Category: parkrun tourism

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.

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.