Month: May 2026

Clare Castle parkrun to celebrate my 450th!

Due to various factors, I didn’t know that I’d be home for my 450th parkrun until the weekend before, so it was a bit of last minute planning. After finding out I’d be home I looked into some London ones (I really wanted to see some bluebell woods), however rail replacement buses at the weekend just made the journey to any new one a real faff, so I started looking at drivable ones instead. Branka moved some things around too and so she was coming with me to celebrate, and to make it a new event for us both (and a pretty one), Clare Castle was chosen.

It was about an hour drive from picking up Branka so not too bad, the traffic was good and when we arrived in the car park we could see the parkrun flag so we really could not get any closer to the start.

I had drawn and coloured a 450 logo and used race clips to attach it to my 50 top, but I didn’t want it to tear while I was driving so I changed in the back seat once we got there.

The visitors board, my 450 logo and my top

As we walked into the park we could see the ruins from the castle that was once there (it reminded me a bit of Berkhamsted castle), as well as some wooden sheep sculptures, old railway tracks and little wildlife areas. They had a visitors board so I added the two of us, and then soon after the volunteer gave the first timers welcome, explaining the course- it is three laps with each lap including an out and back section. There were lots of narrow paths so you needed to keep left- sometimes you’d be overtaken and other times you’d be having other parkrunners heading back towards you on the other side of the path.

Pop up photo (from before- do you like how our socks match our tops?) and the selfie frame which we found after

We took a few photos of course- the pop up had the castle behind so it was a great backdrop for the photos, and then it was time for the main run brief- as I’d written my milestone up on the board I got an unexpected shout out from the RD which was lovely. (Someone had on the board their 250th and I was briefly worried that I was overshadowing a real milestone but it turned out to be their 250th different event so that was OK!)

Photos of the course

Then we were off! We had been warned that it was narrow and would thin out, and definitely the first lap felt a little crowded. There were lots of tree roots (the team had marked lots of them with cones) and little uneven bits of ground, so although it was fairly flat, not a pb course because of the ground but also the narrow paths. I just loved it though. The park was so pretty, and each lap had a good variety of things to see (play parks, a river, wooded areas, the castle ruins)- there were lots of very enthusiastic marshals out too (wishing everyone a great weekend on their final laps).

The route:

The strava trace illustrates how we must not rely on GPS to measure accurately though (it said 3.09 on my watch but now says 3 miles)- each lap was identical but the tracing is all over the place due to the twists and also the trees.

More photos from the course

It was a warm day and I was very glad of the shady parts of the route. At one point I went past a parkwalker and they said to me “well done- only another 6 months to go!”- I think it’s going to be about 13 months until my 500th!

Token/ finish area/ Found the selfie frame

The finish area was compact with the scanners at the end of the funnel (I just had time to take my routine photo of my barcode before it was scanned) and then I noticed the ‘selfie frame’ so of course had to have a photo. Loads of people were hanging about chatting and cheering, it had such a good atmosphere. Branka actually managed to take the photo with us both in the frame so we can call it a selfie frame when she is using it!

I did look at the cafe on site, but the only vegan options were chilli (not sure I fancied that for breakfast) or a pre-wrapped flapjack, so we decided to head to Vutie Beets on the way back instead.

Pop up photo after so that it actually happened/ Breakfast bap and mango matcha

The journey back home wasn’t much longer than the way there (a little traffic by Duxford)- a bit easier than any M25 parkrun that always seems to take twice as long getting back from. We managed to have our breakfast baps before midday anyway!

Voronoi update:

As you can see I have some big gaps around Cambridge, so at some point I need to visit some of those events to join up some of the orange squash.

So event 450 completed at location 156! And what a pretty event it was too.

Obviously it’s a while away, but I have started thinking about my 500th.

My participation milestones (official and arbitrary) so far have been:

50th- Panshanger

100th- Ellenbrook Fields

250th- Henlow Bridge Lakes

300th- Church Mead

350th- Lee on the Solent

400th- Victoria Dock

450th- Clare Castle

So, no discernible pattern apart from no repeats (and HBL for 250 was because EF hadn’t come back- if EF was still going it would have been there).

Where do you go for milestones?

Dereham parkrun and a birthday weekend!

As my birthday usually falls around the May Bank holiday weekend, we often make the most of it by heading away for the weekend. This year we headed up to Norfolk, staying near to Norwich and handily where we were on the Friday was a 15 min drive to a new (to me) parkrun- Dereham.

The No Parking sign was by the track to the start, and the car park was just beyond it and clearly signed/ pop up/ visitor board and course map/ the start area as seen from the track

The information on the website mentioned parking at the local football club, and you would need cash for a donation (which went towards the youth football team)- it was very well signposted and there were marshals on the entrance with donation buckets. From there it was a short walk along a marked track to the start.

I was there fairly early (about 8:30) and so chatted a fair bit to the volunteer doing the first timers welcome- he was asking all the new faces where we were from and wrote those on the little whiteboard. They had a sign up showing the map of the course (they had it was 1 and a half laps, although you did the half first so to me it felt like a small lap and then a larger lap) and pointed out the final mini loop of the “trim trail” before the finish.

After the main briefing we walked to the start (only a few metres away) and then we were off. I think they had more people that weekend than usual, as the guy said to me they usually had around 150 ish, but it was more like 200. The start was quite narrow and as there were lots of walkers it took a while for everyone to seed themselves but I just enjoyed taking photos of the course, especially as across the fields you could see everyone up ahead.

The “trim trail” loop at the end/ everyone ahead on the field/ bluebells

It was a really enjoyable route- I had road shoes on and they were OK but I would have been happy in trail shoes as the ground was stony and rough. The course went across fields, through little areas of woodland and along some shaded paths (where I even saw bluebells still flowering). It was lovely in the sunshine but it would be really tough in wintery and windy weather as there wasn’t much shelter on the fields.

The route below- you began by doing the loop to the left, and then once back at the start went beyond that to the loop on the right, and then finished with the loop on the left again before the teeny trim trail section at the end.

There were plenty of marshals out there as well as lots of cones and signs (one sign had a message that said “tail walker take me back with you” which I liked).

More mid-run views of the fields and shaded areas

When I finished I had to rush off really quickly, as our hotel was only serving breakfast until 10 (we thought it was 10:30 when we booked it)- I raced back to the car and my ETA was 9:58! Luckily Andy had gone in and ordered and explained I was on my way so it was OK in the end but I only just made it.

Pop up at the end/ token/ hotel breakfast

Voronoi update:

A nice big chunk filled in -one more to join up Thetford with Blickling and North Walsham!

That was parkrun 449 and location 155 for me- now I need to plan something for parkrun 450! (Which has not been planned sooner as Southampton making the play offs meant that we could have been in Southampton next weekend, but now we are not…)

Back to the weekend, after showering and checking out we headed to Cromer for a walk by the sea and then to a National Trust place for a walk around the grounds- it was such a gorgeous day.

Beach huts/ matcha (my birthday fell on matcha day!)/ sea views