alphabet has now been completed. I am so glad that I chose this one as my Z, as it was a great place to visit and I am sure we will now go back at some point.

I do love seeing the new badge appear on the chrome extension (third from the left on the top row) and of course a new country flag, although sadly since Crissy Fields stopped I’ve lost my USA flag. I shall have to remedy that soon, as more parkrun tourism calls of course …

Have you visited anywhere that surprised you? Where has parkrun taken you to?

Completing the UK parkrun alphabet

In March 2018 I started looking at completing the parkrun alphabet. Back then I had been to 38 different events and so had filled in lots of the letters without trying. However I still needed D, I, J, K, N, O, Q, U, V, Y and Z. Quite a few!

I could tick off a few fairly easily- I drove to Oak Hill one Saturday, Northala Fields a few weeks later, and managed to go to York parkrun as we stopped there on a journey back from Scotland. A few weeks after that I drove to Upton Court, and then we had a weekend in London (seeing The Muppets Take on the O2) and originally I was going to do Victoria Dock, but it was cancelled, so I went to Valentine’s. Ticking those letters off nicely.

Bruce Li was at Northala Fields taking photos when I visited, so here I am just finishing and getting my phone out to take a picture!

We often head to Bath Christmas markets and I would do a parkrun on the way, so my D was at Dinton Pastures in November 2018, and then a few weeks later Jersey Farm parkrun started less than a mile from my parents home, so I had the first of many visits for my J.  A trip to Southampton in April 2019 meant I could head off and run at Queen Elizabeth, and later a weekend in Kent in May 2019 meant I could visit Kingdom (and meet Danny Norman from With Me Now as he happened to be there at the same time).

So most letters ticked off after just over a year of trying to find ways to incorporate the tourism into weekends away or touring slightly further from home (I feel like a hour drive from home is the most I’ll go realistically unless it’s for a super special occasion). Kingdom was my 62nd parkrun location so I had done lots of other touring too, and the alphabet was ticking along nicely when I got the opportunity to visit another letter.

All I had left at this point was I and Z.

Pointing at the I as my UK parkrun alphabet was completed with that letter!

There were not that many I’s, and none near at all, but then Irchester Country parkrun started. It looked wonderful too (one lap, woods) and I managed to persuade my dad to come along. It was the final parkrun before the pandemic pause, and it did have a bit of a strange feel with people keeping their distance a bit more. However I loved the route and would happily go back. Despite the strange feeling that parkrun was going to stop for a few weeks (how little we knew) I was happy to complete my UK parkrun alphabet. I had seen that Zuiderpark parkrun had just started as The Netherlands had opened as a new parkrun country, and was hoping to get the Eurostar over there during the Easter 2020 break. Of course, the world had other plans….

Are you trying to complete the parkrun alphabet? Or have you finished it? Do you like this sort of challenge?

parkruns in May- Jersey Farm, Panshanger, before my alphabet is complete

I am not sure what has happened to the year but somehow we are half way through. Weekends are suddenly much busier (and not just with parkruns to go to- can you believe that this time last year they weren’t back yet?), particularly with a slew of previously cancelled in 2020 things that have been rearranged and are finally on. I don’t know how I used to cope with busy weekends because at the moment I am behind with everything.

So, rewind back to May.

Vegan chocolate coconut croissant brought back from Brighton- the best! Garden life and parkrun scenes.

After our fab weekend to Brighton for my birthday, I was back at Jersey Farm with my dad the following weekend. They were on their summer course which is two slightly different laps- an outer and inner lap.

Two lots of tokens for two different weekends plus me running with Dad (he’s in the blue next to me)- having a chat as we run as usual!

I think it seems harder as you can see further up the hill beyond you on the meadow part, whereas the winter course is along narrow bridle paths so you can’t see how much further you have to go. Anyway, it’s so pretty, as they let the grass grow long in the meadows, and you get two different sets of views.

While it isn’t Ellenbrook Fields and never will be, we often see people we know there now (usually from OH ladies) so it does feel more like a community event as we get to see more familiar faces- we know a few of the regular marshals too and often will wait around for a bit and cheer in other people that we know.

One weekend my dad was away, so I did the parkrun sandwich by running to and from Panshanger.

Sunday mornings have been filled with runs of various lengths- I quite like 10 miles but sometimes they are shorter if I either get up late (it’s the one day I don’t usually set an alarm) or if I have somewhere to be. I have started going on the 20/20 route again and one weekend did 11 miles (most of it on that loop)- I had forgotten how hilly it was though, so not for any sort of speedy run. I would quite like to do the whole thing again (just over 13 miles) so I will look at doing that at some point this summer.

Mildred’s pancakes, the lake on my run at Stanborough, iced chai and the blue skies of London.

One Sunday rather excitingly I was heading into London to meet with a couple of my friends. We often meet for afternoon tea but had not managed to catch up since last summer/autumn. We had booked to go to Mildred’s as we had aimed to go there once before but it was closed due to a leak or something. It used to be a veggie restaurant but is now 100% vegan which means lots of options for me, hoorah! (Happily my two friends are very happy to go somewhere like this even though they are not vegan). As the trains weren’t that regular I had some time before our table and so walked up to the Bird and Blend store in Angel (the Mildred’s we went to was at Kings Cross). They had launched their tea wall and Butter Brew, previously a limited edition, was now a permanent fixture. I had taken along an empty tin (you get 10% off if you bring a tin to refill) and of course had to get an iced chai because they are just the best.

When we got to Mildred’s they served brunch until 3pm, so I opted for pancakes (you know how much I love pancakes)- my friends ordered a main and then pudding but I was happy with mine- banana and butterscotch which was really delicious, plus carrot and ginger juice. It was so good to catch up, although the train home was not so good as it turned out Arsenal had been playing so the train was full of lots of sweaty football fans- I was glad of my mask!

We also had a night out in May- how exciting! Andy had booked a surprise for my birthday, and had just told me we would have dinner at home and then head off. We ended up driving to Stevenage, to a theatre I didn’t know existed, for “An evening with Mortimer and Whitehouse”. It was wonderful- so funny and uplifting. We didn’t get to see Athletico Mince (Bob Mortimer’s comedy podcast) as we had tickets for March 2020 but rather than reschedule they just cancelled, so this was a sort of replacement and brilliant.

How is this year going for you?