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
