Category: parkrun tourism

Charlton parkrun- 6 trains!

This Saturday had been earmarked for train tourism as Andy had the car for the day, so Branka and I decided to head to Charlton parkrun to continue on our Lon-done quest.

I needed to get three trains (changing at Finsbury Park and Farringdon- there was an alternative route changing at FP and then London Bridge) and my first train was before 7am. In the end I drove to the station and texted Andy so he knew where it was parked, so he walked to collect it on his way (his suggestion) as otherwise it would have been an even earlier start to allow time to walk to the station.

I met Branka on my second train as when I got on at Finsbury Park she was already on the train, so that worked out well and we could do the rest of the journey together. (What wasn’t so good was that Branka accidentally left her phone on a previous train so we then had to call it and find out where it was and ask for it to be handed in).

Charlton station/ the house in Charlton park/ the cafe decorated with Tudor royalty plus QE2

The park was about half a mile from the station, but a very simple walk up a hill and into the park next to the very grand looking house. The toilets in the park were open, and as we arrived we saw the team setting up. At this point we called the lost phone and heard it being handed in to a member of staff (the guy who found the phone was so kind and helpful) so Branka at least knew her phone wasn’t going any further away and could be collected after parkrun.

Their noticeboard and our pop up pic

We admired their notice board, took pop up photos and I was very annoyed at myself for forgetting my sunglasses. When taking our photo I couldn’t even look at the phone screen to see where the button was or to check we were both in the photo- definitely more luck than judgement! We liked how the pop up was lined up with the house in the background.

Main briefing

The first timers welcome was really friendly, and then during the main briefing they explained that as their team volunteer during the London marathon, they have one place to give away, and this was the day they pulled a name from a hat.

Solo pop up photo/ views from the parkrun including London skyscrapers in the distance

Then it was time to begin. We walked together and enjoyed the route- it’s three flat laps, mainly on grass, and you could see most of the parkrun from wherever you were (apart from a small wooded area).

You went closer to the house towards the end of the lap, and along one side it was very shaded under the big trees. I imagine it could be a quagmire in winter but at the end of a dry summer it was firm and flat. It was enjoyable to walk and chat (with me wittering on trying to distract Branka from worrying about her phone). If you looked in the distance beyond the trees you could see some of the London skyscrapers (possibly Canary Wharf area?).

Mid parkrun view/ The view of the finish area as we began our final lap/ token

After finishing we didn’t hang about as of course we needed to get back on the trains although we did briefly chat to the RD as the team were really friendly. We walked back down the hill to the station and then got a train back to London Bridge, as Branka had to go to Gatwick to get her phone and this was where I could find trains going from.

Highbury and Islington park/ me on my final train of the day/ breakfast and then a matcha by Islington town hall (the red bus was transport for a wedding that was going on there)

I went to get some breakfast by London Bridge (Ole and Steen do an amazing vegan cinnamon slice), heard from Branka that she got her phone back (hooray!) and then got the underground to Angel to have a wander along Upper Street. I collected my free matcha from Bird and Blend, and got some cookies from a little vegan bakery before walking along to Highbury and Islington. When I got there and looked up the train times, it was about 30 mins away so I went for a walk around another parkrun location (Highbury and Islington)- although I did one lap rather than 5! After a longer train back, I then had the final walk back from the station (as Andy was still out with the car) so I think I got home at about 3pm!

Voronoi update:

Stats:

parkrun 465 and location 165

44/65 (currently) London events visited

Coldham’s Common parkrun, Cambridge

As we were in Cambridge for Friday night, I looked up the nearest parkrun and it turned out to be Coldham’s Common, one I had not been to before. It was 1.7miles from the hotel, so a nice distance for a parkrun sandwich but also meant I could be back early enough for a shower and breakfast before checkout without feeling rushed.

I was surprised when I got to the common (the route there was along a main road, then past an industrial estate before getting to the common) to have to walk over cattle grids and to then see a load of cows in the field. It turned out it was a proper old fashioned common.

Brooks were also there, with people having reserved trainers to try out during parkrun, so the start area was busy.

Cows on the common and the Brooks stand

Before the start, I ended up chatting to a couple of tourists from Wanstead Flats parkrun- it’s always good to chat about the random challenges and have someone else understand why you head off to different events and complete these arbitrary challenges!

Pop up photo and the view as everyone headed off around the first field

After the pop up photo, it was time for the first timers welcome (2 laps- mind the rabbit holes) and then onto the main briefing. Despite the large number of people (417) the briefing was well-listened to and I could hear all the milestones and announcements.

The course was as if you were running around the outside of an hourglass (around the right of the field, through the gap, around the other field, back through the gap and then around the left of the field) so there were no cross over points but you could see people from wherever you were which I liked. I managed to not get lapped which is always good on a two lap course!

The route is very flat with only a few short up and down sections (as if you are going down into a ditch or something like that) but there were plenty of rabbit holes (as we had been warned) and tree roots, so you did have to watch your footing. It was an overcast day so I was enjoying being outside and not being instantly baked by the sun. The course had a small wooded section but other than that it is very exposed so it would be tough on a sunny day.

Finish token/ small shaded area and the second field

I didn’t hang around when I had finished at all as I was keen to get back for breakfast. I did impress myself however by getting back to the hotel without using google maps at all- go me!

Andy had popped out to get us breakfast (some lovely vegan Chelsea buns from Fitzbillies) and once showered we checked out and headed into Cambridge for some more touristing (and of course a matcha from Bird and Blend)

Matcha latte from Bird and Blend/ pop up selfie at the finish (people token sorting behind me)

Voronoi update:

Not a big chunk added as there are lots of other parkruns around the outskirts of Cambridge.

That was parkrun 464 and location 164 for me- I quite like that that numbers line up in that way.

Up next? Hopefully something else for Lon-Done, and fairly soon a weekend in (or near) Manchester, so the plan is for a parkrun up there too.

Keeping it local- from zero parkfaff to extended waffling

The last two weeks have been local parkruns, for two different reasons.

Week 1- walking at Stanborough parkrun. Andy and I were off to London for a Jet Lag The Game premiere which started at midday. (I initially thought it started at 1, and my dad was going to drive me to and from Panshanger so I could have a quick shower and turnaround- however this was not possible with the 12 start)- the plan was that I would get up early and showed, walk to Stanborough, parkwalk it, then get picked up my Andy on the way to the station. It was a bit stressful but it all worked out well in the end.

Happily, Branka was already planning on being there (she was also going to the Jet Lag event but a bit later), as well as club mate Emily who was parkwalking, and then Danny from the With Me Now podcast was there. He did the first timers briefing which we listened to as Emily was considering offering to do this role in the future and wanted to see what it was like. Of course we got told off my Danny (in a jokey way) as he knew we were not first timers here!

Can you spot us in the first timers welcome photo? And pop up fun with Branka

All three of us in green! And the view of the start area when I first arrived

Stanborough is three laps, and I didn’t know how it would be as a walking one, but I really enjoyed it, with the three of us had a lovely chat on the way around. Lovely Lynne (from Birchwood juniors- and Danny’s mum) was marshalling and cheered us as we passed her (“Branka! Branka! Maria! Maria! Emily! Emily!”). I was carrying my tote bag with change of clothes- I would usually leave a bag on the tarpaulin of trust but for some reason (maybe because I had a different bag rather than my usual parkrun rucksack) I didn’t, so when we passed Danny after our second lap he asked me what was in it and suggested I leave it with them rather than carry it for the third lap- I said I would but said I really had to go straight away!

Token and a photo from parkrun down to Haribo Dave

As it’s fairly flat (there is a hill in each lap but not too bad when walking) I managed to finish in just over 51 mins giving me time to grab my bag from Lynne, have the briefest of chats and rush to the toilets to get changed. Andy picked me up at 10am and we got to St Albans train station with 5 mins to spare ahead of our 10:27 train. Perfect!

A photo of Ben on the stairs/ Ali Plumb (BBC film critic who hosted the Q&A), Adam, Ben, Sam and Tom on the stage after the premiere, and my excited face by the entrance!

The Picturehouse cinema had gone all out with Jet Lag branding and the day was great with a quiz hosted by the three of them, a podcast recording, director’s commentary on their first Tag season, the finale and then a Q&A with them after. As you can see by my expression I was very excited! Anyway, I was glad to have still managed to fit a parkrun in, especially as August is an empty month for me and I have many dates to fill for date bingo, including that date.

Week 2: Branka, Holly and I had planned to meet at Rothamsted Park parkrun as although we had all been, the three of us had not been there together. Plus, very close to the parkrun is The Waffle House which is a perfect parkfaff location.

Pop up photo– the person taking our photo suggested we turn around to show the backs of our t-shirts as we each had a different milestone top on- Holly’s has her Cowell (100 events) listed and mine is my parkrun alphabet (as there are 25 possible letters).

Scenes from parkrun- I love seeing the stream of colourful runners ahead/ finish token

It was a gorgeous but hot day- I ran with Holly and it was very enjoyable to catch up but it was tough in the heat as there isn’t much shade and the avenue that you run up (4 times) is quite steep at the top! After we finished and took our pop up photos, we walked around the corner for our parkfaff location. There were tables inside but it was the perfect temperature in the shade outside, so we opted for that.

Pop up photo and waffle!

They offer a vegan waffle as an option, and some of the toppings are vegan- this time I opted for banana with blueberry compote plus an iced oat matcha. We spent ages catching up and chatting- some more parkrun plans are materialising too.

Gunnersbury parkrun- another London parkun

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.

Meijo Koen parkrun, Nagoya

Our hotel in Nagoya was about 2.5km away from the parkrun (as the crow flies), however due to the gridded streets it would have been further (and longer due to the fact that no-one jaywalks so you have to stop at every intersection) and the heat (high 30’s) and mad humidity meant I decided to walk a bit of a way to the train station, and then get the train a few stops to the park. The line I needed ran clockwise and anti-clockwise so again it was very simple to check on the platform that I was going the right way as the signs showed clearly which stations would be next.

Getting the train part of the way turned out to be a very good decision- the humidity was so crazy that by the time I arrived at parkrun I already had rivers of sweat pouring down my legs, and the walk to the station took even longer than anticipated due to all the road crossings.

The station (Meijo Park train station) was right by the park, and the instructions said to use exit 2 (train stations in Japan have many many exits so you need to pay attention to the exit number)- however once crossing the road I passed exit 8 which was closer? I always have a bit of anxiety around whether a parkrun is actually on or not, especially when teams don’t use the volunteer roster or are not that active on social media, but the team had posted on facebook a day before to say they would be on, so all I had to do was locate it. There were lots of runners meeting up but this didn’t match the pin in google maps, so I followed that and saw the actual parkrun flags- hooray!

The parkrun sign and all the cut outs of the milestones (I love that they already have the 1000 ones ready)/ a picture by the flag/ the run brief

As soon as I arrived, I was spoken to by an English person who was living in Nagoya for a few months- she was part of the volunteer team and so explained the course to me. The course was a simple one- 4 laps of the park- and there was plenty of shade around too. When I commented on the heat and humidity she explained that because Nagoya is surrounded by mountains it is notorious for being hotter and more humid than other places in Japan. This parkrun cancels for all of August as it is too hot, and I can see why. A new runner approached her, explaining that he was from South Korea and wanted to know if he could run, so she tried to help him register there and then.

I had brought water + electrolytes with me, so had some before we started before leaving my bag on the little wall that everyone seemed to be using.

There was a first timers welcome in Japanese, and at this point a Japanese man came to speak to me and ask me where I was from. When I said England, he said to me that it was where parkrun originated, and he would love to go there. He offered to take my photo by the flags, which was very kind of him. Later on a different person spoke to me, and we had almost the same conversation where they commented that England was where parkrun started. It was nice to have these brief chats and to hear that people are positive about parkrun and would like to tour.

The main briefing was in Japanese, and the noise of the crickets/ cicadas were so loud that I could barely hear the RD, and then we were off.

The route was shady and fairly flat so that was good. I had thought (incorrectly) that I’d be able to see Nagoya Castle from the route, but there was still lots to see. There is a huge arena in the park, decorated with flags on thick bamboo poles, and this was because there was sumo wrestling going on there at the moment (the next day when we were leaving we saw lots of sumo wrestlers at the train station). There were lovely lakes/ponds with little bridges going over them, and lots of trees and plants to look at. There were also so many other runners out, not taking part in parkrun, so I did have to concentrate a bit. There were a few people with milestone shirts, so I kept them in sight for the first lap, and then I knew where I was going (past the arena, to the perimeter of the park, past the pond, alongside the moat and back to the start/finish area). On my first time of passing the finish area the volunteers were cheering and taking photos of us, and then the next time they were getting ready for the first runners, still cheering us as well as getting themselves ready in the funnel. Each time I passed I had some encouragement from the volunteers and this is definitely a plus point for a multi-lapped course (and the reduced risk of getting lost).

A few mid-run photos

It was so hot, but at least there was shade. I was concentrating on the laps which meant I didn’t think so much about how hot I was. It didn’t feel like long before I was heading into the finish funnel after completing my 4th lap.

Mid run photo/ a photo taken by the team as I went past the finish area/ passing the tail walker

The scanners were right there, and after scanning I quickly got my bag so I could have more of a drink. I was keen for a photo with the sign (the roll out ones as they don’t have the big pop ups)- it had been beautifully displayed on the ground along with little t-shirt cut outs for each milestone, but I couldn’t find it and didn’t know if it had been moved or packed away. I can only say a few words of Japanese, so I was not that confident asking, but I can say excuse me, and so I then pointed to a photo on my phone of the sign, which thankfully they understood!

Both directions from the finish line (towards the finish line and back to where everyone had left their bags)/ my pop up equivalent

This parkrun was very different to the other parkruns in Japan that I have been to, in that they didn’t seem to get many tourists/visitors, and it had a proper local vibe. (For example all the other ones have taken first timer photos with all the first timers together) It was good to experience a more local one rather than a super touristy one. And as has been my experience wherever I have been in Japan, the people are extremely welcoming and friendly, and really willing to help with whatever is needed. One of the volunteers took photos while I held the sign, and then I chatted a little more to one of the Japanese people who I had talked with at the start. He even thanked me for coming to Japan.

It briefly began to rain here, but it was such light rain it wasn’t doing much, and it was so hot and humid that it was a relief to not be in the baking sun. I walked around to look at the castle (and popped into the toilets to change- PSA is that the toilets I went into were footplate only, however I’ve been in others where there is a mixture, and the train station ones tend to be ones with seats).

A selfie by the castle/ the castle

It is a really beautiful castle with the pale green roof and gold details, and I could hear some sort of announcement happening (this must have been 9am) but I couldn’t see the entrance- we had looked before and thought it was closed for renovations while we were there. Anyway, then it was time to head back, via Starbucks for a cold drink and to get us some breakfast. The train and then walk back were fairly simple- I was glad I had noticed the big ferris wheel near the station on the way in, as when I came out of the station it was a different exit a few roads over so it took me a bit of time to orient myself and work out where I needed to go.

Voronoi update:

This parkrun covered most of Nagoya- there are others on the outskirts including one that is very mountainous, so had we been here in August there would have been options still.

That was my 460th parkrun, my 5th in Japan and my 162nd parkrun location, and even with running at Clermont in Florida in August, Meijo Koen was the most humid parkrun I’ve ever done!

Up next? Back in the UK for some local events and a bit more touring- maybe a few more Lon-Done events while the early mornings don’t seem so bad!