Category: Travelling Tales

Poolbeg parkrun- lucky Ireland meant I somehow managed to get there

For the Easter holidays, the two of us had planned a trip to Ireland. Neither of us had ever been, and so we mapped out a road trip, beginning and ending in Dublin, but taking in a lot of the Ireland (NI and ROI). Andy is usually in charge of holiday itineraries, and with parkrun I try to manage to get to one if possible, but it doesn’t always happen and that’s fine. Happily he mentioned to me that every Saturday we would be somewhere with a parkrun- result! 3 more parkruns to visit!

We flew to Dublin on the Friday evening (which I found very stressful, having not flown for a couple of years, and finding the experience stressful pre-pandemic), and our flight was delayed taking off so we didn’t check into our hotel until gone midnight. In Ireland the parkruns don’t start until 9:30am, so it meant I had a bit more time in the morning. After my disaster going to Finsbury park (I went the wrong way out of the train station) I realised I needed to be more prepared, so I had written out instructions from our hotel to Poolbeg parkrun, the closest one to our hotel- around 4km away, so a nice warm up and cool down. I loaded up the map onto my phone, put in my headphones and headed off. Andy told me he had every confidence in me (clearly a mistake) and reminded me to look at my surroundings on the way so I would recognise the way back.  It was fairly straightforward- a lot of “go straight on”, so when the maps stopped talking to me in my ears I didn’t think anything of it at first. I kept turning around and looking behind me to see landmarks that could help me find my way back later. I had seen some of the landmarks on my piece of paper, and thought I might be parallel to the route I’d mapped out. However, after 2 miles I stopped and found out that despite getting the “welcome to Ireland” text, roaming was in fact not working, and I’d not thought to download the maps so they worked offline. I tried to head back the way I had some, but it was no use, I was around 2 miles from the parkrun, at around 9:10, and with no way to navigate there. I could have just run back to the hotel, but I really didn’t want to miss parkrun- being so near to one and with it planned in just seemed like such a waste.

I was actually aiming for bottom right of this map- where it says Irishtown. So yes, I was lost. Also, when I went to save this, the title “lost” was already taken. That’s saying something!

By some stroke of luck I ran past a queue of taxis, so then had a bit of a back and forwards (ask a taxi driver, “are you taking fares?”, no, but he is, ask him “do you take credit cards as I have no cash?”, no, but he does…), finally finding one who would take me. He was so friendly, and very amused that I had got lost running- it took a while for me to explain I was running to an organised run. He tried a couple of places as I could not load up the website to give instructions (and my paper instructions were no good to anybody), and then when we finally arrived the credit card machine wouldn’t work at first. It was by this point 9:30am and I was still half a mile from the start- I dashed out of the taxi and as I ran past some people walking asked them if they knew where the parkrun started. “Keep going to the end of this path and then turn left, but you’ve missed the start” thy told me, and I called back that hopefully I could catch up with the tail walker. As I rounded the corner I was so relieved to see a group of runners and high viz covered volunteers still stood around- the briefing was still going on! I hadn’t missed it!!!

It didn’t start until 9:40, so I had a chance to catch my breath and calm down (I really was panicked) and then I could enjoy the parkrun- my first in Ireland. It was really beautiful by the water- there was a big power station (or electricity factory as I called it), and the course ran around a small park, out and back along the bay and then through the park again.  The out and back part along the coast had a fairly steep hill on the out section, which you got to run back down again on the way back, so I took a few photos there- it was so pretty with the sun shining off the water, even on an overcast day.

It was a speedy one- I was 77th out of 84 finishers, and the tail walker finished in 42 minutes (obviously this could be different each week) so I was glad I didn’t start behind as it would have been hard to catch up!

At this point I thought that text messages were still working but the internet wasn’t (due to me receiving the welcome text) so I sent one to Andy telling him it started late so I’d be back later than expected, only of course that message didn’t send. I then had to somehow get back to our hotel….

I looked at my handwritten notes and tried to work them out in reverse- I could picture the map so knew I needed to keep the coast on my right and gradually head left and up, but basically I would run along for a bit, stop and ask someone “which way to the city centre please?” and then head off in the direction that I was pointed in. When I was closer to the centre I found a council worker in a high viz jacket and so I asked him for directions to our hotel, and he gave me excellent directions (and even made me repeat them so I didn’t get muddled)- I was so relieved to see some of the shops that I had spotted earlier on. That run ended up being 3.5 miles- you can see below that I didn’t take the most direct route (and went totally wrong once) but thankfully all the people I asked pointed me in the right direction and I made it back.

Andy was rather worried as I had estimated I would be back at around 10:30 but the late start combined with the longer run back meant it was nearly 11am by the time I got back. Time for a quick shower and then a walk to get some breakfast (delicious acai bowl)- on Friday we’d had a sandwich in the airport at around 6.30pm and that felt like a long time ago by this point!

So, more lessons learned (always download the map so it works offline….) but my 81st different parkrun visited, my 6th parkrun country, and another really enjoyable course.

Are you good at navigating? I have the worst sense of direction.

Preston Park parkrun and Brighton Half 2022

Since I’ve been running half marathons, most years I’ve run the Brighton half. The 2021 one was postponed to October, so it felt like I had only recently run it. I always love a weekend in Brighton though, and the weather was set to be beautiful for this time of year too.

We drove down on the Friday night, parked near Preston park station, and then had to get a rail replacement bus to the centre, where we were staying for the weekend.

Pavilion in the sunshine, the end of parkrun and a person dressed as a traffic cone!

I’d decided to go to Preston Park parkrun, partly because it was away from the coast and would be a change from the half route (you run along the Hove Prom parkrun route in the half marathon) but also it would increase my p index to 6, as I’d been to 5 parkruns at least 6 times, and Preston Park 5 times. It was a beautiful day as I ran there, with blue skies and the feeling of spring on the way. I got quite warm running, although there was a chilly wind so as soon as I stopped I got quite cold.  I picked up my free Caffe Nero on the way back as I really wanted a tea to warm up.

I noticed that next to our hotel, a new version of the Wolfox café had opened, so we popped there for breakfast. Going to a place to eat in still feels quite alien, but it was nice and spacious with the door open the whole time, and so it felt OK. They did vegan French toast which was delicious, but their pancakes are also vegan and looked amazing so I am sure we will be back to sample some other delights.

We then wandered around to Hove, got a drink from Bird and Blend, and generally enjoyed the sunshine.

I did have some admin that needed to be done however. I needed to renew my driving licence with a new photo, and even though it says you can do it online, I can’t, because my passport is too new (3 years old) or too old, or something ridiculous. I’d tried in half term many times, I’d tried the online chat but that was just a bot, tried calling but you just had a message saying “we’re too busy, try again later”, and had emailed but had no reply. Very frustrating, so the options left were to go to the Post Office, or do it by post. There were no post offices where I live that did it, but 2 in Brighton, so we popped to one, only to be told that their photo booths  had been switched off the day before, and the tablets that had ben sent in place didn’t yet work. We tried a second one but it was the same story. So frustrating!

We ended the day with pizza from Fatto A Mano, as they do a really good vegan pizza, although I think I prefer the vegan cheese from Purezza so would probably choose that next time. I did well over 30,000 steps which probably isn’t the best prep?

Our hotel was very central, so I didn’t have to get up that early which was a bonus. I could not decide what to wear- vest, vest over long sleeved top or t-shirt. In the end I went for the t-shirt as I knew I’d heat up once I started running. As Andy walked with me to the start, he could take my long sleeved top back for me so I didn’t have to tie it around my waist while running.

It felt windier than the previous day, and I was initially worried about being cold, but really I should have worried more about how hard the wind would make it!

It didn’t take long for us to start- my pen was the 2-2.15 pen, but I couldn’t find a way to get into that one, so I ended up at the back of the 1.45-2.00 pen, which was nicely spaced out. Like last time, I ran on feel, barely checking my watch at all. I noticed a few of the mile markers but mainly just enjoyed the route, listening to other runners, reading signs in the crowds etc.  I think one thing I need to remember with this is that the turnaround points are always further than you think! The first bit is uphill and isn’t usually too bad, but this time we were running into the wind so it felt tough from the outset.

After 3 miles we turned away from the wind and the relief was amazing! You can see from my splits that I got a bit quicker- downhill and with the wind behind me it’s not surprising. At this point (and for the whole loop into the town and back) I was just behind a runner in a Vegan Runners vest (I had my buff with me) who took her role very seriously. She was constantly shouting “you can’t love animals if you eat them”, over and over again. Now, while I agree with her sentiment (the weird disconnect people have that they love their dogs or cats but happily eat chickens or pigs or cows), I am not sure anyone is going to change their mind hearing someone shout it at them from a race, and probably does more to make people annoyed with people being all preachy than it will actually help anything. I’m not sure if she went past me or if I managed to speed up, but I was quite relieved when somewhere along the seafront we were not together any more.

There are a few sections where you head into a little square of streets before going back to the seafront, and each time you got a taste of the wind and the final few miles as turning back onto the main road you’d get battered by the wind. Those final 3 miles were going to be fun…

As you can see, as we turned and ran into the wind, everyone slowed. It felt as if I was barely moving, and even though that was my slowest mile it was still a pretty good speed. I like the 10 mile point as you can tell yourself that it’s just a parkrun to go, and in Brighton you reach the Hove Prom parkrun course along this section. The i360 tower just seems so small when you turn at first, but soon you get closer and the crowds get even bigger- it really does help having people cheer you on.

I was so glad when the finish gantry came into view as battling the wind for those final 30 minutes was tough, even with the beautiful sea views! I crossed the line in 2:07:37, again feeling pleased to be in front of the 2.15 pacer. I have mixed feelings about the times, because on the one hand I tried for ages to get a sub 2, I achieved it once in Brighton but then the course was short. I worked out that if I had continued at the same speed, it still would have been under 2, but it isn’t the same a actually running it. But then running at that speed is hard. I enjoy running by the sea, and love the race atmosphere, so shall I just continue to enjoy it and not worry about the times? But then if I finish sooner then it’s less of a rush to check out…

The goodie bag was terrible! Not that I do a race for the bag, but other than a can of water (love that it’s easier to recycle and that there are actually recycling bins along the seafront), look at what you got! Some energy gels, a tab filled with artificial sweeteners (bleurgh to both of those)- the only saving grace was the Bird and Blend teabag sample- chocolate digestives tea woohoo! No banana or cereal bar or anything to have- I’m not sure many people are clamouring to eat (drink?) an energy gel when they finish running.

I couldn’t hang about as we had to check out from the hotel at 12.00, and as this was around 11.15 and it takes ages to battle through the crowds (I love Brighton but they have a weird set up with the toilets in the way and it’s always so congested). I did have a selfie by the sea with the medal, of course. I made it back just in time to have a speedy shower, gulp down the tea that Andy had made for me in the room, and then head out to get some lunch.

Before the race, after, the pier and a delicious burger for lunch

We went to Leon for lunch and then headed to the station (via Bird and Blend for an amazing strawberry and nutella pancakes tea latte). This was probably a mistake, as the rail replacement buses were not frequent, and when we finally got on one, the streets around the station were gridlocked so we definitely could have walked back much quicker. Ah well. A fab weekend as always.

Also, can we appreciate how well I did with my nail varnish? I like to paint my nails before a race, and it just so happened that the colour I picked matches perfectly with the medal ribbon!

Best or worst goodie bag item?

Disneyland Paris Feb 22

We were meant to be going to DLP for New Year’s but of course what with one thing and another, we had to re-book our trip, so on the Tuesday of half term we headed into London to get the Eurostar.

The perfect time to wear my Magic Moon “Tired of Not Being at Disney top”! Our train was after lunch time, and usually you can get there fairly soon before the departure time, but the Covid and Brexit checks meant getting there earlier. We got a Leon for lunch, and then picked up sandwiches from Pret to have for dinner once we arrived. I also got a raspberry croissant to have for breakfast the following day because I love them and who knows what I’d find for breakfast in the supermarket.

Our journey was really good- we got some of those proper filtering masks to wear on the train, and then the transfer in Paris was fine (you have to do a stop on the underground, and then get a train out to Disney), and we got to our Air BnB sooner than we thought- enough time for dinner and then to walk over to the supermarket. Our apartment was close to Val D’Europe, a huge shopping centre one stop on the train (or just over a mile walk) from Disney.

We were up bright and early on our first day and got to the parks for some of the magic hours. We managed to do lots of rides, although we queued outside the Phantom Manor for ages before giving up because it seemed it had broken down before the day had even started. Across our 3 days we did pretty much all the rides several times (I think a record on Haunted Mansion in the end, as it often has huge queues).

The work on the castle had finished, so it was completely cleared (in October it was still behind lots of screens) and we could visit the stained glass windows inside. The parades were back, as well as the little impromptu mini ones. Most excitingly, I found vegan croissants in the supermarket!

Pret sunshine pot, vegan chocolate cake and mulled apple juice, vegan burrito and the vegan kitchen menu

The vegan food options are improving all of the time. They had some food trucks (which before we’d seen as part of the Christmas market) and there was one vegan kitchen that had all options. We got some butternut squash soup from another truck one day, and I sampled the vegan sandwich (tasty), the mulled apple juice (so good on a cold evening) and the warm chocolate cake. I even tried some roasted chestnuts one day- I’d never had them before and quite liked them-more like sweet potatoes than nuts, but again good and warming. The vegan wrap was still available in the main park, and Pret was finally open in the station. One day I managed to get a sandwich in there (a baguette with avocado, sundried tomatoes, olives, rocket and pine nuts) but another day there were no vegan sandwiches, so I got the sunshine pot instead.

One day I met Olaf- at this point you had to have masks on and had to keep your distance, but now they have changed the rules again and the “proper” meets were back on. I think I prefer them at the distance though!

A little windswept from being outside all day! On the first day I didn’t tie my hair up and regretted it when it was so very tangled…

I was keen to do the drawing again, and this time we got to do Mushu from Mulan. I think we both did pretty well!

We were in the parks until closing time each day, so we tended to wander into the village in the afternoon to get a drink from Starbucks (seriously, even if you want a cup of tea, go and get one from there because the cups in the park are tiny and they just don’t make tea properly either!). Once we walked back to our apartment, we had time to watch an episode of Inventing Anna while having a cup of tea- not quite so Disney!

As well as the parades, there was a fireworks show, and it felt properly like Disney. It was a lot of projections on the castle, as well as some fireworks and other things like lasers and flames. We had to keep masks on the whole time, but they had removed the distancing markers in the queues. It felt OK- I think I am slowly getting more used to crowds, but also the fact that everyone’s vaccine status is checked before you go in makes me feel a bit more comfortable too.

On Saturday we had to head into Paris to get our train home, but we were in no rush so I went out for a run in the morning, alongside the parks and then around the buildings near to our apartment. It was a gorgeous morning ( but very cold) and of course I wore a Run Disney top. I don’t think the Paris runs are coming to 2022 but I can keep hoping for 2023!

Bartley Park parkrun for the Wilson Index

As mentioned previously, I’m looking at the Wilson Index for my parkruns at the moment. It was stuck at 8, but then I had all the numbers from 10-20. Happily a new parkrun popped up a few months ago, and event number 9 fell at the start of half term. The perfect timing so we could head down to Southampton for the night. We only booked it the day before (hooray for daily LFT’s..) but it was so nice on Friday to have a little trip to look forward to.

We drove down after dinner, and stayed in a hotel in the city centre. Bartley Park parkrun is based in Totton, on the outskirts of Southampton, a few miles (4?) from the centre.  There isn’t parking nearby, and so I looked into running to the parkrun start, and maybe getting the train back, however Andy pointed out that the main roads didn’t always have pavements. The trains weren’t that often, so I “treated myself” and got an Uber.

The course page directions were great, and I was dropped off in a cul-de-sac next to an alleyway that led directly to the start. Seeing those yellow parkrun signs are always good. I was there fairly early so jogged up and down some of the paths/alleyways around the park, to warm up and enjoy the sights. It’s a built up area but with lots of greenery- it reminded me a bit of Linford Wood in Milton Keynes as you start off in a built up area but mainly run through parks and along tree lined paths.

The marshals were so friendly- as soon as they saw me with my parkrun top they were directing me to the start. There was a big group of people at the new runners briefing- both new to parkrun and of course plenty of tourists.

The course map and my royal flush splits

The course was two laps, with lots of out and backs. It was clearly signed and well marshalled, but I would have no hope of doing it as a freedom run! It passed through various parks, along little paths (I call them alleyways but they are paths not on roads if that makes sense), through woods and by some houses. At some points they asked people to be quiet so that the parkrun doesn’t disturb the local residents.

They asked us to run through the muddy puddles instead of around them, to protect the grass verges. It wasn’t too bad and I was happy to do that. At one point I was running behind a guy and his child, and the child lost their shoe in the mud. I was able to bend down and pick up the shoe as I was running, and pass it back to them. I noticed he was wearing some With Me Now merch, so I gave the “Dolly or Bev” and received the “arbitrary” response. I overtook them while he was putting his shoe back on, but later they caught up with me and we had a little chat- he understood my Wilson Index chasing, and he was aiming for all the parkruns in Hampshire.

I finished in 29:09, for event number 9 (all the 9’s) and happily now my Wilson Index is at 20. I had managed to gently speed up for each mile too – probably helped with the course being fairly flat. I had to head off fairly quickly as we had to check out. We were originally going to visit Andy’s grandma, but due to various reasons that was postponed, so we ended up spending time in the city centre (although when I first got back I decided to pop to Caffe Nero to get a tea, and ended up getting very lost and running nearly 2 miles in the end…). I was keen to go to Thrive Café (a vegan café) and we picked up some treats to have at home- Battenberg cake and a biscoff doughnut.  We got some lunch and went to sit by the coast, although loads of seagulls surrounded us so we headed back away from there quite quickly!

Anyway, a lovely event and well worth a visit if you are in that area.

Disneyland Paris in October!!

Hooray! In case you didn’t guess, our trip to DLP went ahead!

The original plan was that Andy would get the Eurostar on the Thursday (as he could book Friday off) and I would travel on Friday after work. This is because we were going as a big group with Andy’s family (his parents, his 2 brothers and their wives, plus our niece and nephew- they were all travelling on the Friday as they didn’t have school that day/ can book a day off work). However, we had a bit of a hiccup with a passport, which meant that with a week to go the trains were changed to later in the year, hotels were cancelled etc. Then, when the passport was sorted (eg arriving) the Eurotunnel was booked (Eurostar prices were crazy high to book last minute). Everyone else travelled on Friday, and we drove down to Kent on Friday night and then got the Eurotunnel early on the Saturday morning (eg we got up at 4.50am).  There were delays (a train was stuck in one of the tunnels so they were having to run batches of trains in one direction, then batches in the other)- so it was frustrating to be waiting around for a train, thinking we could have got up later, but of course the reality is that if we got up later we would have been further delayed. The drive down there was fine, and thankfully we weren’t as delayed as originally told. When we drove through the gates at around lunch time it was such a welcome sight.

As you can imagine, a trip with a big group is very different to when the two of us go. My first Disney trip was a trip to Florida with Andy’s family (probably 18 years ago?)- his aunt, uncle and cousin also stayed in the villa with us, and ever since then (when we did not have matching t-shirts) I have loved seeing the big family groups in Florida with their matching tops, telling us “Smith Family Vacation 2005” or whatever. One day we will do that! I did look into matching tops but as the weather was going to be cold and they’d be hidden under coats it seemed a  bit of a waste.

Anyway, we had booked (with our annual passes) the Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Everyone else had 3 day tickets (we had planned to use our AP discount as you can buy discounted tickets, and had reserved them, but Andy had cancelled his when the trip was postponed, and even though they still had mine, the 3 day ticket worked out cheaper than a 2 day ticket plus the discounted one through me).

Vegan burrito, Starbucks, tea in the room and vegan breakfast sorted

I was prepared with some food- I bought along a pack of vegan croissants and we always take lots of tea with us. There were some vegan options- the place that did the falafels in the summer now did a vegan burrito which was really tasty- and huge! I had it for lunch one day and was so full for the rest of the day. Of course we popped to Starbucks a few times. My sister in law bought a (quite expensive) tea in one of the Disney restaurants and it was in a teeny cup, only half full of water. Honestly, go to Starbucks as you get a huge one (plus they will add soya milk, not something I think is available in the parks).

The three days were super busy, often going between parks. We did some things as a big group (Buzz Lightyear was a particular favourite of the kids) and then other times would break into smaller groups- it was nice for Andy to have company on the rollercoasters as I don’t go on them.

I was very keen to go to the Frozen show- I love it anyway but also knew my niece was love it (she’s 5 and was loving all the princess things). The first time we didn’t manage to get there (there are only a few shows each day and it has a small capacity), so on the Monday we queued for over an hour to be let in. We had one of those magic moments though, as she thought she would be watching it on a screen (like Philharmagic) so when she saw an actual person (Elsa) she gasped “Elsa ‘s real!” Perfection.

Plus Andy actually “got” it this time- when we went at Christmas in 2019 he thought the reindeer model was broken as Kristoff “speaks” for Sven- now he’s seen the film a few more times he realised it’s meant to be like that.

I loved all of the autumn/Halloween decorations that were out and we had fun at some of the photo spots. Frontier land was decorated for the day of the dead (like the film Coco)- at night it was even better as all of the lanterns were lit up.

There were also little mini parades (an amazing steam punk dragon that breathed fire, a princess float) plus a little autumn/ Halloween parade with a very catchy tune. Lots of cheerful Disney magic touches.

Over the 3 days we managed to go on most rides a couple of times (especially Phantom Manor for the spooky season)- I had wanted to go on Philharmagic again but only thought about it on the final day and by that time it had closed (it shut at 5pm). We went to see the Lion King show which was amazing- different to the Florida version and with a real Cirque du Soleil feel.

I was also really pleased to manage the drawing class. We had to queue for a bit and ended up watching a group draw Mickey and then Olaf (I would have loved to draw Olaf). We did Donald and Andy, who says he is terrible at art, joined in with me too. I think we both did pretty well- the instructors tell you in English and French and they do it step by step so everyone can manage it.

Our art of animation class drawings, plaits (as hair down was not working for the first day) and the animation academy.

After everyone else left, we were due to head further north in France, but Andy happened to look on the annual pass website and saw that we could reserve the Tuesday, so we quickly booked a hotel, and after charging the car for a bit headed back to the parks for a final bonus day.