Category: Stuff I love!

Burgess parkrun- a last minute decision and a panic jog

Burgess parkrun scenes including the lake that you run around

On the 15th July I was in London and so of course looked for a new parkrun to go to. Initially I had pencilled in Highbury Fields because it was fairly easy to get to (tube to Angel and then a mile walk up the high street), however due to the heat there were loads of issues with the trains and on Friday night when I checked, Angel station was closed and had been all day. I was also fairly near to Burgess (a couple of tube stops to Elephant and Castle, then a mile walk along Walworth Road), so opted for that. The journey planner said that the tube would only take 3 minutes, so I left later than I should have done. By the time I had walked through London Bridge station to the tube, time was getting on, and I came out at E&C at nearly quarter to 9! That didn’t give me a long time to get to the park and I was starting to panic about missing it. I thought I knew which way I needed to go as I’d looked at a map, but to be certain I looked at the maps on my phone but it was directing me to go a different way, so rather than risking running in the wrong direction I ran into a Sainsbury’s and asked a very helpful member of staff. Thankfully she pointed me in the right direction (the way I thought I needed to go until I checked my phone) and I made it to the park just as they called for the new runners welcome. Phew.

The route looked a little complicated online, and I had read on the excellent Blog 7t (amazing if you are a parkrun tourist) that you could get lost, but in the welcome they specifically said that you could not get lost on this course. Here’s hoping!

In fact it was pretty simple- basically a lollipop course, so out, around the lake, then back again. There were lots of marshals and I have to say that they were so enthusiastic (it reminded me of Ellenbrook Fields in that sense)- some of them were stood on benches but they were all whooping and cheering- not easy as some of them were in the full sun too.

As I got close to the lake the faster runners were heading back, but it didn’t ever feel congested (there were 322 runners that day to fairly busy). It was very hot that day, and the RD had warned everyone to take it easy. Some of the course had shade, but some was across open grassland so it was baking hot there. It is very flat though so on a cooler day it would be good for chasing a fast time. I somehow managed to finish in under 30 minutes which for a hot day was good for me.

In the out and back portion you ran through an underpass, and it had some interesting artworks, so once I had finished I walk/jogged back to take a look before heading back to the station. It had all these boats to commemorate the canal that was there (but had been filled in), some had things like wooden bottles carved into them (there used to be an R Whites warehouse in this location so it commemorated that too). I could also see The Shard across the park too- it really is quite central.

I was so pleasantly surprised by the park in general- I hadn’t been there before and didn’t know what to expect, but it had lots of interesting features including lots of wildflower meadows and flower beds, tennis courts, and a very nice looking café.  Check out Blog 7t if you want to find out more about the history of the park.

That was my 280th parkrun and my 86th different venue- ever so slowly creeping towards the next milestone!

A weekend in London- tea blending, Hamilton and Reasons to Be Cheerful pod

For Christmas, Andy gave me a voucher for a tea blending workshop from Bird and Blend Tea co (my fave tea shop), and one Friday in July I went to one of the events. (They have them fairly often at their shops but as we are not that local to one it involved travelling into London after work so logistically was a bit tricky to sort).

For Andy’s birthday I had booked tickets for Hamilton, and that was on the Saturday, so we opted to stay in a hotel for the Friday.

The workshop was at 6:30 so I had to head to the train station straight from work, and Andy met me having ordered an early dinner of pizza. (He had also been to the Crosstown cart close to the station and got us a doughnut to share later, and some of their cinnamon scroll almond butter which I have been keen to try). We had time for a short walk around Borough Market before I went in to the shop.

I was a little apprehensive as I was going there on my own, and when I got there everyone else was in pairs/ couples, but it was all so friendly and welcoming that I didn’t feel odd being by myself. During the evening you can have tea cocktails (or mocktails) or any of the teas they make, so I went for an iced chai (because theirs is amazing). There was a little warm up matching game to play when we arrived, matching up samples of tea to their type, and we impressed them by getting them all correct!

When we arrived each person had their name tag given to them, along with a tote bag containing some samples (including a pouch of their Bucks Fizz tea because a couple of people were celebrating birthdays), paper to make notes on and the empty pouches for blending.

Throughout  the evening we were given samples (one of each type of tea, eg one fruity  tea, one green tea), some were hot,  some cold brewed in water or lemonade, and even had a proper matcha demo, whisking it up first before letting us try one pure matcha and one flavoured topped with coconut milk.

Finally, we got to make our  own blends. They had tins of base tea (black, green, rooibos, white etc) and then add ins (rose petals, chai spices, lemon peel- all sorts).

I decided I would do one black tea, one rooibos and one fruity, as those are my favourite types. I really love their Belle’s Breakfast tea (black tea with rose petals) so I made my own even more floral version with rose, lavender and cocoa shells. I added chai spices and cardamom to my rooibos base, and then did a mix for hopefully cold-brew tea with hibiscus, chamomile, rose, orange peel, lemon thyme and lemongrass.

Special cinnamon scroll almond butter plus the tote bag and my tea blends

At the very end we could also purchase anything from the shop with a discount, and handily we needed some top ups so I bought a few too- the tote bag was very handy then!

I thoroughly enjoyed it and would happily do another one at some point too.

It was super hot that weekend (it was just before the ridiculous climate change heatwave) so the air con in the hotel room was very much enjoyed as we shared our doughnut!

Saturday morning was of course parkrun day, but I will get to that on another post as this will be too long otherwise. After checking out of the hotel we had a wander around the centre, getting sandwiches from Pret and eating them by the river before walking  to the theatre to see Hamilton. This was our third time of seeing it and it is still just as impressive- the energy from the performers is intense and it was just fantastic to see a live show.

London in the sunshine, cool sculpture at Kings Place, junior parkrun and Hamilton set

Sunday started at junior parkrun. I was going to meet my niece and nephew there again (they’ve been enjoying it) but they were not well, so I offered to volunteer. I ended up doing the funnel manager job, which I’d not done before. We only had 39 runners and not many coming in at the same time so it was not too tricky to keep track, but I think I’d find it very stressful at a busier event.

Then we were off to London in the afternoon again, this time to go to see Reasons to be Cheerful podcast at Kings Place (right by Kings Cross station). It’s a really nice venue- we’ve seen a few podcasts there- and the discussion was really interesting (it’s called Cabinet of Chaos if you are interested)- a range of guests in the first part and then Sadiq Khan in the second part.

What is your favourite show to go and see?

Ally Pally parkrun!

Yes, that’s it’s actual name!

(It takes place in the grounds of Alexandra Palace but it really is called Ally Pally parkrun)

The train line from WGC to London goes through Alexandra Palace so quite often I’ve looked out of the window at the big TV aerial, but I’ve never been to it. I really enjoyed my mini parkrun tourism to Finsbury park (also on the same line) so I decided that I’d head to Ally Pally this summer. They were cancelled on many weekends, so my only option was 9th July, and I got chatting to two running friends who fancied heading there too, so a date was booked.

To get to Alexandra Palace train station means taking a slow train, as the fast ones don’t stop there. It also meant there was only one train every half an hour, and the last possible one was around 8am getting in just after 8.30, meaning that if that was cancelled or delayed, the train after that would be too late. Happily my co-tourists agreed that the 7.30 train was not ridiculous but sensible, so we met on the train (I ran to the station, they drove to Hatfield and got on there).

The park is right by the train station, so we had plenty of time to wander around, walk up to the palace, admire the views across London, look at the ducklings in the lake and find out that no toilets were open before 9am. (This is fine for me because I hate using public toilets, but could be useful info for others).

At around 8:45 we wandered down to the start line and there was hardly anyone around! I wondered if because they had been off for a few weeks people had gone elsewhere, but it was a proper flash-mob parkrun in that one the new runners welcome was finished, it was packed (274 runners in a fairly narrow start).

They told us it was their summer route, essentially two laps but starting in the centre. You ran out from the centre, did two laps, and then ran back in to the start/finish (in the opposite direction). It was really varied, with parts of it being through open meadows, with views up to the palace, and parts in woods which were lovely and cool. Some of it was on tarmac paths, but some were dirt paths where you had to watch out for tree roots. There were a couple of steep hills, but one of them had the most enthusiastic marshal at the bottom reminding everyone that they could do it. There was also one very steep downhill section which I just could not run down!

I did speed up a bit too soon for the final sprint as I didn’t realise quite how long we had run before joining the loop!

Scenes from the run, finish token and the 3 of us at the sign

Because the trains weren’t that frequent and I needed to get back (we had to pick up some medication from Watford hospital) we didn’t hang around for too long after, but of course we had the train journey home to chat together too.

It was such an enjoyable morning out- I would happily go back there, and I’d be interested to see their winter route too. I don’t mind hills (we don’t have that many flat parkruns in Herts) and it was very varied which made it interesting.

That was my 85th parkrun venue, for number 279. Slowly heading towards the big 100!

Which parkrun do you think has the best name?

Let’s go ride a bike! Plus marshalling at parkrun and Ellenbrook Field memories

In my marshal spot, plus scenes of the park on the walk there.

At the beginning of July I marshalled at Panshanger. I always remember how much I prefer to marshal in the summer as it’s so nice to stand around in the hot weather (nicer than running?). Coincidentally I had a memory pop up from marshalling at Ellenbrook Fields- pretty much the same date and same weather. Of course being able to run to and from Panshanger is great (now that the start has moved it’s much closer) but it is just not the same.

Breakfast of strawberries, granola and pb, me noticing that my nails matched the high vis and my trainers, and the EF marshal point (you can tell it’s old because the bib is yellow)

I’d ordered a new bike ages ago (April) and it finally arrived, so after breakfast I walked into town to collect it. I wasn’t brave enough to cycle home but had planned a ride on Sunday.

Sunday was busy, as I was meeting my niece and nephew at junior parkrun, plus I had a fair bit of work to do. I got up early and did a 10k run, ran the junior parkrun and then did another 3 miles on the way home. I powered through work and then decided to head out on my bike before it rained. I cycled to Panshanger to where the lovely Planted Coffee Co have their van (they are totally plant based and offer loads of gorgeous drinks and home-made goodies), and then had an iced tea. I then realised I was quite hungry as it was about 3pm and I’d not had lunch, so I bought one of their sausage rolls to have at home.

Riding my bike, those clouds, iced tea stop

I really enjoyed the ride- it was just under 9 miles there and back which was far enough to get used to changing the gears but not so far that I was exhausted.

Once home I had the sausage roll and made an iced tea (I had some left over peach cobbler tea which I’d left to cool, so topped it with a little oat milk and ice) and watched Wimbledon. I knew my dad was on and managed to spot him.  Later I was still a bit hungry so made some scones to have with fruit and jam. It felt like a sort of Wimbledon snack!

Do you like cycling? 

Summer song season and other June happenings

I do like alliteration for a title!

I love going to see live music, and what with one thing and another we suddenly had lots of gigs. The day we got back from France we were off to Knebworth for Liam Gallagher and Kasabian, and the next evening The Killers (which had been my birthday present from Andy in 2020- we heard one person walking in saying that it was a present from her ex and she had to get back in touch with him to get the tickets! Shows how much time has passed). I like Oasis and LG did lots of those songs, but the crowd are not “my people” (letting off flares, taking all sorts of drugs, throwing cups of beer over the crowd…). The stage was in a dip so I could not see at all- I much prefer to see a tiny person in real life rather than a big screen as it feels more real, plus I love watching all the musicians play. So it was good but not as good as the other shows we went to.

I’d not seen The Killers before and absolutely loved it. It was a proper stadium rock show, with lights, fireworks, lasers, confetti, different videos on the big screens for each song, and just such an uplifting feeling. Whereas with LG there was that “attitude”, Brandon Flowers (lead singer) just seemed to love being there. At one point they got someone out of the crowd to drum for them- yes this happened at each of their shows but it was exciting to see.

Glasto on the TV, outdoor yoga, watching Bohemian Rhapsody and reading Dave Grohl.

Later on we went to see Queen with Adam Lambert (another meant-to-be-in-2020 gig), which was brilliant- I loved all the outfit changes and the fact that everyone in the audience was just so full of joy. Finally we had an evening at Hyde Park to see Elton John- a slight tone shift from the other shows but still so impressive. Although this was the day of our school trip so I was slightly shattered and had to sit on the grass for several songs because I just did not have the energy to even stand.

After all the shows, it was fab to see Glastonbury on the TV and to enjoy seeing various bands- Wolf Alice were a particular highlight and reminded me of when we saw them at Latitude last year. Watching Bohemian Rhapsody was great to see all the songs, and I still need to watch Rocketman again after seeing Elton John.

Another June highlight was an in-person yoga class! Often we have had a special one on the summer solstice, and this year we could use the little community centre garden. The weather was perfect and we managed to spend the entire class outside, including a 30 minute meditation at the end. The garden was decorated with bunting, we had candles everywhere (keep those midgies away) and it was so good to meet in person rather than on Zoom. Although the bonus with zoom is that there is no need to drive home after!

Yes they had a hill called The Stinger- just when you thought all the hills were done, this was around 8 or 9k in and around the bend there was more hill!

Finally I did an actual race! I was hoping to do one of the Ware Ten races (10k or 10 miles) but it was the same day as the Grand Prix which Andy had tickets to, so he was already using the car. A few weeks ago I was given a leaflet at parkrun for the Welwyn 10k, in the village close to here, so I decided to sign up. I knew it was hilly, but didn’t actually know how hard it would be. Lovely scenery, and at one point I could see about 15 red kites all circling above the road, but so hilly. It didn’t start until 11am so I ran there first (4 miles) but it was super warm by the time we started running. I walked a couple of the hills but I was doing it to enjoy it and not to worry about the time.

The best bit? When you finished you could help yourself to fruit (bananas, apples or satsumas)- a juicy satsuma/ orange is just what I fancy when I finish running in the heat- perfect.

I got Andy to pick me up as I didn’t fancy another 4 miles (plus we had jobs to do like going to the library so we did those on the way back).

The main negative of June was Andy getting covid. Thankfully he was just really unwell for one day, and then not too bad after, but in a bid to try and not catch it I slept on the sofa and we kept as separate as possible (I’d make tea, bring it up and leave it on the landing and he’d come out of his office to get it).  I did manage to steer clear of it so I suppose it was worth the week of hardly any sleep?

Do you like seeing live music?