The third parkrun course for Northampton is run from the grounds of the University. Redway Runners decided to visit on event number 7, and it was my 61st parkrun course. This is a great venue for a parkrun and it was an enjoyable course, which consists of an out and back section over a bridge from the University campus into Beckets park and three clockwise bow tie shaped laps of the Beckets park, all on footpaths and there is a hill/incline which you do three times. I didn't quite find the correct car park, but there are a couple you can use and they are free to park. [I first visited this par ..read more

My 60th parkrun course was run on the morning of my sister's wedding, so it was a quick zip into Bridport, complete the parkrun and then make a quick exit back to the Wedding venue (although I did stop long enough for a takeout coffee). I'll be honest this parkrun wasn't even on my radar until I looked for the closest parkrun venue to the wedding venue and I forgot to take a customary selfie with the sign, I must have been a bit pre-occupied with something else on my mind. It's a very pretty little park, with good parking at the local football ground, and the course is three laps and mixed ter ..read more

My 59th parkrun course was one I've wanted to do ever since I first heard about it. Starting in South Wales on the north side of the old Severn Crossing, and running along the bridge across the English boarder before turning around and heading back to South Wales. You get great views out across the Severn and of the new Severn Crossing. Unfortunately on the morning I had set aside to do this parkrun we woke to find heavy wind and rain... oh well couldn't come all this way without actually doing it so onwards and upwards. Despite the weather there was still a good turnout of utter nutters (or p ..read more

For my 57th parkrun course, we visited Leavesden Country park. An interesting park to visit, with a sculpture trail with exhibits linking to the Film Industry, plus a massive playground with aircraft theming due to Leavesden previously having been host to an airbase in WW2. The parkrun itself is a three lap fairly flat mixed terrain route with a mix of shady and open sections. [I first visited this parkrun on 10th June 2023] Bit of History The grounds which make up the country park were previously the site of both an Asylum and Orphanage both of which were constructed in 1867 and which continu ..read more

A very challenging parkrun for my 56th course. Church Mead has been on the edge of our parkruns not completed for a while, and my regular parkrun buddy Jacquie decided that for her 250th parkrun, she wanted to do a new tourist event. Church Mead was duly selected and off we went on the 11th March. I knew it was cross country with a hill but I wasn't quite prepared for the difficulty level of this course. Still it was one of our NENDYs and it was another 'C' towards my 'Pirates' challenge. There are a number of different parkruns in the Chilterns and they all tend to have at least one fairly br ..read more

For my 55th parkrun I decided to go and bag another 'C' towards my 'Pirates' challenge and headed off to Canons park in London. It was very straightforward to get to from MK, straight down the M1 and then not that far from junction 4, and it is a very pretty Grade II listed park in the borough of Harrow. It's a straightforward but scenic three lap anti-clockwise course around the parameter of the park, and it has a good running surface (half tarmac and half wooded trail path) so you'll be fine in road shoes unless there has ben a lot of rain, it's also fairly flat and fairly fast. They were on ..read more

If you are interested in completing the Alphabet challenge then it can mean some early starts. I was certainly questioning my life choices as i picked up my running buddies at 6:30 in the morning to get the 6:55 train from Milton Keynes to London. We were all in hunt of a V and decided to go and do Victoria Dock together. This was course number #54 for me and to be fair it was actually a very easy and relaxed train ride down to London from MK and we also got to ride the new Elizabeth line, more on that later. Victoria Dock parkrun itself is a very quick twice out and back run along the docksid ..read more

My 43rd different parkrun course found us heading to the well established Harcourt Hill parkrun, which despite being fairly local to me I had not visited yet. It's in the grounds of Oxford Brookes University Sport Centre, and is a cross country grass and mud run around the sports field and neighbouring fields and woodland. Parking was free, right next to the start and plentiful. If wet I would definitely recommend trail shoes or hybrids, but you'd probably get away with road shoes in the summer. It didn't feel particularly hilly, but it measured as 30m of Elevation on my Garmin which I was a b ..read more

Huntingdon parkrun is a pretty two lap anti-clockwise route around Hinchingbrooke Country Park near Huntingdon. This was the last parkrun we visited before the world changed due to Covid-19 and on the morning of the parkrun a number of changes had been implemented in an effort to keep parkrun going as long as was reasonably possible. We were encouraged to keep spaced from one another with no hand shakes or hi-fives, to allow room for the people in front on the finish funnel. To hold the tokens and bar codes up for the barcode scanners to scan rather than handing them to the volunteers, and to ..read more

While visiting family in the South West, I decided to expand my collection of parkrun venues in this region, and took a trip to Cranbrook Country park for my 52nd parkrun venue. Cranbrook Country parkrun is a twice (or more accurately 1.5x) out and back course, with a loop section at the end of lap one. It reminds me a lot of Bicester parkrun, which has a very similar feel to it in a lot of ways. It is run mostly on footpath, but with shortish grass/mud section at the start, as well as at the end of lap 1 into the beginning of lap 2. [I first visited this parkrun on 29th October 2022] Bit of H ..read more