Saturday 25 November 2023 - A Walk from Peaslake

The Hurtwood Inn in Peaslake is our base this weekend.

After a frosty night and an excellent breakfast (no parkrun for us today), all 13 of us assembled by the village cross amidst a mayhem of mountain bikers.

We were soon on our way, on a path that seemed to be forbidden to some of us.

Holmbury Hill was reached after a forest walk. Views stretched to Canary Wharf in the distance, and in the other direction across the wealds of the Downs.

Sue produced a box of specially concocted Nanaimo Bars. Delicious!

Here's the view across the Weald.

We continued on good paths, very cold in the dips, towards several more viewpoints, on this lovely sunny day. 

Pitch Hill provided more good views.

We passed a windmill on our way to our lunch stop at Reynards Hill.

During the day we encountered many mountain bikers, hikers, students practicing map reading, and dog walkers. All enjoying the fine, dry weather.

Soon after lunch, Robin and Jenny took a shortcut back. The rest of us - me, Sue, Tom, Mac, Phil, Sue, Mike, Jess, David, Richard and Jenny - continued to another viewpoint. 

By now the sun was close to setting, lighting the trees from our position in a long sunken lane.

Some edible mushrooms were found, as well as this 'Poor Man's Licorice'.

We were back by 4pm, to the inn, where the mayhem of mountain bikers was continuing unabated.

Here's our route - 16km with a bit of ascent, taking a leisurely six hours or so.

Friday 24 November 2023 - RHS Wisley

Some pictures from today's visit to RHS Wisley. Well worth the struggle through a traffic jam due to roadworks.

Captions and some additional material should be added when I get home next week.

Autumn by the Bridgewater Canal in Timperley

The last of the autumn colours beside the canal. 

 

Weekend running

Saturday 18 November 2023 - Our usual parkrun at Wythenshawe was called off due to a plague of mud, so a few of the regulars met up in nearby Stockport, at Woodbank Park. A few of those suspects - Jeanette, Sue, Laura and Andy are shown above. Looking as if they have just emerged from their respective washing machines (apart from Andy's shoes!).

We got going promptly at 9 o'clock, thankfully in just about fine weather. There were soon quite a few people ahead of me. (I finished in position 142 out of 211.) (34:10, on my 350th parkrun.)
 

It's a two lap course, with a steep hill that needs to be negotiated twice. I caught up with Cary there, but he soon raced off ahead of me again - he's just ahead of me as I start the second lap.

The reflections looked nice, so I had a little break to seek out, not entirely successfully, a suitable puddle.

Meanwhile, there were some unavoidable puddles on the course, which Sue flew over. I think the next picture was taken by Laura, who finished in third position today. Well done Laura, and it was very gracious of you to allow the man pushing a buggy with a child in it to finish ahead of you in first place.

Full results are here. 

The four pictured above were then joined at the finish by Rufus, Cary and Paul.

Eventually I finished and could be included on a photo.

We spent some time in the cafe. It was afternoon by the time I got home!

Sunday 19 November 2023 - Wythenshawe Community Run

Over 80 men, women and children turned up with numerous volunteers for this Sunday morning ritual on a drier course at Wythenshawe than the parkrun mudbath route. I walked around the track by way of a 'warm up', then returned to the car to collect my waterproof jacket. At the point (below) when Colm was doing his briefing the drizzle intensified.

Here I am at the turnaround point for the 2km runners. Very tempting.

However, I braved the rain, and the footballs - the lady behind me in the next picture was hit by a football from one of the nearby pitches where only a few weeks ago hordes of Asian lads were playing cricket in the sunshine.

32:10 for the 5km was two minutes quicker than yesterday's effort at Woodbank. There are no hills at Wythenshawe... but it was definitely a soggy outing.