Wednesday 15 April 2026 - Spunch Sale, and stuff

Here's Sue in Stamford Brook Community Woodland on our first 'Spunch' event. A bit of fun, starting at the Woodheys Club in Sale. The idea is to visit as many of 80 pre-set satellite points as you can in either 60, 90 or 120 minutes. Sue and I chose the 120 minute option. By the time we got to the Community Woodland we had been soaked by a shower and there were lots of deep puddles, so we soon lost any inclination to keep our feet dry. We could start any time between 4 pm and 7:30 pm, so we didn't see too many of the 110 or so participants. Walking and jogging, I covered about 13km, Sue did a bit more by visiting some outlying points that I didn't bother with. Here's my Garmin track.

We encountered Jenny R a few times en route, and we were surprised to find Alistair Pooler - TGO Challenger and fellow vetter, in the bar afterwards, where a veggie curry was also being served. It was excellent, despite the absence of any chicken. There was cake.

Our results are shown below. It's not really a race, but some people do race, whilst others walk/jog. Either way, it was good fun and a good bit of exercise.

Full results are here, and if anyone would like to join our 'Balmoral Bounders' team they would be most welcome to meet us at Cheadle Hulme next Tuesday. Details are here.

Well, that was fun! I'll answer any questions after Tuesday's event, but you can pretty much work it out from what's on line. Incidentally, we became aware of Spunch events when we came across one taking place in Wilmslow last New Year. We vowed then to have a go at this form of orienteering, and recently spotted a flier on a lamppost near home. So we gave it a go as we could walk to the start - our house is even on the course map, with one of the satellite points being on our road (Balmoral Drive - hence the team name).

Anyway, on to 'Stuff'.

Saturday's parkrun #661 at Wythenshawe passed uneventfully, with Alan directing the 300 starters.

I took 33:26 in position 229 out of the 300, and Sue took 25:43 in position 88. It's not a race, of course. Full results are here.

This week I've been cycling to Didsbury - a 15 mile route via the Trans Pennine Trail, returning through Northenden and Wythenshawe Park - to feed Millie whilst her owners were on holiday. I paused here by the bridge near the weir in Northenden on a sunny morning.

The Trans Pennine Trail passes near this wonderful avenue of poplar trees, just coming into leaf this week.

Millie was always very pleased to see me and became more and more reluctant to let me leave as the week went on.