And what a good decision this one turned out to be!
My dad was free to tour, so I gave him two options from my NENDY list, and he chose Gunnersbury (which was my actual NENDY and has been since I went to Wanstead Flats).
My brother was also free, so the three of us met up on the way, with Dad driving us once we had met up. I had looked up the car park to see where we had to go to, and I had seen some comments that it was app only, so I am glad I did this as luckily it was a parking app that I had (and Dad didn’t)- as there were no machines you would be a bit stuck if you couldn’t download the app.
The car park that we used was probably about 100m from the start- we could see the cluster of high viz vests in the distance. We were not sure where the toilets were, but had time to wander over to the start and ask a volunteer, who directed us to the sports cafe building (which was back near the car park)- no queues though and we were back at the start just as they called for the first timers welcome. I was glad I had checked the facebook page beforehand (this was mainly to check it was on, as well as looking for parking information as on the course page is just gives you a postcode) as they had posted to say they were back on their main route. It turned out that the main route had a different starting point to their alternative route, and so on walking back from the toilets we chatted to a few runners who were confused about the start point- these turned out to be regular Gunnersbury runners but ones that had not looked on social media to see about changes. One of them said it had happened to them before and they’d been in the wrong area of the park at 9 and had to run across to catch up.
First timers welcome had a personalised sign saying “First time at Gunnersbury”/ view as we start
Anyway, the welcome was useful as always- it is a one lap lollipop style course- down a slope, into some woods for a loop and then back up the slope to the start/finish area.
Pop up signs and the start as viewed from the car park
There was a tarpaulin of trust for us to leave our bag on (even though the car was nearby, in the summer I’ve been making sure to bring my bag with me so I can have water as soon as I finish, as otherwise I get a headache), and we took some pop up pictures. As it was 25th July I was wearing my ugly (not ugly) Christmas singlet from parkrun adventurers- I did get a few “Happy Christmas”s to which I could reply with “in July”, but no other parkrun adventurers were at that parkrun.
The main briefing was tricky as we could not hear what was being said- we were not that far from the front but so many people around us were chatting. They had volunteers walking around with the “quiet” baton signs, and one even came and stood in front of two people who were talking but they just ignored the volunteer. It’s such a shame when people cannot be quiet for a couple of minutes. (And this is in no way a complaint about the event team as the volunteers did as much as they could)
Because of this we didn’t even hear them start, just realised as people ahead started moving.
Some of the lovely shady route and things seen along the way
The course was so enjoyable- the first part was in the sun and it was a hot day, but fairly soon we were in the woods which was so much cooler.
My Garmin hasn’t been recording the start of runs all the time, so this map is not quite right as the start is the same place as the finish, backtracking along the perimeter path (down the left hand side) so this isn’t quite the entire course.
It was all on tarmac, with nice wide paths, and so much to see.
More mid-run views
We passed a sort of stately home, some formal gardens, a folly, various signs for things such as wildlife trails and mini golf… you could spend ages in the park I am sure. We looped close to the sports centre (where the toilets and cafe are) but also passed a different cafe in the woods. We had already decided to head home though as Mum was going to make us breakfast, but it would be a good place to parkfaff.
A few more landmarks from the course/ token/ Back into the sun at the end
Towards the end we got back out into the sun again for the run back up the slope, and here I started regretting my breakfast. Due to the jet lag I had woken up really early feeling really hungry, and although I don’t usually eat before I run, I decided to have something as it was about 2 1/2 hours before parkrun started. I was feeling Ok for most of it but then at the final part I just felt very nauseous- I told Dad to run ahead as he loves a sprint finish and he managed to finish 20 places ahead of me- very impressive! I had that feeling when we finished where you have to keep moving about rather than stopping.
We cooled down in the shade and had some water before heading back to the car, and again the journey back to Hatfield (where we had all met) was about 35 minutes, so it wasn’t far and we were back home having vegan pancakes cooked by Mum at 10:45.
Voronoi update:
I’m finally making a little dent on the parkruns close to Heathrow! I’ve got a little cluster around there still, and then it’s a lot of the south of London.
That was parkrun 461 and location 163, and 43/65 London parkruns for the LonDONE challenge (and my NENDY is now Brentwood in Essex- they are swapping around a lot at the moment)
Up next? A few weeks of local runs due to various factors, then maybe some touring towards the end of August, but nothing concrete.
