vegan food - Maria Runs

Bug Hunter Waters parkrun

I mean, with a name like that, who doesn’t want to go there?

Bug Hunter Waters is just outside Cambridge, so just about within driving distance. This was a fun little parkrun road trip, with me picking up Branka and meeting Holly and her friend Lou (and baby) there.

This is a relatively new parkrun, with my visit being the 12th event. That was the reason why we went that day, as Holly wanted to do event number 12, a fact she only remembered when they announced the number in the run brief!

The website directs you to park at the park and ride, although I used the postcode and got us slightly lost. I was following the park and ride signs, but they were a bit sporadic and so I turned off (where google maps told me to) and we ended up in a section of the housing estate. Thankfully we turned around and although the maps were not loading we saw a park and ride bus and followed that until we saw signs again (we were only about 2 minutes away). There was a parkrun car park marshal directing us to a section of the park and ride car park, there were toilets by the bus stop, and then it was around a km walk along a path which was part of the route, to get to the start. Very easy to find.

It reminded me a lot of Great Denham, with the parkrun course right by a new housing estate. The lake made it very scenic, and it was a very flat course too. It was narrow in places, and we were warned to slow down at certain pinch points on the course.

The start line by the water, some of the houses and of course the pop up. Branka and I were accidently twinning with our black shorts and green tops!

We took the obligatory pop up photos (Branka is teaching me how to line up the sign in my selfies too!), listened to the first timers welcome and then the main run briefing which was hilarious as the RD had managed to fit in a lot of Oasis quotes (they were off the previous Saturday for something else but he mentioned that everyone was trying to get Oasis tickets that morning instead).

Then we walked to the start. As it was narrow, they asked people to seed themselves which I always think works well but I ended up being a bit too far back- it’s always hard to tell!

A few photos taken while running, plus the token and solo pop up photo

I was going to run, Branka was run/walking intervals and Holly and Lou were walking so we spread out, and then we were off. It is two laps, with a sort of out and back section and then a lap of the lake. I really enjoyed the scenery, although at the moment there isn’t much shade so on a sunny day it would be quite tough in that respect. There were 249 parkrunners that day and it felt quite busy due to the paths being narrow in places, but it did thin out. I didn’t get lapped which surprised me, I thought I would at the end of my first lap. I did pass Holly and Lou walking towards the end of my second lap but by then there were not that many people running around me so it was fine to have people passing at that point.

Once I finished I made sure I stretched and had some water, and then not long after Branka finished. I really liked their token sorting board (see photo below)- I do love it when you visit different parkruns and they have their own way of doing things.

We walked to the cafe (of course we ended up getting lost going there too) and found a table so that Holly and Lou could join us when they finished. The cafe was really nice (Northstowe Tap & Social), with lots of outdoor seating. They had the most enormous pastries that I have ever seen, but the only vegan option was banana bread (which was tasty- I had packed an emergency cereal bar in case they didn’t do anything), and of course oat milk for tea. We sat in the sunshine for ages- I regretted leaving my sunglasses in the car as it was quite overcast during parkrun but the cloud really burned away after.

Banana bread and Earl Grey with oat milk, the token sorting board and the finish area by the water

So that was location 119 for me, and my 373rd parkrun in total. I’ve not been to many Cambridgeshire events, just Pocket and Wimpole before this one. It did get me a nice big purple chunk on the Voronoi map!

Before the after- look at that big purple chunk!

How do you choose new events to visit?

Great Dunmow parkrun

Guess which song I had in my head all the way around this parkrun? Clue? Two women went to mow, went to Dunmow parkrun, two women, one woman and her koala top, went to Dunmow parkrun….

Did you get it?

Anyway, back to parkrunday. I picked up Branka and we drove to parkrun. It took just under an hour and was fairly simple (following the satnav and also a coach with Great Dunmow written on it- very handy to check we were in the right direction! We parked at the leisure centre (free) which was suggested on the course page. It was a huge car park and at 8:30 had plenty of spaces. When we returned it was more full but still fine. We then had a walk down to the start- the directions on the course page were very clear (at one point we had to walk for 635 metres) and we could see the parkrun through a gap in the hedge.

I had watched a little run through on You Tube of the route (Branka had sent me a link to Mark Runs), and I had noticed their huge pop up “Finish” sign. This was a parkrun with all the pop ups. They had their old large pop up, the new mini one (both with Start on one side and Great Dunmow on the other) and then a huge one with Start and Finish on each side. I’ve never seen one of these before- from some googling it looks as if they are older signs from before the event pop ups were introduced.

Start as seen from the road/ main briefing/ giant pop up and Christmas in July top!

I listened to the first timers welcome while Branka checked out the facilities, and then we listened to the main briefing. It was a really friendly event and even in those few minutes I chatted to a few people at the start. I had opted for trail shoes due to the terrain being mostly grass and unpaved paths. I think road shoes would have been OK in the summer on a dry day, but I prefer trail shoes if the ground is a bit uneven so it was the right choice for me here.

A few scenes from the run, including the pink flowers and marshal.

It wasn’t long before we were off. I decided to run and Branka was walking. It was a hot day so we did need to take it gently. I really enjoyed the route of this. It was two laps with the first lap being slightly longer, but after a few hundred metres I had no idea which way I was facing. I think I saw the same marshal twice as he must have gone through a gap in the hedge to direct further on, but I am not 100% sure on this. There was some shade on the course, and some lovely open wide sections where you could see runners in the distance. Parts were around playing fields, but other parts were through slightly less manicured parkland, with paths mown through the long grass. We ran alongside a little stream, there were huge tall pink wildflowers at points (matching perfectly the pink high viz of the volunteer stood by them) and even a twisty section through some woods where you had to watch for tree roots and long stinging nettles. I really enjoyed it. The wide open parks gave me vibes of Bury Fields, the laps, wooded section and friendliness made me think of Canons Park, and the mix of playing fields and more wild areas made me think of Pocket parkrun.

Here’s the route- I had no idea where I was most of the time but really loved it!

I was wearing my parkrun adventurers koala top, for Christmas in July, and in December and July they have an Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt day at parkrun, and this happened to be that day. I did get a few comments from marshals on the way around and had to explain “Christmas in July” as I ran past!

Finish area at the end/ my red face matching my red top about 10 minutes after I had finished!/ giant pop up and finish token

You can see above how much bigger the finish pop up is compared to the location pop up! As I was scanning, one of the people from the new runner briefing had scanned and was asking about what happened next, so I explained that he would get the text or email later on. I jokingly was offered a volunteer credit by one of the scanners! Once I had put my token away I walked over to find the toilets (very close to the start but in a separate building to the pavilion) and did some stretches. One of the timers then called me over as she wanted to know about my koala top, so we ended up chatting. Branka had checked our pop up photo en route and realised that it had missed off the bottom of the word, so we took a new version to make sure it was captured!

As you can almost see, the location was missed off the sign at first (below) so we took a new one after (above).

Breakfast- Branka had scrambled tofu and I had cinnamon roll pancakes

After chatting a little more to the timers, we headed back up to the car park, admiring many of the thatched cottages on the way. It is a very pretty part of the country. We then drove to Letchworth for brunch (I cannot resist a visit to Vutie Beets). Last time I could not decide between the cinnamon or fruit pancakes, and as I was deciding they ran out of the cinnamon ones, so I went for those this time. I was a bit worried the ice cream would give me a bit of a sugar coma (even if I go to the waffle house I don’t have ice cream- it seems a bit much usually)- but I think with the heat it was good to have something cool, plus it was not too big of a scoop. They were delicious anyway and I am very glad I had them.

If you were anywhere on social media at the weekend you would have seen that the 5k app was down. I had taken my screenshot of the “before” map on Friday, but had to wait for the update to be able to do the “after”. Great Dunmow has a nice big section on the map so it was very satisfying to see it.

I wasn’t sure how many of the Essex parkruns I’ve done, so I had a look on the excellent Blog 7t, and it turns out that Gunpowder, Harlow, Hatfield Forest (which is sadly now not on any more) and Roding Valley are also Essex, so I’ve done 5 of them. As it goes all the way to the coast I am not sure it’s realistic to aim to complete them all, but it’s fun to have a look at these challenges to see.

All in all, a great morning out.

Have you ever seen one of those huge pop ups before? Are you into collecting parkrun “sets”?

I did all the Brighton ones, and then looked at sort of doing the Southampton ones although it is less clear cut as to where the boundaries are for those ones. I did Herts and all the Beds ones, but other neighbouring counties go a bit far out so I don’t know how realistic they would be.

Local parkruns- Panshanger for the 97th time, Letchworth for the 5th and Jersey Farm for the 40th

The single ton at Panshanger is inching ever closer for me!

At the start of July, after a bit of touring I decided to head to Panshanger and work on the single-ton achievement instead of touring elsewhere. It also means I can run there as it’s about 2 miles, so a good parkrun sandwich distance. It was a bit drizzly when I left, so I took my hat with me and was glad of it. The run there goes through a lovely section of woods so you are at least a bit sheltered, and I got there at about 8:45 so not too long to stand around. At this point it was raining much harder so I sheltered under one of the gazebos (the event team have them for the timers to stand under at the end). I’d bumped into a runner friend (hi Sam) so we chatted under the gazebo until it was time for us to reluctantly go and stand in the rain ready to start!

I said hi to a few of the OH lady crew before the start and then had an enjoyable solo run. The cows were near to the first hill so I attempted a selfie with one of them (anything to mean I don’t have to run up the entire hill!), and the rain eased off during the run too.

As per usual, when trying to get a selfie with the sign someone took pity on me and offered to take my photo:

I don’t look that wet in the photo but trust me, I was soaked through. Other people were having photos taken and saying that they were commemorating running in such heavy rain!

The gazebo was being used by the timers too- a very good idea as it’s not easy to use the phone screen

when it’s raining.

So that was my 97th time at Panshanger- hopefully I’ll manage 3 more this year!

The following weekend I could not decide where to go. I didn’t fancy Panshanger again, and Dad was away so no point in going to the St Albans ones. I was tempted to revisit a Herts one (to move up the Herts Vegan Runner table)- either Westmill or Stevenage, but Branka was going to be at Letchworth and so I decided to head up there as it was around the same driving time as Westmill and it would be lovely to have a catch up.

The sun came out and it was a fabulous walk around the fields and park, and as always we enjoyed a good catch up about parkrun touring, work, Disney and a few other topics thrown in for good measure!

After, I headed to Vutie Beets for a post parkrun brunch. It is so good there- I just wish they did pots of tea rather than cups. I took a selfie as somehow I always end up matching their cups. They don’t just serve yellow cups but it seems I am always given a yellow cup and always seem to be wearing yellow!

After a few busy Sundays I was free in the morning so headed to Birchwood to marshal there. The weather was beautiful, and they had let the wildflowers grow in the park, mowing a path (which was handy for the course as it meant less cones for the team to put out). I had fun messing around with the timer on my phone while I waited for the runners to come by!

The following Saturday I was back at Jersey Farm. Dad was back so we walked there together and then ran around together. I was a bit sad because looking on the 5k app I had been to Ellenbrook Fields 39 times, and this was my 40th run at Jersey Farm so I am now overtaking my EF visits. I did volunteer at EF 22 times but of course some of those would have also been running ones eg I probably did the new runner briefing, so the total won’t be the same yet. But still, it did make me feel a bit sad. Our OH ladies insta feed on Saturdays is full of all the parkrun touring that we all get up to, and that mainly comes from us feeling “homeless” and so heading to lots of places. Anyway, at Jersey Farm the wildflowers had been left to grow and you could just hear the constant chirp of insects in the long grasses- how it should be.

Looking at my event summaries, St Albans is my next visited one (where I started parkrunning) on 31, so it will be a bit of a while before that overtakes EF.

Where are your most visited parkruns? After these local ones, Hove Prom is my next most visited with 11, and then Preston Park with 8, so you can tell I like going to Brighton for the weekend!

A revisit to Leavesden and a volunteer celebration!

In the wilderness between milestones (still well over 3 years to my next one) chasing random challenges (hello Wilson Index) is a fun way to occupy the time and also to help me decide where to go. I know I go on about it, but as Ellenbrook Fields didn’t come back after the pause, I do not feel I have a home parkrun. I think Panshanger is my official one, and I do love it there, but it’s not the same.

Anyway, the Herts branch of Vegan Runners UK have a fab stats person (Gary) who each week produces some stats linked to parkrun attendance in Herts- number of Herts locations visited, number of VR’s at each location and so on. I have been to all the Herts parkruns, but not in this calendar year, and so I decided that this weekend I’d head to a Herts parkrun that I’d not been to this year, to move myself up on that table. I’d been to Jersey Farm, Panshanger, Letchworth, St Albans and Aldenham, so my choice was between Leavesden, Westmill and Stevenage.

A couple of other members of my club fancied Leavesden, so it was decided!

It is a super convenient parkrun- there is parking right by the start (you can see the flag from in the car), there is a little cafe and toilets by the start, it’s not too far a journey and not too difficult to find. It doesn’t seem to get huge numbers, but I think that’s a good thing as it’s a 3 lap course with one section where you have to keep to one side as runners come in the opposite direction (almost like a figure of 8 with the middle section where people meet). For us this was fine but if it was busy then it would be harder to pass- we had 99 participants that week.

I ran with Fiona and we had a lovely time chatting about all running and parkrun (and how much we missed Ellenbrook). It was sunny as I left home, but as we drove it had started to rain, and it drizzled on and off during parkrun. Nothing too bad but not really the weather we expect in June! The shade of the trees was still appreciated more as shelter from the rain.

Of course once finished we had to get a few photos. Gary (of VR stats fame) was also there so we got a picture for the VR club, plus of course we needed one of our little touring group too. Gary was also with a guy who used to run at Ellenbrook, so the day felt very themed towards that- lots of our club got into parkrun tourism after the pause because they didn’t have a parkrun home any more.

The cafe at Leavesden is really nice but we all had to head home so just went back to the car after taking the photos and scanning.

When the VR stats came through my name was on several of the categories-

Finished Top 20 for Gender: 13th at Leavesden Country parkrun – Maria W, Fastest Female Times: (I was number 3)- 00:29:57 Maria W Leavesden Country parkrun, Most Herts Finishes -11 (along with several others- the top person has 24 this year), Most Herts locations visited in 2024- I am on 6 which is now joint top of the table! I think this is the one I am most likely to do well at as I could potentially visit them all (although maybe would choose not to revisit a couple…). So it was worth me visiting there just to see my name in lights!

On Sunday I was off to Norton Common junior parkrun (Letchworth), as Branka was celebrating her v250! What a fantastic achievement! It was also their first birthday (which is why we had party hats on). The park is so pretty! I’d been for a little wander around as I sometimes park there when going to Letchworth, but the junior parkrun route is so lovely with all the tall trees. It has a wilder feel than the more manicured parks that other junior parkruns are in. Anyway, I was barcode scanning which was good as I was then at the start/finish area for the event.

Congratulations! Very much looking forward to seeing the green shirt in real life!

It was even more of a celebration as another RD was also celebrating his v250! All the things! Finally the High Sheriff has been making her way around all the Herts parkruns, and she was visiting. I think this is the third time I’ve seen her now- she was at St Albans, Letchworth and now Norton Common juniors.

Of course, if I am in Letchworth I am going to head to Vutie Beets for breakfast after. I opted for a crookie this time (croissant + cookie) and tea, and then bought some buns to take home and share with Andy later. Because the weather was so good (at long last) we had a long walk in Panshanger in the afternoon before watching the football in the evening.

Panshanger park/ breakfast/ on my walk/ the birthday decorations at NC.

How do you choose which parkrun to visit? I know I am in a great situation with so many within a short distance. I am still going for my single-ton at Panshanger so that is still on the cards for when I have a busy weekend too.

parkwalking at Letchworth and enjoying the sunshine

After my weekend in Brighton, I was home for the following week, and had arranged to head up to Letchworth to parkwalk with Branka. It turned out that the High Sheriff was there too (after seeing her at St Albans a few weeks before)- she really is doing the rounds.

It was the most beautiful day, although it started off quite overcast and I only made the decision to wear my sunglasses at the last moment as I left the car.

After the briefing a lady sidled up to me and said rather apologetically that she might be walking too. We chatted for a bit and it turned out that she had not been to a parkrun since before the pandemic, so was feeling quite nervous. I reassured her that there was always a tail walker as well as the parkwalkers, and hopefully me telling her to take her time and just enjoy it made her feel a bit better. We didn’t see her as we walked but of course if we had have done then that would have been fine. I just hope she enjoyed it.

The Sheriff, scenes from the parkrun and my token

It is such a pretty route with views across the fields- it’s two laps which can feel harder if you are walking, but with the scenery and company it was enjoyable from start to finish. We had one incident with one of the front runners. We were walking on a narrower part of the course, and suddenly we heard this guy shouting “ladies, ladies”, he then basically ran into me and grabbed my shoulders, trying to get past, and then once he’d passed us shouted “I said ladies but none of you moved”- I was taken by surprise and couldn’t react quick enough to reply- had he said something helpful like “coming up on your left” then we would have moved over. We did try to be considerate, going single file through the field opening (but then why should a faster runner get priority over a walker? Maybe we were on for a walking pb?) and everyone else was very nice.

Standard purple sign photo (although we should have got one with the three of us) and a mid parkrun pic

The bottom photo above is one of my favourite parkrun photos- we were keeping over to the side as the runners finished their second lap, everyone looks so happy, the sunshine is filtering through the trees, it’s fab.

I absolutely love chatting about parkrun, and it was exciting to hear about Branka and Holly’s alphabet plans, how they try to wangle parkruns into other trips (eg wedding weekends) and chatting about places we have already visited because of parkrun. An hour well-spent for sure.

I’d given Branka some Brighton Rock Bird and Blend Tea (we’re now doing tea exchanges!) and I knew she had to head off pretty quickly as she was off to Oxford (handily with a B&B store there- more on that in another blog post) so I headed off to Vutie Beets for a solo parkfaff (a “me party” if you are a Muppet fan). I listened to With Me Now so it was very much parkrun-flavoured.

Pancakes, buns and my parkrun socks

Of course once I got home my parkrun socks had arrived – I feel like they purposely make sure their deliveries arrive on a Saturday so they are always too late to be worn to parkrun! Also with a random parkrun magazine that was about a year old.

Loving the sunshine at Panshanger park

We couldn’t go to a B&B store but we could go to Panshanger park and visit the Planted coffee van for an iced tea, which is the next best thing! It was a gorgeous day for a walk.

On Sunday our club had a run for the new and back to runners graduation, so we had a lovely run to the lakes (so many goslings!) and then breakfast after. I was very glad I’d put on suncream before I left in the morning. I always forget that in the summer although you have less layers to put on, getting ready still takes ages because of those sorts of things instead.

Another lovely parkrun visit- that was my 4th time at Letchworth, and my first this year which meant I visited another Herts parkrun for the Herts Vegan Runners most events table! I think I’m going to try and revisit a few of them this year as I really enjoyed the more local tourism for when I was chasing Queen of Herts. It’s just a shame there are not more Saturdays really!

Do you have local events that you like to revisit? I’m still working on my single-ton for Panshanger too.