Travelling Tales - Maria Runs

Wakehurst parkrun- en route to Brighton

We had to be in Brighton for Sunday evening for a comedy show, but at the last minute we decided to head down on the Saturday and spend the weekend there. After thinking we’d head down after I’d been to parkrun, Andy suggested leaving early (to beat the traffic) and doing a parkrun on the way instead. I’d seen Wakehurst parkrun mentioned a few times and liked the look of it, and it had parking and a cafe on site so Andy would have things to look at while I ran, so at 7am on Saturday, off we went. Wakehurst Gardens are a bit like a National Trust place, in that it’s paid entry, but they are linked with Kew Gardens. Our NT cards got us free entry, but the parking is free for parkrunners until 11am, and then after that NT members have to pay.

The journey was great (we have driven to Brighton later on Saturdays before and been stuck in a lot of traffic) and we arrived just after 8:30 so I headed off to find the toilets and start area. Because it doesn’t open until later, there were signs out saying you had to stick to the parkrun route, but the route covers a lot of the grounds so I felt like I saw a lot. The cafe didn’t open until 9am so Andy didn’t head over until after the parkrun had started, but if we went there again I think he’d come to the start area as there were people hanging around.

The start is right by the mansion house, dwarfed by an enormous redwood tree. Next to it is the stump of another redwood that had to be cut down as it was damaged in a storm- seeing the side of the cross section of the trunk was amazing, and it made for some good pop up photos!

I was at event 74, and I think they still get a fair amount of tourists because at the first timers welcome the volunteer said they’d explain the route during the main briefing, so only brand new parkrunners needed to attend. It’s two laps and very well marshalled and signed though so fairly self explanatory.

They did some seeding at the start with volunteers holding up signs (eg 28-35 minute finish times) as the paths were fairly narrow.

I really loved this parkrun as there was so much to see on the way around- all the autumnal colours were appearing and you ran through a range of different gardens.

I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so undulating though! We were warned of a hill that was “worse in the second lap” but I think all of it apart from the section by the mansion house was either uphill or downhill.

After finishing and scanning I met up with Andy at the finish area (a quick photo by the tree) and we headed in to the cafe.

The queue wasn’t that long but the wait was. It looked like an NT cafe with a fridge with ready made sandwiches, stands with cakes (not personally a fan of the help yourself in these types of cafes after seeing the handles of the tongs touching the food etc), hot drinks and some hot food including croissants. They had labels on some items, but not others, so I wasn’t sure what was vegan, so I opted for a tea (I had packed breakfast with me in case). The wait to place our order was probably 15 minutes, and then after ordering the wait was probably that again. I’d bought a change of clothes with me, so after waiting for a bit, I changed in the toilets, came back, and Andy was still waiting for our drinks. We were keen to have a look around the gardens after, but I think it was around 10:20 by the time we had our drinks. They seemed to have a lot of staff there, but maybe it’s busier in one go than it would be usually at other times of the day?

We had time for a quick walk around some of the other gardens (and of course a look in the shop) before heading back to the car for the final part of the journey into Brighton. We’d both go back for a longer visit as you could definitely spend a long time there- both exploring the gardens and visiting the Millennium seed bank.

As it was a new location, it kept my tourist streak going for another week- that was the 24th different one visited without repeating.

That was parkrun 422, and my 142nd location. It was a satisfying chunk on the map too!

Below are a few photos from Brighton- of course walks by the sea were enjoyed (as well as a nearly 12 mile run on the Sunday morning), lots of delicious food, and the comedy show on the Sunday evening. Combining parkrun with a weekend away is the best kind of parkrun tourism for me.

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…

A revisit to Clermont Waterfront parkrun (Florida)

I was in Florida for a family holiday (11 of us), and happily we had one Saturday spare, so parkrun was on the agenda for me.

Compared to the UK where we have so many close by, the parkruns in the USA are spread very thinly- it always amuses me to open the 5K app and look at the NENDY list on there- the next event can be hundreds of miles away. This meant a revisit to Clermont Waterfront parkrun, but I was very happy to go back there.

I first attended this location in 2022 (reclaiming my USA flag, which had gone from my profile after Crissy Fields ceased), and really enjoyed the out and back course by the lake.

In 2023, I went there again, and this time ran their B course, as the main course was being used for a triathlon (this totally panicked me, as we drove in at about 7:10 and I could see the path was thick with runners so I worried that it was in fact a 7am start rather than 7:30). The B course was two laps away from the lake, under trees and between scrubland and bushes, and I was daydreaming and managed to get lost on the second lap!

*View of the sunrise over the lake right by the start area*

This time, there were no dramas. I had looked online and saw that the triathlon was being held on the Sunday, so I wouldn’t need to worry about that, and of course I double and triple checked that it started at 7:30am. We were staying in a Disney resort, and it’s a fair way (around 45 min drive)- it would be a long uber/lyft and I am not sure how easy it would be to get one back after the event. There are no public transport options at all, and I was very glad that Andy had agreed to drive, as I am not the most confident driver when following directions. When we arrived there was a bit of a queue to enter the car park, so I hopped out and popped to the toilet block while he found a parking space. I then had time to wander around, walk to the lake to take some sunrise photos, listen to the welcome and the main briefing, and take a few pre-run photos of the start area. One of the Australian boomerangs was there, but they had already handed it over to the next family when I got there- I did consider asking for a picture but it was being looked after by some kids so I didn’t feel it was appropriate.

First timers welcome and the main briefing- the parkrun flag is by the road and car park entrance so it’s very clear when you arrive where you need to go. I love all the Spanish moss hanging down from the trees too.

I did feel sorry for one of the volunteers who was tasked with keeping people to one side of the walking/cycle track, as there were loads of members of public out walking/running/cycling who were not part of parkrun, and during the briefing it got very crowded around there.

It was a prompt start, and it felt a little crowded while everyone settled in to their pace. I overtook lots of walkers, and had to weave around a bit before I found a place to settle into. It wasn’t surprising- the previous week they had a course record of 274 people attending, and this week was just shy of that with 264. The paths by the lake are lovely and wide, with cycle and walking tracks for each direction, clearly painted on the floor, so after the initial section there was plenty of space. The sun was up just before 7, there were beautiful views across the lake with the early morning sunlight, some of the path was shaded with big trees, and there was lots to look at (boats on the water, bird boxes along the shore, facilities such as play parks).

*Top right is the slope down to the turnaround point. There are a few signs on the route, as a few points the path splits so you just follow the signs. There was a marshal at the u-turn.*

I had been in Florida for a couple of weeks by this point, and had been out running every 2 or 3 days, so I was more acclimatised to the heat and humidity, and I think that helped as I managed to push on and keep up quite a high pace. Near the turnaround point there is a slope which you run down on the way out, so I walked back up that on the way back and I think that helped to power me through.

*They have so many flags fluttering by the finish line- I got a photo soon after finishing, and then went hunting for the sign to hold.* Note the two buffs to help with the humidity situation! I usually just have one!

I had looked at my previous times on the 5K app, so when I finished in just over 30 minutes I knew it should be a course pb, as my previously fastest time was nearly 33 mins.

*Course pb sign, and some of the other signs available*

This turned out to be lucky, as when I finished I went looking for their little photo prop signs. They have them for each milestone, and also ones that say “I ran at Clermont parkrun”- I got that one, asked someone to take a photo and was then congratulated by them- I realised after that the signs were double sided but said different things on the reverse, so where I thought I was holding the general “I ran here” sign, I was actually holding a “I got a pb” sign.

*Bespoke token holder, photos (which I need to look at…), the parkrun flag by the path and all the flags at the finish funnel.*

As is always the case, if you hover by the pop up sign, you will end up chatting to other tourists, so of course I ended up finding some people who were fairly local to me, and one of them had managed an all time pb there! That is impressive. It is hard to describe the humidity until you experience it, but I could not take a selfie because my phone was slipping out of my hand- I was glad I had brought a towel for the car seat on the way back!

So that was parkrun 413 for me, and my 3rd at Clermont. I love touring, but it was so enjoyable to visit somewhere that I had been already- I knew where the car park/toilets/start areas were, I knew the route, and as it was so scenic it was just wonderful to be running alongside the lake. One I would happily return to again.

Are you happy to revisit or if you are touring do you like to go to a new parkrun each time?

Haga parkrun in Stockholm, Sweden

As mentioned in my previous post, I was in the nordics and aiming to do the special extra parkrun on Ascension Day, which this year fell on the Thursday of May half term- perfect! We’d arrived in Stockholm on the Tuesday evening, so I had plenty of time to explore the city.

I had opted to go to Haga on the Thursday, as this was the most central one. It was around 4km from the hotel we stayed in (again by the central station), and as public transport didn’t seem to go directly there, I thought I’d go for a parkrun sandwich, running there and back.

As same as in Finland, the parkruns in Sweden started at 9:30, and again, I checked and double checked this many times! I left the hotel at 8:30 and ran/walked there. As there was a big road without footpaths right by the park, the maps took me to the west of the park before curving over to the park. It was 2.7 miles, so a nice warm up, and a lot of it was along one main straight road. (But remember this for my journey back…)

My route there:

As I arrived into the park I could see the pop up and high viz vests right away, so I was relived, as with a big park you never quite know where the start will be, and whether it will be obvious or not, but this one was easy to find once there.

*Frame photos and a few of photos of the route*, *plus the most enthusiastic marshal ever.*

There were already lots of tourists there, and as I got to the park (at about 9:10) they called the first timers welcome, although it turned out that they did a few of these, so as I missed the start of this one, I went back to another one- done excellently by the RD who spoke in Swedish and then English for us all. He explained that as it was a holiday, lots of Swedes would be in their summer homes, and in the main briefing after calling out some tourists, called for a show of hands for local runners, which got a big laugh.

The route was fairly simple- run out of the park into the forest, complete two laps of the forest and then run back to the start/finish area. One side was uphill and then as you ran towards the lake it was downhill, but with beautiful views. It reminded me of Panshanger in a way, although that is one lap, because of the up and down nature, and running through woods and by the lake.

Map

I did briefly think I was lost as when I first entered the park there were two marshals, including the most enthusiastic one (he was literally leaping up and down, cheering everyone, running alongside runners and then running back to his spot and then repeating this!). When I got back to them after my first lap, they had split up, and I thought that the other marshal had moved forwards to a later point, so when I got to the liveliest one, I thought I’d need to turn back to the start. However I was following some other runners and they kept on going. I even briefly got out maps on my phone but it wouldn’t show me in enough detail, so I decided to keep going. I then found the other marshal, so it turns out that the one I thought had moved hadn’t. That sounds confusing, but basically after stopping and then going a bit more, I found the exit to the loop to go back to the finish.

It was such a beautiful course, and perfect to have so much shade on such a hot day.

The copper tents were at the top of the hill, and then as you looked down you could see the water.

After finishing I stood around for ages, mainly chatting to other tourists and hearing about their plans for the upcoming Saturday. Some of them sounded disappointed for me that I wasn’t going to another nordic one (as we came home on the Friday) but I had wanted to run in Finland, and now Sweden was my final nordic country (having already run in Denmark and Norway), so I was pleased to have achieved that and also attended a special event. I loved the feel of it- everyone was so excited and there was so much chat and taking photos and just enjoying the atmosphere of the event.

After a few more photos I decided to start heading back. Now, this below may look like the same map, but it is very much not! First of all, maps wanted me to leave the park by the south exit. This was where the majority of parkrunners were going, so I figured that there must be an exit. Wrong. There was loads of construction work going on, and I reached an underpass with the pedestrian exit very firmly fenced in, with big no entry signs and no way around (apart from going onto a busy road that looked like a dual carriageway). After going for nearly half a mile I admitted defeat and retraced my steps, exiting the way I had come in.

I am just so glad that the getting lost happened on the way back, because if I had been directed to the other side of the construction, I am not sure I could have navigated around it, certainly not in time, so may well have missed out.

So this was all fine, but added a bit. Then I got a bit lost finding our hotel. The area around the main station is on different levels, and in the morning I left the hotel, walked along the street for a bit, over a bridge (over the road I needed), down pedestrian steps and then onto the road. The maps took me a lot of the same way as I recognised lots, but then I could see the road going over the road I was on, but there were no steps, so I must have come down a similar one. Anyway, I wandered around a bit, followed signs for the Arlanda express (the airport train) and eventually got into the station and then out to our hotel- 4 miles later!

Stats- that was parkrun 405, my 11th country and 134th event. Another flag added to my profile as well.

But also, it meant I got to go back to Stockholm. The only time I’ve been before was in 2011 when Andy and I ran the Stockholm marathon (coincidentally, it was the marathon the Saturday after we flew home)- and although we did some sightseeing it was not the most fun to be walking around a city while struggling to walk down stairs. It is full of beautiful buildings and again being by the water just adds such a good feel to the place, so we did lots of walking around the various areas of the city, onto the different islands and through different parks.

So that wraps up our little trip north, and what a fab trip it was. parkrun is a great reason to travel somewhere else, and all three places that we visited were wonderful.

Next up- some slightly more local touring and some repeats as well.