Category: parkrun tourism

Lousberg parkrun, Aachen, Germany

After the fun of German Unity Day on Friday, I got the train from Cologne to Aachen on the Friday evening. This was a regular commuter train and took around 50 mins, although I could have booked a faster (and more expensive) ICE train in advance. Fans of the You Tube channel Jet Lag will know that Deutsche Bahn do not have a good rep for being on time (if you are Deutsche-Bahned it means you are delayed by any train company) and I was glad I had not booked because the ICE train was delayed more than the regular train was. My hotel (the B&B chain which we’ve used in France before too) was a 5 min walk from the station, and on the ring road which was handy, as to get to parkrun in the morning I just had to follow the ring road around for a couple of km before I got to the park. Perfect.

As I left the hotel it was barely drizzling, and I enjoyed looking at some of the pretty buildings on my way. My train wasn’t until after midday, so I was planning on going back to the hotel, showering and then having a wander around Aachen before getting my train. The weather had other plans! The route was fairly uphill (it was 1.45 miles there, and in the final .45 mile the elevation gain was 152ft which sounds like a lot?)- getting into the park involved some steep footpaths.

As I arrived I saw Caroline from my running club so we had photos by the pop up and chatted about our parkruns from yesterday as she had been to the other Cologne parkrun, having run at Rheinpark on a previous trip.

At 8:55am, it started tipping it down with rain. Utterly torrential rain. It was so loud in the woods, it was bouncing off the paths, it was such a heavy downpour. There was a little wooden structure (a sort of gazebo) in the woods where the volunteer team had left the tarpaulin of trust, and we all ended up huddling under there. The RD gave the briefing sheltered underneath, and at 9:10 reluctantly got us out of the shelter and to the start line!

The route map shows how GPS struggles with trees and gradients as it was two identical laps on narrow paths so would not have veered about that much.

It’s a two lapper through woods, and it was really pretty. We had been warned to be careful as there were lots of tree roots, uneven paths and steep uphill and downhill sections. Definitely not a pb course and pretty much the polar opposite to the Friday parkrun. It reminded me a little of a mini and tougher version of Haga parkrun. I was taking it very carefully as I did not want to slip over or twist an ankle. I really enjoyed it but I had to concentrate the entire time on where I was going, and it was undulating the entire time. The sections through pine trees smelled amazing, but the trees did little to shelter us from the rain and after a few moments out in the rain I was drenched through. I was trying to remember other occasions when I’ve been that wet while running (and not swimming) and I could only remember one other time.

There were only 43 people taking part, and for long sections of it I was on my own as the main pack had headed off up the first hill a bit quicker than me. My legs were quite tired which was no surprise as we had done over 30,000 steps the day before, including the spiral staircase of the Dom (yes the Dom gave me DOMS), and that combined with the tricky route meant there was no chance of me speeding up and catching up with others. The course was very well marked though, with chalk arrows on the floor, cones marking the way and blocking off paths that were not part of the route, and the regular parkrun yellow arrow signs.

I did have one scary moment where some people came from a side path with some big dogs. The dogs were all milling around the people, so I carried on running towards them, but then one of the dogs suddenly saw me and ran towards me. I stopped and then the dog started barking and jumping up at me, luckily on my back and not in my face. I sort of yelled (what is German for “help”?) and the people tried to call their dog back to them. Thankfully the dog ran back to them and so I said “danke schön” and the people looked very apologetic. I was a bit shaken by that and it was only the first lap so I did consider stopping when I got to the finish area, but by then I was feeling OK and decided that with all the paths in the woods it was unlikely that I’d come across them again, and if they did hopefully the dogs would be on leads (I didn’t see them again).

The run took me 39 mins which I think reflects the hilliness and uneven paths. I really enjoyed it, but I was not hanging about at the end at all! As soon as I scanned I started heading back, passing a huge bough of a tree on the path which was not there on my way in to parkrun.

A memorable parkrun morning at least! It was parkrun 421 and location 141, my third in Germany. Again, I loved it, the team were so friendly and welcoming. They often take photos and upload to Insta (rather than their facebook page) and were apologetic that they didn’t take many photos that morning because it was so wet- I don’t blame them at all! Now on my Voronoi map I have a little gap to fill, so of course at some point I will need to go back to Cologne to go to the other parkrun there!

Read on if you want to find out more about the rest of my morning!

By the time I got back to the hotel I was drenched through, my shoes were squelching, I couldn’t see through my glasses but all my clothes were so wet I couldn’t wipe them with anything. I’d made a tea in the room before I left, and put it in a flask so it was warm, so I warmed up a bit and then had to begin operation dry my trainers. Yes, I only had one pair of trainers with me and I did not fancy wearing wet shoes all day. So after a quick shower and change, I undid the laces, stuffed them with toilet paper, laid all my wet clothes on top of the towels and then rolled up the towels to squeeze out as much water as possible, hung up my wet clothes to air them a bit before packing them, removed the paper from my shoes and sat there with the hairdryer blowing on them. Then I had the fun that my phone wouldn’t charge (I’d used it a fair bit for the maps and podcasts and photos, and wanted to charge it a bit ahead of my train journeys) because the charging port had got wet (I’d never had that message before) so a little stress as my train tickets were saved as files onto my phone too. (I did have a piece of paper with all the info written on, including times of all my trains, booking ref numbers etc. and in fact I didn’t get asked for tickets on either of my trains that day and the battery did last). It meant I didn’t have a wander around Aachen as drying my shoes took ages, and it was still raining a lot, so I didn’t fancy going back out into the rain and getting soaked ahead of my train journeys. I was a bit disappointed about that as Aachen looked really pretty, and I like to visit the place and not just the parkrun, but these things happen. Anyway, a train to Brussels, a bit of time to have lunch in the station and then a train to Disneyland Paris, where I met up with Andy for a few days at DLP before coming home (he had driven to there via the tunnel so we drove back).

Do you like train travel? I prefer it to driving or flying, you can just sit back and relax and look out the window or listen to a podcast. If you want a rec, check out the channel Jet Lag: The Game on You Tube (or Nebula if you want the podcast too)- the presenters play various games (Tag, Hide and Seek) on various transport networks around the world.

Rheinpark parkrun, Cologne, for Germany Unity Day 2025

A bit of background- parkrun countries can hold an additional parkrunday (as well as NYD) if they so wish. Each country has a set one (all the Nordic countries have Ascension Day, UK has Christmas Day), and for Germany they have Unity Day, which is always on 3rd October. This year that happened to fall on a Friday, so it was perfect for a weekend to Germany to visit two different parkruns.

Branka and Holly had booked their transport and hotel a while back- I had an invite but was not sure where I would be with regards to working, so didn’t book it until quite late on. They had chosen Cologne as it was easy to get to via train and had two central parkruns, and I was happy to head there, having previously been there for a Christmas market weekend. When I looked at booking (hooray for the Eurostar sale) the hotels for the Friday night were very expensive, and this turned out to be because the Cologne marathon was happening that weekend. This resulted in my only staying in Cologne on the Thursday night, and getting the train elsewhere for a different parkrun on Saturday- more on that next time!

So, Thursday was travel day- a train into London, a Eurostar to Brussels and then a train to Cologne. It was all very relaxed as I had lots of time between trains, getting into Cologne around 8pm. Holly and Branka had arrived much earlier and came to meet me at the station as my hotel was very close to theirs, and we sorted our plans for the morning.

We met around 8:15 am (read Branka’s blog for their early awakening) and started to head to the bridge to get to parkrun. As they were going to both in Cologne, they let me choose which one I’d do on the Friday, and I opted for Rheinpark as it was the closest (I had an 11am checkout to make) and just looked pretty by the water with stunning views of the huge cathedral. Anyway, it turns out although it was 1km away, we must remember that is as the crow flies, and so our actual walk there was 1.4 miles- a little further! We joined the huge queue of tourists getting their photos by the pop up, which had a lovely bespoke metal sign for you to hold, as well as some little German flags.

I enjoyed spotting all the German signs and labels on the volunteer vests (“Helfer” is a particular favourite) and just seeing big groups of happy tourists together.

We had a wonderfully welcoming briefing (the RD jokingly asked if there were any locals), and the team shuffled everyone over to one side for a photo- it’s on their facebook page but everyone is tiny as there were around 300 people in the photo (participants plus volunteers).

The course is one lap- a round loop of the park that you start in, and then what looks like an out and back but is really just a thin loop going to the end of a park that juts out into the river. Coming back we had stunning views across the river to the city- it certainly was memorable. It is totally flat so would be potentially a very fast course too. I ran with Holly and we as usual had a lovely chat. It was great to spot all the tourist tops and buffs and hear everyone saying “danke” to the marshals.

The finish area was decorated with strings of German flags and also bunting made up from old volunteer tabards (Wonky Bear style). Once finished I saw that they had moved the pop up and someone had donated a massive German flag- I decided to risk it and join the queue- just as we got to the front, Branka appeared so it was perfect timing for us to have a photo with the city as a backdrop. I then dashed back to the hotel on my own.

I was very excited to get the results email through- I love getting the emails in different languages- and with that I had been to my 140th parkrun location and my 420th parkrun in total, my second one in Germany.

Clockwise from the top left- Exploring Cologne- posing by the sign, cinnamood buns (white chocolate macadamia nut and spiced apple), gorgeous stained glass window in the Dom, delicious tofu salad from the vegan restaurant.

After a speedy shower and tea in the room, I checked out and left my case at the hotel, and then the three of us met in the lobby of my hotel to have a fab day in Cologne. Branka had arranged for the two of us to give Holly a German notch as it was her first parkrun in Germany. Holly then gave us each a Unity Day notch (with the map of Germany on it), and Branka also handed over my little Lego figure- they had gone to the Lego store on Thursday (as it was closed on the Friday) and made little custom mini figures to commemorate our trip.

At first our meal plans were slightly scuppered by us missing the brunch window at a lovely looking restaurant, and then we walked to a different one only to find it closed, but on the third try we found a wonderful vegan restaurant where we had lunch, before more exploring. We went into the cathedral (and I made it part way up the spire- somehow I managed the spiral staircase but when I saw the metal stairs that you can see through I knew I had reached my limit), bought some amazing buns from Cinnamood and spent ages chatting about parkrun plans (and of course life in general).

I’ve been thinking about why I loved the atmosphere so much, and I have come to the conclusion that I agree with the sentiment of their special day if that makes sense. Not being religious I did not really know about Ascension Day, and it seemed to be more like a UK Bank Holiday- something from the past which now just means most people have a day off work. Unity Day felt different. It was 35 years ago this year, so I have vague memories of seeing the Berlin Wall fall (probably on Newsround), but as a fan of Europe and of countries working together, it meant I could get behind the reason the day is celebrated far more than I could with a more historical day. Something about the atmosphere really spoke to me and I am so glad that I was there to join in with the celebrating. Yes, the weekend was a fun way to visit two new parkruns, but it’s always more than that, and this weekend showed me that again.

Lego figure (I am holding a cup of tea!) and new notch for my keyring

Back to the Friday- I hadn’t booked my next train as I could buy a ticket on the day for a commuter train rather than a high speed booked one, so around 6pm I left Holly and Branka in Cologne while I headed on the train to Aachen (just under an hour away on a regular train- I think the super speedy ICE trains were more like 30 mins).

And the parkrun adventure will continue in another post…

Local parkruns to keep the tourist streak going!

A few weeks ago I was looking at the 5K app (the purple one, that incidentally is going to be the official parkrun app from December), and noticed that I was on my highest ever tourist streak (the number of different parkrun locations attended in a row). It’s not a challenge I have actively chased before, but previously my highest streak was 12 runs, so I was surprised to be on 18 without really focusing on it. With some tourism to Peckham Rye already in the diary (a few weeks ago) and more tourism coming up at the start of October, I decided to try to keep the streak going. This meant that for the final two weekends of September I could not repeat an event that was already in that tourist streak.

The streak started back in April when I went to North Walsham while we had a weekend in Norfolk, and then includes some local events (I will put these in bold) and some tourist trips:

North Walsham, Victoria Dock, Hackney Marshes, Pymmes, Ben’s Yard, Tokoinranta, Haga, Jersey Farm, Panshanger, Beckton, Letchworth, Preston Park, Jubilee, Egham Orbit, Clermont Waterfront, Harrow Lodge, Cassiobury, Irchester Country, Peckham Rye.

Often I’d easily repeat either Panshanger or Jersey Farm in between tourist trips, but for various reasons I’d not. A few of the trips were spur of the moment- sometimes I joined in with some OH ladies (Pymmes/ Cassiobury/ Irchester), some of them were planned trips for Cowell celebrations (Preston Park and Egham Orbit), some were while on holiday (Finland/ Sweden/ USA), but somehow I just had managed not to repeat any in all these months.

I also try to run with Dad when he is around, but happily he was keen to repeat venues rather than go to new ones as he is close to his Cowell (100 different parkrun locations) but doesn’t want to end up doing that while he is away. So last weekend we went to Oaklands College parkrun- it’s around a 1.2 mile run from where my parents live, so I drove there and then we ran up and back for a parkrun sandwich. I’d only been there to take part 3 times before (and once to marshal), despite it being so close, so it was very enjoyable to revisit. The ground is still quite rutted so for some of it we had to run single file rather than next to each other, so the chatting was harder, but it was enjoyable as always.

This Saturday I opted for St Albans parkrun. This was where parkrun started for me, and my brother decided to come along with us too which was fab. The weather was amazing- beautiful blue skies, calm air, perfect running weather. The last time I was there was April 2024, but the course was the same- out through the park along flat paths, into an old golf course where you do 2 undulating laps, and then back onto the flat path to go back to the start/finish area. The car park there charges from 9:30am onwards (and you could not just buy an hour, you had to get a minimum of 3 hours), so Dad was very tempted to not get a ticket, but I am glad I still got one as the run didn’t start bang on 9, and there was a bit of a queue in the funnel as we finished in the busiest section, so when I looked at my watch it was already 9:36 before we scanned. It meant we could take photos by the pop up and hang around the finish area for a bit- we ended up chatting to a few other runners and of course taking a few photos for other people too.

So, two more parkrun mornings complete, and two more venues added to the tourist streak! I don’t think I will be able to continue it all the way through October, as it is Panshanger’s birthday at some point and I do like to go to that. I have a few local events that are not in the streak yet, including Stevenage and Westmill, but there are 4 weekends to fill between that and my next parkrun tourist trip so I don’t think I can stretch it out.

Next up- some tourism involving some train travel- I am very excited about this! All will be revealed soon!

Do you use the 5K app? Are you excited that it will be an official parkrun app soon? What changes would you like to see?

Peckham Rye parkrun- learning about the Southwark Slam!

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.

Some repeats but keeping a tourist streak!

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.