4 to 7 June 2026 - Four Runs

Thursday 4 June - Spunch Sale

With Sue at a spa day with Jenny, this was a solo effort for me, shown above, happily smiling before the start at Trafford Metroviks, a large sports ground hidden away between Glebelands Road and the River Mersey.

I set off soon after 5pm on a quick loop using good paths beside the river between Sale and Stretford.

No more pictures were taken until the end, after an annoying navigational mishap shortly after meeting Alison Pearson, who was enjoying her inaugural Spunch with running club friends.

Michelle was her usual jolly self at Control, where I contrived to sign in with fewer points than any of the other two hour (120) participants.

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My route is shown below. The green 'start' marker should be next to the red finishing one (I forgot to turn on the recording until five minutes after starting). The long erroneous diversion to Moss Lane at the bottom of my route rewarded me with 30 penalty points and at least four missed Spunch points, so I should have scored at least 670 but for that error.

Never mind, there was cake at the end, and a huge chicken burger, and Sue turned up to encourage me.

Saturday 6 June - Wythenshawe parkrun #669

After a wet start, the sun nearly appeared for 368 runners over the 5km course. Sue and I both took it easy, Sue finishing in 27:46 (position 147) and me in 44:13 (position 348).

RD Andy addresses the masses

Splish splosh!

Steve Thurston, volunteer marshal at 'Far Bridge'

Backmarkers approaching Far Bridge

A hard earned finish...

We lingered in the Courtyard Café at length, during which time Paul and Jeanette were persuaded to join us on the next event.

Saturday 6 June - Spunch - Woodbank and Goyt

We assembled soon after 11:30 at the Strawberry Gardens pub in Offerton, where I think in bygone days we used to adjourn for liquid refreshments from Dave and Robert Kitto's nearby business, Dartmouth Performance Clothing Limited. At the time a competitor of Sprayway. I still use their balaclava.

Today, Paul and Jeanette had nipped home for supplies, Rufus had emerged from a parkrun sulk, and Alistair Pooler turned up to loosen up for a marathon around Coniston Water that would see him having to rise the following morning at around 4am.

The sun came out and despite a bit of teething trouble with the Maprun app, and a failure to pay through SiEntries ('never mind'), Paul and Jeanette at least got one of their phones with the app on it working for most of the two hour duration of our run/walk around Woodbank and the Goyt valley.

It was muddy in places and point 47 had us flummoxed for a while, but with no serious mishaps we had an enjoyable outing and failed to match the last place that I had managed in Sale two days earlier..

The pictures speak for themselves.

We finished after visiting 36 Spunch points in the allocated two hours, with a couple of minites in hand. My planned route was achieved, with one short cut that allowed us to avoid a last minute rush.

The results for the two hour (120) participants are shown above - we were very happy with our result that included novices and a geriatric.

Here's the Garmin Connect version of our route, which basically comprised three anti clockwise loops.

Sunday 7 June - Wythenshawe Community Run

Whilst Alistair was running around Coniston's marathon course in just under seven hours, I popped along to Wythenshawe for the 5km Community Run. I stayed at the back as usual, and enjoyed a long chat with Tom Lavin.

My quickest 5km of the week, albeit in a modest time of 38:29.

The Manchester 10K Run, and a bit of Jazz

On 31 May 2026, 'Team Owen' took part in the Manchester 10 kilometre race, together with over 38,000 other runners. Owen overcame his difficulties to finish in a personal best of under 1 hour and 5 minutes. Remarkable, as he was hoping to get a time of 1 hour 15 minutes. He was accompanied by Jan, Sue and Paul, who all helped each other to dodge past the 1 hour 15 minute runners with whom they set off.

Here are Sue, Owen and Paul at the finish.

They raised a four figure sum for NSPCC. Donations can still be made here.

Well done, Owen, who is pictured below with his mum, who kindly produced lots of goodies in a bid to preserve Owen and the rest of the team's state of euphoria.

Full results are here. Whilst the running area was crowded, there was plenty of space nearby to linger in Manchester's familiar sunshine.

Next day, the Aire Valley Jazz Band entertained us at Eagley Jazz Club. An excellent evening's entertainment once the band had quickly set up after some of them had been delayed on the M62 motorway.

The  Aire Valley Jazz Band's musicians are:  

Andy Henderson (cornet, vocals and band leader),  Andy Wallis (reeds),  Eugene Farrar [?] (trombone and vocals),  Jim Wright (banjo and vocals), Phil Kampen (bass),  Rod McNamara (brilliant on drums).

Saturday 30 May 2026 - A Short Walk from Ribblehead

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Nine of us assembled at Victoria station for the 8 am train to Ribblehead, a ramblers special on which we were delighted to encounter Reg's daughter, Sangeerththa. Whernside towered above the railway line as a train arrived from the other direction.

We grabbed coffees and enjoyed looking around the small museum that chronicles the history of the railway and the Ribblehead Viaduct.

At this stage - mid morning, we strolled past the Railway Inn and headed towards the viaduct and the track that leads to Blea Moor.

Today's trip was organised by Jeanette for the 'Potatoes', a group of Hale citizens who decline to spend their retirement on couches. Paul, Jeanette, Rufus, me, Sue, Colette, Nick, Steve, Chris and Liz.

There's a lot of information available on the viaduct, including on Wikipedia, a short extract from which is as follows:

By the end of 1874, the last stone of the structure had been laid; on 1 May 1876, the Settle–Carlisle line was opened for passenger services. During the 1980s, British Rail proposed closing the line. In 1989, after lobbying by the public against closure, it was announced that the line would be retained. Since the 1980s, the viaduct has had multiple repairs and restorations and the lines relaid as a single track. The land underneath and around the viaduct is a scheduled ancient monument; the remains of the construction camp and navvy settlements (Batty Wife Hole, Sebastopol, and Belgravia) are located there.

Goods trains were using the line as we rose gently to the level of the railway near the Blea Moor signalbox.

There were lots of folk on the path. The 'Three Peaks Challenge' - Penyghent, Whernside and Ingleborough - was popular today. The timings would bring those challengers past Ribblehead at around this time. Given the lack of rain, bridges across the streams weren't necessary today, but they could be utikised - just because they are there.

We reached the point where our view of the railway sees it disappearing into a long tunnel.

We took photos in both directions before heading back to Ribblehead by an altenative route that afforded good views towards Ingleborough and across to the viaduct..

Near the Inn, a plaque commemorating the workers who constructed the viaduct by hand in the 1870s, and those who revived it in the 1990s using state of the art equipment.

Here's the route we took - 8.5 km, with 80 metres ascent, taking a good couple of hours.

After beers in the garden of the Railway Inn, we adjourned to a table indoors and a substantial meal.

Then a picturesque journey to Carlisle, followed by the West Coast Epress to Oxford Road and a tram home to complete a very enjoyable outing.

Artwork at Carlisle Station