parkrun is (was) cancelled worldwide! ***

Yes, corona virus had ended 15 years of Saturday & Sunday parkrun. The parkrun founder & committee have followed advice throughout the world and no more parkrun anywhere ***with the exception of a few runs including New Zealand. Further advice came out of parkrun HQ. weekly

 

 So.....what's this page all about? 

This decision has serious and unprecedented implications for the health of the nations and we have decided, lockdown rules and body willing, to keep up our 5km each week until we are back again. We did think at first it would be 1 month but now it was more likely to be 1 year or even .......? So each week just a few lines and a few pictures to show how we are coping and progressing! We will try and keep it concise and limited to the run itself but I can't resist digressing sometimes............well most of the time. Please feel free to scroll through. It is a bit time consuming as it is getting longer by the week so persevere and have a good read & good laugh sometimes, on us!

Don't forget although times are changing we all still need to carry out the Government advice regarding "hands, face & space" to help prevent the further spread of Covid-19 but here are our jottings from our very own.....not-parkruns.  

Our first real 'freedom' parkrun in Wendover Woods today ( we did one a week ago but I forgot to log-it). So, not Saturday at 9am, no that's not going to happen, but we have changed it to Friday with today, the 27th March 2020 being the first. We decided that the weather was wonderful and many folks are using the woods as their daily exercise routine, us included, so as the families tend to have mornings as teach-in and afternoons as walks, we went at around starting at 9:30am. Time wasn't important.....for a change. parkrun T-shirts on with a lightweight top to keep us warm we marched up the steep public footpath (beating easily our circa 8 minutes from bottom to top) into a sunny but still chilly woods. So eerily quite, is how we could describe it, no planes overhead and all but a couple of dog-walkers and joggers, it was wonderful! Birds were singing loudly, the sky seemed ultra bright, possibly due to the new 'cleaner' atmosphere. Lesley seems to be at about 80% fit so it was not going to be quick as the, back/leg/foot, twinge is still there and the 2 toes are still numb, feeling, she said, like having something wedged between them......weird! There was no one at the start, no cones, no funnel, no time-keepers or barcode readers. No supporters and of course......no other parkrunners. There was a fair bet today that we would come either first or second and both to not get near a PB. The 'off' came suddenly with both Fitbits clicking into life as we approached the sharp left into junior Go-Ape. No cones out to stop us taking a short-cut but we stuck rigidly to the course. Left again and up past the zip-wire landing zone and onto the cafe. No marshal at the toilet-post but due to the lack of a crowd we had plenty of view to safely avoid it! No marshal at MP3 so we veered right toward the sharp-stoney downhill section passing a very lonely Gruffalo! The alternative to these stones was to take the grass bank on the right and for the first time in months it was actually usable today and not dangerously damp & skiddy. This gentle downhill toward the MP4 no-marshal hairpin is not my very favourite as although it is 'down' it seems to me a bit dodgy underfoot, but this is probably an age thing. Just before the hairpin we are instructed to keep left "runner passing on the right" by Tim, one of our regular parkrunners, out for his daily exercise and running his dog! Once we had sorted our rights from lefts we had a brief chat (at 6 feet) whilst he ran speedily past. Tim is the son of two of our stalwart volunteers, Richard & Val, that are to be seen at parkrun duties on a regular basis. Once out of sight on the pleasant downward slope into the forested section we see just a few more peeps the whole of the way round. I really enjoy.....well dislike less than other bits.....this flat section. It is mildly undulating, lovely surface underfoot, splendid tree lined forest views, and today with sun peeping through the pine woods all is well with the world......oh except the pandemic and we are soon to learn that Boris joins Prince Charles in a growing list of positively-testers. Back to the run. We keep together at about 8-9 minute K's, slow but it's recovery pace for Lesley and just about staying in the loop for me! No arrows at the two path offshoots and no cheerful marshal at the right turn before 'The Hill'. The Hill is where we differ in style. Both are pretty pathetic but Lesley chooses to shuffle all the way to the top and I choose my new found run to the count of 10, followed by walk to the count of 10! This seems to work for me as there is enough pace that I progress, albeit slowly with sufficient recovery time in between to prevent a coronary somewhere near the summit! It also improves no end, my counting up to 10. I round the no-sympathetic-marshal, no-arrow corner towards the real summit where a group of Forestry England guys are doing something with a rotavator between the newly planted trees. Greetings to all 3 at well over 6 feet separation before the plunge downwards to the no-marshal fork. Lesley is just a few steps behind as we both safely start to ascend the slope towards the 'fatal' viewpoint where I took a tumble and onwards towards the muddy sections. Muddy sections are no more! Sun and breeze has all but dried them up with the prospect of not having to de-mud our cross-trainers today. The hilltop straight has a few daily-exercisers that are starting to come out for a stroll, jog or cycle. We greet all of them at a 'safe' distance and Lesley, who is a few yards behind me, said later that she kept the buff over her nose and mouth whilst passing anyone! Time will tell if I was foolhardy as I didn't. The final stretch from the non-arrowed roundabout is fine until you have to run past the 'old finish'. Psychologically, my brain tells my body to stop here and its only the sight of the empty carpark that puts a fresh impetus in my legs to take me over the finish (no parkrun paraphernalia or people) in time to get my phone camera out taking a picture of Lesley looking ever-so -slightly, over-the-top happy! We both do our normal cool down taking a virtual coffee and cake at the now sadly closed cafe, sitting on the empty outside seating. So, 1 freedom parkrun down, how many to go........who knows. We walk back down feeling pleased we are still able to trot round, pleased we live on the edge of the beautiful woods with their miles of footpaths and pleased we aren't confined to home like a lot of the nation, or indeed world! Make the most of the situation whilst we can.

April 1st 2020 and we are well into our second week of 'latch-down'. We are in a non-contact mode, person to person but plenty of phone, Whatsap and Face-timing to keep in touch. With the exception of Sunday, our day of rest, we have been out each day for our allowed daily exercise. As mentioned previously, we are on the edge of Wendover Woods with its now dormant parkrun course and this gives us the opportunity to exercise straight from our apartment block front door. No need to come into contact with anyone except other exercisers. It is amazing how many peeps with dogs and families are using this opportunity to get out in great outdoors, much more than we have noticed before which is not surprising as school is off limits so no playtimes and no walks to & fro school. We don't have a typical day as we try to 'rotate' our programme so it is more interesting. One day it is just a walk round one of the circuits, another day is the steep hill and then a jog & walk. The allotment can't be ignored so it would be the 6-7 km walk there and back and last week we cycled there and back! Friday morning was, and is likely to be, 'freedom parkrun' day.........yes, the excitement we wake up to each day. Of course, we have been blessed with good weather albeit it's a bit chilly this week but importantly, no rain! I am sure we can be flexible if it tips-down and move our days and programme accordingly.

Its Friday and that can only mean one thing, no not last day of working week but 'freedom parkrun' day! We enjoyed the last 2 and now its the 3rd with just the 2 of us.....once again. We have managed to use up our daily allowance of 1 exercise outing per day over the last week with a combination of walking around the woods, walking to and fro the allotment and just the occasional walk & jog! We are following a regime of keep-fit each day, Lesley is doing the Runderwear youtube serious 60 day challenge and I am in the other room doing less invasive stretches and things for 30 minutes.....well I am over 70 now and wouldn't want to push too far! The weather has settled down and Friday comes round with our usual temperature taking whilst waiting for our morning tea to cool down and both are circa 36C again so fine. Due to the world shortage of digital thermometers we are using 2 that we inherited yonks ago so they must be pretty near the same age as us. We think they still work though and the only issue is us being able to read them! Apparently, in days gone by, this reading and shaking of mercury thermometers was used to judge whether student nurses were up to it or not! I ramble......back to the weather. It's not raining, it's slightly sunny and it's not cold, so just our long sleeve running tops, me in my Max Wall tights and Lesley in her On the Run Day-Glo top and tights. Gloves, yes, hat, yes, coat, no. We expect to see very few peeps out today as it is before 9am and we do encounter just a couple, as we make the 20 minute incline to the 'start' As well as running we are both volunteering today, Lesley is doing the 1st-timers briefing role and I am doing my very first, sort of RD briefing. Lesley asks if we have any 'new to parkrun' or 'new to WWp' and is met, as anticipated, by a deathly silence, which she takes as a no! I therefore needn't talk about the course except to say there is a fallen tree just before The Hill and the cafe is offering.....oh they are closed. Click our fitbits, 3-2-1 off. No bollards at the Go Ape turn so I can cheat legitimately by cutting the corner, however it doesn't go unnoticed. We thank the no-marshal at the Go Ape turn, the toilet post and the right turn at MP 3. All is going well as we take advantage of being out front to jog the down-bit at a reasonable pace....easy. Time to thank the hairpin no-marshal at MP4 and look out then for the early signs of Spring with our first gentle up which I have named now and forever, 'Primrose Hill'. No guesses why, as the bank is lined with a superb display of the lovely plants! This section I almost enjoy as in the distance 2 other running-girls with dog, cross our path a safe 100 metres away, well outside the 2 metres rule! They too look to be enjoying the tranquil moment. The fallen tree is still blocking the path but an easy route around will add only 1 second to our time, as we reach the MP5 no-marshal, right turn and the steep incline we love to hate. Plan today is 10 x counts of walk and 10 x counts of jog but Lesley obviously has other plans as we pass by each other only to be passed by back and again several times.....if you get my jist! So we are on a different strategy however with the same result that we round the sharp left turn at no-marshal MP5 at exactly the same time. Up the incline with a view across the valley we pass, at a safe distance, the 3 Forestry England guys that are still doing something to the infant trees with plastic coats on......the trees that is! 3 Vehicles again, one each to avoid the inevitable social distancing restriction if they all came in the cab together. Words of encouragement from one of the guys before the 'Downhill' now rapidly becoming one of my least favourite sections where younger, fitter, more carefree runners would welcome this opportunity for a breather and catch up on precious lost seconds! The loose stones, poking up flints, horse prints 4 inches deep on the verges and the knee crunching steepness turn me into a 71 years old wuss! A slight right at the MP8 fork, the last official no-marshal before the long upward slog, to pass by the post beside the fitness trail balance poles. No mud again on the top section makes for a pleasant flat run through the woods to the roundabout. Lesley has kept a few paces in front of me which means her back/hip/leg/toes thing is not bothering her enough to slow her down although she would be the first to admit the PB pace of 34mins in not there yet.....but let's see! We have a clear, if not lonely, jog to the finish, with no other runners, walkers, marshals going back with arrows & caution runner signs, no already finished fasties, walking back home with words of encouragement, just Lesley and then, me. The finish post comes up and a little cheer as we show our barcodes to ourselves and walk off for a virtual coffee and cake on the ouside seating at the closed cafe. No chit-chat and banter with other fellow runners, core-team, travelling tourists and supporters. I think we are missing lots about parkrun but others are in a much worse situation being either ill, isolated indoors or whatever! Time is not important but I send Lesley a 'fake' text, as per parkrun, congratulating her on coming 1st in 38 something.....fastest since last year! Instead of powered by AQL or what ever, I put powered by no-cakes! Time for the gently jog back home where we shower and eat our brunch omlette. Another week before our next freedom parkrun.......if we can keep the mercury around about 36C. In the meantime we look forward to the parkrun big quiz that had its outing last week and will be back to a new time with Vassos Alexandra on Youtube of Saturday 9am, now where have I seen that time before? The quiz is multiple choice and mainly just a guess! It's not parkrun but Vassos and parkrun are trying.

The parkrun big quiz went well and we managed 6/15 & 7/15 respectively. Not a top score by any means but its mainly either a pure or educated guess from the 3 multiple choice questions. Another week of 'latch-down' was about to start and the daily bulletins were pretty grim. Deaths were in hundreds and multiplying exponentially each day  and now Boris was in ITU at St Thomas's with the dreaded virus. Still, our temperature checkouts were still 36C and the latch-down had not been upped to a full blown lockdown. This meant we could get out to the allotment and 'The Woods' We had seen signs going up at some of the entrances to say that the woods are now closed due to Covid-19. I checked Forestry England facebook and they were indeed closed to visitors by car or en-masse. They still appreciate that dog-walkers and exercisers can still use the tracks but national guidance still applies.......distance, 1 only or household and cyclists to appreciate other users and don't try breaking records or achieving dangerous manoeuvres. We did here through the 'grapevine' that a cyclist had been hurt in the woods, needing emergency services including an air-ambulance. Haven't seen any news on it but basically......the services are needed elsewhere ! So, I was extra careful today in my midweek run....well shuffle, walk, shuffle, run and walk back. 9km. Lesley did her road run despite the persitant numb toes and I decided not to push the 'rules' and use just public footpaths of which there are miles of them criss-crossing the woods. The steep hill was out of bounds as a girl jogger was already using the narrow path doing a shuffle up the 17.5% incline. With regards to this hill, that Strava calls "The Snake", during our walks we have been timing ourselves from bottom to the top and so far we have recorded the fastest time of 6:40. Strava says the record is 3 something!! That must be running at full-tilt. I decided to walk the lower path before taking the Hale Lane hill up to the top. This section I shuffled into life, passing our neighbours.......at a distance.....before walking up the steep section and then jogging the incline to the top. The parkrun 'home straight' next at about the pace I finish the run before circumnavigating the cafe and taking the tarmac exit road right up to road. Its about a mile, flat and very pretty through the woods. I pass a couple of dog walkers, that's all, turnaround and run back to the finish line before walking back home. I was pretty pleased as it was not too taxing but enough to feel it was a good bit of training for freedom parkrun this Friday. The picture shows the start/finish with flags and cars in the carpark. No flags now and no cars and today....no people!

Freedom parkrun no.4 is part of our exercise allowance today and as it is Good Friday we decide on an early start as there will be those still working that will want to take the opportunity of a run or walk in the woods. 7:30am alarm buzzes with time for our temperature taking ritual (yes still 36C) followed by the last of our chocolate biscuits and a morning cuppa! The weather is stunning with the sun peeping over the woods and into our bedroom where we are donning our parkrun attire before the walk up through the woods to the 'start' Spring has definitely sprung and the cherry blossom tree we pass is delightful. We pass, at a distance, our first dog-walker but the woods are absolutely deserted as we do-away with any sort of briefing and burst into life with a steady shuffle under Go-Ape, passing the deserted cafe and down Gruffalo hill and it isn't even 9am! Once around the Hairpin we are on our most favourite section that takes us up to the 2Km mark, gently winding through the woods on a pleasantly undulating track, passing Primrose Hill, the fallen tree (still there) and the sharp right before The Hill. Birds seem particularly pleasantly noisy and planes are still non-existent, with the absence of other people I feel we could soon get used to this........and will probably have to! Huffing and puffing as usual up and up, me counting to 10 or what with walking and trotting and Lesley doing her own thing as we round the next no-marshal corner to a more gentle incline before the unpopular ( with us) down. Today there is no mud, just dust and flint with well trodden by horse verges temping you to take to the grass and avoid the flint only to risk turning an ankle on the deep prints! Veering right and ascending again, not taking in the views but willing-on the activity trail post where the course finally levels out to a more gentle incline. There are just the odd persons around, odd, not in a strange way but they too must be soaking up the solitude of our woods. Passing the old finish is never easy but Lesley has mentioned previously at the Roundabout that we could get under 40 if we keep or add to our 'pace'. That must have happened because we both finished in 38 something. Me 1st today so I was presented with the 001 token (fake) to great applause from no one! Over to the cafe where we sat outside on the empty tables, all bar one, to cool down and take our virtual coffee and cake. The long cool-down route home with a mandatory hug of the Trig on Aston Hill before descending back home, back to our "Stay at Home" for the day...........or not as we had an early evening 'appointment' with Tesco Pack & Go thing at Leighton Buzzard of all places! Just 20 minutes away but this was to be our first experience of this strange way of shopping.....at a distance. We ordered and gained a 'slot' 3 weeks ago and was looking forward to topping up our diminishing hoard. I thought it would be like Amazon collect, locker with a code etc. But no. You push a button ( wiped with alcohol of course) and a bloke appears calling out names, with about 8 green trays filled with 20 ish Tesco bags of....... not all of the stuff you ordered! We danced around the car, trying not to make it too obvious we were avoiding the bloke, then loaded up the car for a quick, hopefully virus free, get-a-way! Strange world? 

Freedom parkrun number 5 is looming but in-between we are latched down and are sticking to the now familiar guidance. Shopping is by delivery or click & collect even if it does mean waking up at midnight after just dozing off to try and book a 'slot'. Our daily exercise consists of.......either a long walk to our allotment and back, cycle to the allotment the long way round, circumnavigate the woods in an hour approximately. Once per week one of us drives the mile to the allotment with tools to do some bodging work on the shed, plant frames etc. and take the full tub of compostable waste from home. Lesley runs down the long way and she drives back while I do the uphill walk through the woods and back home! Talking of uphills we challenge ourselves to walking up 'The Snake' several times a week on our allotment travels. I don't know how it started bur Strava had it down as a 'segment' and Lesley checked it out that peeps were doing it in 7 minutes down to 3 minutes! I can't really believe the latter so we must have a Cumbrian Fell runner in our midst! Unbelievably, after gaining a few seconds each time we dipped in at 5 + minutes. The site of the 2 of us 'oldies', that should know better, huffing and puffing at the top of the hill, must be a sight to behold! This routine is complimented by the daily indoors virtual gym , 60 days challenge, run by Runderware, for Lesley and my ever increasing in difficulty, stretches. I tick them off in the book whilst watching Youtube virtual hike or run into the Grand Canyon, Redwood National Park, up the lower Himalaya slopes...........you get the picture! So the weather has been stunning which is good .....and bad! Friday is parkrun day and the weather is on the turn for a couple of days and rain (good for the allotment) is predicted late morning. So 8:50am early start, just the two of us and a beautiful run day passing the Gruffalo ,spring bluebells, still fallen tree, still Forestry England guys......if only there were the usual crowd it may be more interesting, but hey-ho, its a run! It has the nice bits, as usual and the horrible up and down hills.....as usual. We pass no-one and have only one runner pass us as we struggle over the finish in just on 38 mins, so pretty good...... for us. A stroll to our sit and cool-down on the cafe outdoor seats for a virtual coffee & cake before a slow jog back home. They announced yesterday and no suprise, that lock down is on for another 3 weeks at least, so we hope to carry on with this routine, health willing! So it's temperature check on waking followed by tea & biscuit and if all is well, on with another day, phew, can we keep it up? Sunday will bring a surprise birthday party for Abi, our soon to be 9years old grandaughter. So technology willing, we will all hook up on-line.

Freedom parkrun number 6 has come round again in a ridiculously short week! Highlights this last week were the multi hook-up 9th birthday party for our grandaughter in Shoreham by Sea. With a 'borrowed'  conference software called BlueJeans we all clicked the link, opened the attachment that was marked "not to be opened before the 19th" and off we went. Only Bob, son-in-law's Dad, failed to hit the button but was soon talked through and a full house was up on the big TV screen! We all took our positions on the screen in nice equal squares, waving and talking over each other.......just like the video conference calls I made when I worked for an international company! All those yeas ago, it was very much in its infancy and usually failed miserably. This was no bad thing as it meant the meetings still had to take place in person in the lovely Austrian and Italian countryside....but I digress into snow capped peaks and homemade grappa! The party. It went as well as could be expected with on-line quizzes to be won and a virtual birthday cake. Prezzies were opened and the 9 years old seemed to embrace this odd occasion. Apart from that...we walked the long walks, carried on with the indoor gym on the telly. Lesley is following the Runderwear challenge and me finding another virtual trail or trek on Youtube. This week was a Canadian snow walk, American rainforest run, trail along the Clifton Gorge, Singapore MacRitchie Park and an hours 'run' in Hobart City park....nice. Our allotment is looking pristine with even our shed and our plot gates getting a coat of preservative! Another 'exciting' moment is the allotment 'buttcam' SD card from the sneaky camera being downloaded onto the laptop for later perusal.......and it didn't disappoint. Along with oodles of pigeons & magpies our new friend the Tawny Owl was back at night. Perched right in front of our camera, eyes alight and head turning...great! The parkrun. Friday was starting to follow the pattern of days and days of blue skies. Even though it was early, the mist was starting to clear as we walked up to 'the start' Just the odd dog walker and not a soul to greet us. Birds were singing as we took the selfie before the big off at 8:55am. Just a shuffle past the cafe and down Gruffalo hill, around the hairpin, up primrose hill or should be called, slope, before the flat enjoyable bit. 3km and round the corner with The Hill to negotiate. Shuffle, walk shuffle, puff and puff before rounding the corner to the peak. Down the dodgy knee section where I 'high-five' the no-marshal and rise again to the welcome post at the keep-fit turn-off. I think we saw 1 guy on a bike, a dog walker and 2 walkers & that's that! Lesley nearly tripped but recovered before we passed by the 4km invisible marker at the roundabout and on to finish in......circa 40mins or could be less as Lesley's Fitbit along with Strava failed to record from Go Ape past the cafe....about 3 minutes in my guesstimation! Still it's not about time it's just about enjoyment (survival)! After our stretching followed by a virtual coffee and cake we strolled back and chatted to Katie (social distance X 2) from Forestry England who had just arrived and was doing a one-day duty in the woods. She helped start parkrun in Wendover Woods with our core team and it is always nice to chat with her. Latch-down week again....what will it bring! Hopefully our waking up temperature check stays constant, we are still able to walk and cycle the adjacent woods and a bit of rain falls as the allotment is looking parched! Oh and the Covid deaths start to seriously reduce in hospitals and the community......that would be really good.

The sun has finally gone and we wake up to the sound of persistent rain outside our window. I think it is Tuesday, yesterday was a full-on allotment day to plant out all the veggies and flowers before todays' rain. It had been forecast and looks to carry on until Saturday. The gardens, trees and lawns need it and so does the country as the 'latchdown' seems to be crumbling in this fine spell of weather. We certainly notice more out and about than the last couple of weeks and car usage appears to be back up again. We have stuck rigidly to our once-a-day outing and have really only used our car only to collect shopping and the short trip to the  allotment on one occasion to empty our food bucket into the composter. The rain is not going to stop us today and we go for an early-ish morning run......a road and path run in the familiar Wendover , Worlds End, (apt?) Halton, Wendover, loop. 7km of all gently downhill until 5km then all gently uphill. It has a nice wooded section near the end and apart from my gip tummy and an inconsiderate motorist driving through a puddle and adding to our general soakedness, all was fine with even paced, not too fast and not too slow, jog. Will need to do our routine exercise somewhen with me continuing on the 2,000 or so mile Youtube hike and Lesley the Runderware 60 day Challenge.......although she now has delivery of a 4kg kettlebell and signed up to a regular online class with On the Run! Luckily her ' 5'.2"height ' should mean we don't get holes in the ceiling and shattered lights! I don't know about the rest of the room though!

Freedom parkrun number 7 and the weather is a real mixed bag of sunshine and heavy showers. One of these said showers caused a soaking whilst on our 'snake hill' trial and loop walk. We almost made it to the closed cafe.......but not quite! On our circuit we heard music emanating from the bird-watching hut, some halfway up, or down, the nasty parkrun hill. We heard it again at the closed cafe whilst we took some shelter. It was only 2 young teens trying to passing the time of day and trying to keep dry. For the benefit of doubt and not wishing to pass judgement on the 2 meter rule, we believe they were brother and sister, and they were on bikes so exercise was duly taken. Not a bad thing. Our in-house, or flat to be accurate, daily exercise regime has taken on new life with the 4kg kettlebell. Virtual Youtube classes have started with On the Run and sweat ( glowing) is starting to happen. So while I carry on with my 45 minutes thing whilst watching some guy now going for all the peak trails on the Dolomites, run through a rather boring tarmac trail in Canberra, or sit up-front on a  pretty, narrow gauge rack & pinion railway in Greece, Lesley is grunting next door to the Runderware Challenge or throwing the said 4kgs around our far from massive room! Strange world we live live in..now! Clapping is still bringing out the neighbours with distant sounds of bells and fireworks.......and barking dogs! We are perhaps creeping towards a Boris 'Roadmap' of what easing the lockdown may look like, using his jargon. He looked a little disheveled, but then he always does, a little less of weight but he was still doing his best to inspire the wartime spirit! With covid-19 now just behind him and another child born to him with a little help of his partner (her 1st), it was a reasonable excuse that he had not been on the No.10 podium for many weeks. It was good to have him back in a funny sort of scruffy Boris blustering way!  I digress from the morning run. We slinked out of bed a little late and therefore, a little tardy, we crept up through the woods to the start with absolutely not a dicky-bird around today. Well just a few dicky-birds and the odd pushchair with pushers and a couple of dog walkers, 3 or 4 runners and a couple of Nordic walkers plus the workmen at the old cafe and 2 cars in the carpark at the new cafe but no Forestry England guys. We learnt in the week, when be bumped into (at a distance) Katie from Forestry, that she was about to be furlowed today. Initially for 1 month she explained, that as events coordinator and no events happening, it was inevitable......albeit sad! We dispensed with the start formalities of no briefings, no milestones, no tourists, no problems with the course and no defibrillator in the box (why?) Checking Fitbits and time, we were off and round the Go Ape cut-through before you could say "Jack Robinson" who incidentally is probably a mythical figure as no trace can be found as to who he was or his whereabouts..........It was not to be a fast run-day, we both agreed, just steady. Weather was pretty near perfect though.....for jogging. We had already dispensed of our lightweight tops and the sun was peeping through the trees. I guessed the temperature was about 12C when we arrived at the fallen tree that was no more! That would save a second. Sadly, 'The Hill' was still there as we decided to shuffle all the way up. No counting to 10 then walk to 10 and so on, just go for it steadily, don't look up just head down, grit your teeth..........and ....walk! Yes we were insight of the no-marshal at MP7 and just walked around the bend before breaking out into a jog. This gentle upwards jog lasted until Lesley needed rather urgently to check out the bushes in the vicinity of adjacent the keep-fit trail. I assumed no one was on the trail but didn't ask. She caught up pretty quickly as I decided to pause and take in the view of the stunning Chilterns valley below. We then continued, rather gently down past MP8 upwards towards the Boddington junction post with her keeping a distance between us. We had not encountered any mud despite the heavy rainfall over the last few days and it was a clear jog along the top, passing the roundabout, our old start and our old finish before the end post was in site. A pathetic attempt by me to sprint for line and cheer Lesley over in another good bit under-40 mins, time. Consistent, if nothing else. Strava or the GPS sats had missed 2 short sections, under trees or whatever excuse, so the course looked 200 meters short.....again. However its not about the winning, it's about..........as we huffed and puffed over to the outside seating at the cafe for the usual virtual refreshments. Just as we left 2 Nordic walkers appeared and one I recognised as Moira a U3A French class chum. She had bought up her neighbour for a bit of exercise and shared with me.....to my relief.......that she too had done no French since classes were abandoned weeks ago...phew! We strolled back home slowly knowing that rules were we had no more outings today so back to the book, laptop and ....Government Briefing at 5pm!.......can't wait.

Freedom parkrun 8 and it's been a funny week...again! Covid-19 figures show the peak has happened and the curve has been flattened but death numbers look pretty bad still. We now have the highest death-rate in Europe and more people being tested so this means higher figures for infections. On the bright side......it has been a glorious May week with mainly sunshine and high temperatures. Plenty of walking, allotment-ing and still, latch-down-distancing. Our balcony affords us with views of fellow latch-downers going past for their daily dose of woodland walks, runs or bike rides, but also some of the apartments near by don't have gardens or even a communal space. So...the piece of public meadow, that is still owned by the MOD, doubles up as a way to the woods and an area of recreation. I should have taken more pictures or written notes on the range of activities that take place on a daily basis. To mention a few of the usual & more unusual, from simply  sitting & chilling, learning to ride a bike, minimal dog walking, football, flying drones, remote control model cars, painting, velcro badminton, sword fighting, building dens, dog training, photo-bombing in front of the cherry tree blossom, surreptitious picnics, blatant sun-bathing........to the attractive fitness girl, doing a 1 hour routine to her ipad with just a mat, throwing a non-bouncy ball and a high-speed skipping rope..... a definite spectator sport ! How about a guy with pop-up targets and a ---not seen one for years....catapult. He had the feathered hat and pouch for shot to complete the look! Then there was the guy playing target golf, whacking the the little white thing into a bag, some distance away! Early today there was us, still with yesterday's VE Day bunting up, taking pictures amongst the buttercups and daisies with happy birthday banner and silly hats on to send to my middle daughter as part of her surprise family and friends birthday, virtual-collage! Back to the 8th Friday parkrun and it is almost warm as we attempt to make it a 9am start.....well 9:13, not bad. Just shorts and parkrun tops today as we both agree that under 40mins would be a bonus. The lack of crowd today (and every freedom parkrun day) will mean a slow time. It is so dry underfoot that just normal trainers today as we jog off together. The woods are near deserted even though it is VE day bank holiday! People are chilling today perhaps or just too early? We acknowledge each marshal point, no marshal, in a slightly crazy way. The Go Ape turn no-marshal,the Toilet Post no-marshal, MP3 no marshal, MP4 Hairpin....no marshal and so on until we are puffing too much to speak! Nobody is watching so who cares? The nice sections are all too soon over as we turn towards The Hill with no pre-plan in place we just see if we can keep jogging, albeit very slowly, right to the top and round MP7! We do and whether this is a game changer with lowered overall times will be seen later. We keep going up the viewpoint with the distant memory of a stumble, before Lesley has enough pain in her toes and leg to ease off some 30 yards behind me. The gap remains to the finish line where we both finish in 39 something......so no big gain from The Hill tactics then! Its the usual photos (red, white & blue) and cool down on the cafe seats where we chat with 2 Forestry England guys that say they are enjoying the lack of people so they can get on with the real work, which is? They did concede however that, no cars no people no revenue......no job! So......On the way back at a viewpoint I get a message from a friend to look out for the Red Arrows that are due to fly near at about 8:20am We sit and watch but no aforementioned as they went a bit earlier and were nearer Wendover. Just as we had the view to ourselves the 'Bills' from parkrun ran by. They were doing their frequent run from Aston Clinton and stopped for a catchup-chat. It was nice today to actually speak to someone else...no offence to Lesley. Just in case you are thinking, all conversations were carried out at the prescribed social distance.......or more! I wonder if Boris will change anything on Sunday evening's talk to the nation. Most people would like somethings to change but the figures show that we should all be very wary about doing too much, too soon. Next week we are due some unseasonable cold sweeping from the North! Back on with trousers and jumpers and put the shorts and T-shirts to one side.......for a few days!

Freedom parkrun number 9 and Boris and team have 'released' the latch-down ever-so slightly. For us retirees the difference is that from Wednesday last, we were able to even drive out to exercise and take as many and as much time for this. No more once per day......unless the R number starts to go above 1! Those that can, can go back to work but try not to use public transport as social distancing is nigh impossible. A host of other small steps and a 'roadmap' of what may be released if things still improve. No parkrun as large gathering will be off the table for some time we feel. Apart from the usual happenings of outside 'our window entertainments', the cold had kept the numbers low in the week but today and yesterday we were back to average temperatures and lots of lovely sunshine. Today on the grass was 'repair a bike man.' to-ing and fro-ing with bikes having simple repairs and checks .........good for him! Earlier today we had crept out of bed to make our way up to the parkrun start post. It was not cold and our tops were off straight away. We had a distance chat with 2 Forestry England staff who were busy putting up signs to say the play areas and fitness trail were closed. They said this was in anticipation of re-opening the car park on Wednesday coming. Grass was being mowed and strimmers were out to tidy the place up. No firm news on the toilets they said or the cafe who I feel could open for take-outs. Perhaps it is not safe or even viable. Today, with an Ireland start time (9:30)Lesley wanted to not-run with me today but gave me a 5 minute start before she headed off. So, photos taken, I burst into life and off on my solo not-parkrun. All I can say about today was that my legs seemed twice as heavy, making for a bit of a huffy-puffy and eventually, quite slow run. I clocked in at just over 40 minutes before walking back to cheer and applause, parkrun style, the solo & volunteer tail-walker....Lesley, who incidentally, was jogging and not too far behind me. She was pleased to finish as the jippy leg, was pretty jippy again. "Needs to get it fixed soon" she said as she has been diligently laying off of too much running and keeping up all the physio suggested stretches for many weeks now. We cooled down on the seats by the cafe. The tables all had a notice saying they are not being wiped down regularily.....what ever that means? I posted a picture on parkrun Wendover core-team as usual and left them to muse over Lesley saying later she ran on her own so she could listen to the birds without me shuffling and scuffing....beside her!! nice. I know what she means, I do sometimes drag my feet and make an occasional scuff! However, I certainly don't natter much as I do not have spare breaths and lung capacity to do much more than grunt and point! Differences aside, it was a lovely morning for it and we returned home for a brief chill before an afternoon in the allotment where Lesley spent her time  poking around the living plants and removing the dead ones,  following a hard frost in the week of an unseasonal -4C! I enthusiastically started on demolishing of one of our sheds.........the rotten one! The one that is propped up with a makeshift buttress, the door that no longer closes, the gaps where wasps and birds come in to nest and the floor that is positively dangerous to walk on! One side is now exposed and the roof is off............this week it should be down completely and what is not salvageable, taken to the newly opened, waste disposal sites. Great! Then it's new improved base laying before shed arrival scheduled for 10th June.......can't wait!

Freedom parkrun number 10! Yes its a whole 10 weeks since a 'proper' parkrun and the 'new' latch-down is in full-flow of being taken advantage of.......a little too much we suspect as beach traffic is nearly at normal for a May, hot and sunny week. This weekend is also another bank holiday weekend and the forecast is a little cooler but still basically...sunshine and no rain. This drought means every-evening trips to the allotment to keep the new plants safely watered and a mid-week trip to the local refuse point with the old shed, a round trip of an hour with the new distancing queuing system. Just from what I could see were people with garden waste in one or two sacks. A car with just a kiddy bike and kiddy walker-car thingy and a well retire bloke (like me I suppose) with a few old bricks and a small bag of stones...........were these worth a 45 minute wait? At least when the car checker guy looked in my car come van it was full to the brim of...........shed! £15.00 worth? He-ho. Lesley's 60 day Runderwear challenge finished yesterday but my virtual Youtube run carries on as long as 'Dutchman' and 'Virtual Treadmill' post 1 hour clips. Just to keep up the fitness we walked 17km through the woods to Tring and back on one day and cycled 45km on another! It's a different set of muscles for the bike as the day after will testify. Knees and bum mainly especially trying to move our tried and trusted 15 years old Marins! Wonderful bikes, strong, reliable....HEAVY! If only we could clip-on a battery motor? So Friday forecast was a little bit of a downpour at 8am and 9am but a sheepish early morning peep out of the window revealed another dry and sunny day, so much for BBC Weather. The Woods are now open for business again as far as car-parking and.............cafe! This may have given Lesley added impetus as she again started 5 minute before me (my 1st loo stop now the toilets have reopened) and finished in >37 minutes, best since last October's proper parkrun and me..........39mins. Oh well it's the leaden legs in the last 2km that needs some work on. It was however, despite a slow time for me, a perfect Wendover Woods run-day. It was great to see the cafe at the end with the 2 smiling managers waiting for business. Shelves full of food in anticipation and we couldn't resist a bacon roll with 2 flat whites. It's all single file, one-way, no touchy, no plates or cutlery, touchy card only, a brief chat passing through and one-way via the hand sanitiser & straight outside to the tables that dont have a 'not to be used' sign. There was only us and about 4 others, so social distancing was nowhere near a problem! All is ok if the weather is ok but how many will want to sit outside in inclement weather? Still, it's a start back to normality, if that ever happens or will we be distancing and sanitising for a long time to come?

No its not freedom parkrun day already it's just a latch-down bank holiday Monday! We have tried out a Saturday Zoom with our core-team and volunteers, a meeting organised by our ED. Not a big turn-out but a couple of different faces that we have probably seen on our parkrun but in their running gear, covered in sweat........ even us two probably look a little different. Covid is still top news, obviously, but 'Cummings' mania has deflected the nations press and media and some politicians into a undignified scrap to 'sack him' or 'defend him. I was prepared to accept the few cock-ups along the the unknown route of Covid control but our press takes the biscuit for digging up stories, however they may or may not turn out to be proven! Anyway, politics aside, we decide on this perfect blue-sky morning to do a shuffle around the woods......before the holiday crowds came out. It was decided to be a walk up hills and jog the rest of the way and that is how it turned out! Jog to the 'snake', fast walk up to the top, huff & puff, then jog down to the  fort & fitness trail off- turn and round the fitness trail, taking a short cut back onto the parkrun path.......but in reverse! So we jog right down 'The Hill' and beyond the turn ,right to the bottom before taking this 'favourite' spectacular path-with-view back up to rejoin the reverse parkrun trail. We did decide to start walking again later as this gentle path, that resembles Switzerland, turns sharply upwards before rejoining the reverse parkrun trail. Another 'walk' followed just after passing the cordoned off Gruffalo until we summited besides the now busy and open cafe. Crowds meant we took an avoid on to the tarmac road following it downwards against the steady flow of drive-in visitors and paused for a few minutes on the bench with a view over to the Malvern Hills ( really?) Off again on a short stretch of road before the diagonal footpath downhill all the way, shuffling and walking only where dodgy underfoot. After levelling out and nearly back, we met Alison running the other way and paused for a 2 metre social chat. Nice to catch up, she looked fit and said she does something everyday. Hubby Dave was well and we bade our fairwells before arriving home 10 minutes later. Nearly 7km and feeling better for it.......by far! Bring on the coffee and lunch.

Freedom parkrun number 11 & from Monday we can now socialise.......at 2 metres with up to 6 people, but no family swapping, going from one family to another, and as a 70+ I am still asked to be especially 'alert'. So still no going back to our static caravan and probably still no visits to our children or grandchildren. So it's back to latch-down and it has been a busy week in the allotment, the new shed base is 75% done, hole cut in the fence so we can take a short cut between our adjacent plots, Lesley has been full-on planting as frosts are gone and yes, it has been the driest May since 1926 so our water source of 8 giant tanks, are almost depleted. The forcast is sun more sun and no rain so could be a drought allotment disaster looming by the end of next week.........however today it's perfect for no-parkrun Friday again and providing it is an early start as 25-26C daytime is too hot to shuffle for us oldies. We are up in the woods and off by 8:15am in the relative chill donning our new tangerine sign-written parkrun sweatshirts. Lesley is a 'huffalo' and I am a 'puffalo', nice touch? We make good progress through our favourite sections that are mainly downhill and if we keep this up a 36-7 is easily on the cards! We round the T junction to start our shuffle up The Hill and its going well until the sound of a chainsaw and our friendly Forestry England guy stops us going any further! This is a first for us on our not-parkrun to stand for 5 minutes, half way up The Hill getting our puff back at the same time as watching a huge tree felled, taking out many branches from other 'innocent bystanders' in its way! Drama over and we restart with the rest of our shuffle going to plan and we finish in............no idea as I stopped my Fitbit at the tree and didn't start it again and Lesley just has her Strava app that calculated 37 minutes 'moving time', whatever that means! No problems though as the cafe did a social distance bacon roll and flat white whilst we consumed ,almost on our own, outside in the warm early sunshine. What will happen if it is chilly or rains? very few customers, I suspect! We couldn't resist a couple of pictures, alongside a locked-down Gruffalo, on the way back home via a short-ish walk to chill-down! All those children that want to cuddle and pat the lovely fella will wonder why he has a fence all around him "is he really fierce mummy"? or perhaps they are well used to these strange happenings by now

Freedom parkrun number 12 brings a big change in weather as the weeks of 'heatwave' has ended with temperatures 'plummeting' by daytime to an autumnal feeling 14C ! Bad news though for our allotment is.........still no-rain! This means that up until Thursday (weather change day) we spent every early evening watering our parched vegetables and flowers, the allotment peeps had drained all of the 8 large water containers, that's not happened for a little while now. For exercise and enjoyment and mental stimulation, we managed to get a nice 9 mile long and sunny walk in on Wednesday, over the Chilterns where the views from Beacon Hill and Coombe Hill were stunning. On the way back we managed take-out flat whites at No 2 Pound street Cafe, open for take outs and delivery! In the week we both managed to get a shuffle in.Lesley circa. 5km on tarmac and mine 3.8km up The Snake (walking) and back through the Wendy Woods paths! Lesley encountered the strange sight of 2 guys on cross-country skis coming downhill through the woods on the flint covered surface of the Ridgeway track! I had to 'Google' this as I thought perhaps the run had made her slightly delirious and sure enough you can purchase these from £160 upwards to >£400......poles extra! They have wheels, I might add, but not very big-ones. Can you imagine the fitness levels required to propel these upwards over rough ground and there. is no catch, as they aren't battery propelled. So back to the not-parkrun and Friday at 8:15am we were still looking out at the grey heavily overcast skies and deciding on our attire before very wisely choosing a lightweight jacket over the chosen orange and black T's. The wind strength was quite considerable as we walked up to the start with the almost obligatory selfie, just for the record! There are more people around now the carpark and cafe are open but certainly once the Gruffalo has been passed there was just the odd runner, dog walker and pushy push-chair parents, to pass by at 2 metres, without issues. Gentle was the order of the day as we checked out the halfway post at just over 2 km (old start post)! before The Hill beckoned. Both of us shuffled without a walk-break again, must be improving our hill work! We rounded marshal point 7 and headed downhill to the fork at MP8 before the long slog back through the trees, passing the roundabout, the old start, the old finish, the Go-Ape turn and back to the start/finish. Lesley continued on until she clocked up 5km at the table tennis tables after looping back.......some 200metres further we calculated. I checked out my Fitbit and I stopped it at the finish and it read just over 5kms! However on close scrutiny, it must have lost the plot on the way round with a few extra zigzags put in, so we are both non-the-wiser! All the latter pales into insignificance as a coffee and bacon roll were almost ready to be consumed.......seating outside the cafe only, where it was pretty draughty and we soon went from sweaty hot, to cold and shivery! I hope this virus is beaten by winter as the post-cafe thing is really not going to work on chilly parkrun days! As we arrived back out of the woods to our development we had a brief chat with a guy that had seen us time keeping at parkrun etc. and we had seen him run. He hasn't done the circuit since shutdown but runs 5km around the estate! We have spotted him jogging past us, looking at his timepiece and weaving back & forth........obviously......to get his distance! Weird bunch joggers, aren't we?

No not a not-parkrun day but just a log of an impromptu run back from the allotment........due to the approaching storm in the distance, the sound of thunder & the flashes of lightning and also our lack of rainwear, but also that meant the lack of running wear! We had done our bit, watered the plants in the greenhouse, picked the ripening strawberries, taken a fresh lettuce and relaxed on the seats,  listening to the birds..........and the thunder! A quick closure followed bya jog down Hogtrough Lane, a brisk walk up Hale Lane and into the woods. The sky was turning a nasty shade of dark grey as we started to run, all the way to our front door! We had time for a brief ( 2 metres) chat with Cassie, our neighbour, before the heavens opened and it poured with hail and rain onto our parched fields, dusty-dry woods and more importantly at the moment........our allotment!

Freedom parkrun 13 and some good news for New Zealand that is nearly ready for the off, possibly early July, but we in England are still far from it we believe. This has prompted parkrun HQ to come up with a new initiative; catchily called......not-parkrun! It seems to be like a freedom run but you will be able to record your times etc. on the official parkrun site. Though it will have no T shirt rewards, no volunteer roles and you are able to use any 5km route to walk, jog or run. Let's see how it works as it is due to being launched next week. Back to us and we had a busy week with the exiting arrival of our new shed at our allotment. So far this has kept me quite occupied with the base and floor taking several days and I still haven't started on the main erection as we are waiting for a couple of non-wind-gusty and dry days to make it more enjoyable than dodging showers and battling to hold the panels up. As with the rest of the week, Friday (our usual non parkrun day) was so busy  that we left the run until early evening and judging by reports as to how busy the woods were all day, it was a good bit of forward planning and just for a change, because we can, we decided at the last minute to shuffle the 'old course'. Starting at the post, we were soon off, clicking our Fitbits in unison and as we were passing the finish post,  just a 100 metres up the path, 2 other runners that were passing us were both clicking their watches too, but to finish. I asked their times on passing and it was 26 something so not quite in the same class as us! We still had a full circuit to do at this point when Lesley announced she had 'the wrong bra' on. Unbelievable, she also had forgotten her wristband barcode......unforgivable if you ask me! The upshot of this inappropriate clothing issue was to be a slower time and uncomfortable joggle. Luckily for her there were almost no spectators today, as it was getting late, so she managed to just keep going albeit a bit slower....in fact about 5 minutes could be added to her time for her senior moment! I felt OK and was fully clothed in my 50 red T-shirt and apart from the odd normal niggle jogged happily with her until the last straight when I found an extra bit of pace, knowing the finish on the old course would be at least 200 metres earlier than the current course........if you get my jist? So 42 minutes it was and 42 + for Lesley and no coffee & roll as the cafe was long closed as it was now quite late.

Not-parkrun 14 or 'freedom' as it used to be known up until this week. The clever software guys at parkrun had come up with a way of doing our own 5kms thing.......walk, jog or run, at a place or parkrun if you wish, near to you if possible. All that was required was to log on to your own profile, click a couple of things and then......do your 5kms any day of the week up until Saturday evening and record it on the site. You then get your details, as you would on the usual parkrun site, entered. So time, your event, age grade as normal etc. It's done on trust but it's only a bit of fun, isn't it? So, we walked up to the old start, as our new preferred course, in the drizzle with thankfully the correct bra, shower-proof coats and usual gear, including trail shoes as there are bound to be puddles and mud with all the heavy showers this week. Considering the forecast there were plenty of people around at 9am, running, dog walks etc. as we counted down Fitbits and were off! Our pace was a little better than the previous week as we took it easy on the nice section before The Hill. Rain was pretty steady as we trotted upwards to what we think of as the 'peak', at the fitness trail post. It was just  the flat to go, but we know it is still steadily climbing through the woods, where we kept going albeit me with 'heavy legs' and Lesley puffing, soaking up the atmosphere..........and rain, to finish when our Fitbits bleeped 5km. As is usual with satellite widgets we were not quite the same but close enough to both record around 37 minutes, not bad! Even though we were pretty wet we needed a coffee and snack so into the cafe, hand sanitiser, airport style loops to the counter, follow the arrows, keep your distance, 2 flat-whites, 2 croissants and sit outside in the rain to digest! The weather and chilled bodies meant we did not stay long and jogged back home for a shower and change!

A promise of a heatwave bought us out early Monday morning after we agreed of spending too long on the shed building project but prior to this I had a nice surprise early Sunday the day before. It was a gift, by courier, of goodies from eldest daughter! Beer and cakes for a special Fathers Day to be taken on the sunny balcony. Cream tea, well, no tea just beer and scones with jam & creme. Ideal prep for tomorrow morning's run. So, today It was to be a 'snake' walk up the steep hill then followed by an almost 7km jog or shuffle through the cool shade of the woods. A big circular with even a stop on a seat for the fabulous views across the Aylesbury Vale towards the 7 humps of the Malvern Hills ( bit of poetic licence for the latter as its 60 miles away) before gingerly descending the new-found steep steps  that leads to the lower path & back to home. Despite being further than I usual jog by about 2km, the lack of pace made it bearable and even enjoyable! So much so that we were back to the shed project later in the morning to give it a coat of preservative before the extreme heat of the next few days and the inevitable thunderstorm that is bound to follow........testing it's water tightness quality again! This jog-blog seems to be diversifying into 'shed-blog' next thing will be a picture of the completed project!

not-parkrun 2 and freedom 15 with an ultra-early start as we have had the lower 30's for a few days now and there is no way ( at our age) we could possibly run safely in those temperatures. At 6: 45 readiness and off to the start it still feel warm. I still have those annoying 'heavy legs' and just the hill up makes me think that today will be tough! If I can get round in 40mins I will be happy,  so 8 min kms is a target, with hopefully a little quicker on the downhills and flat sections to compensate for The Hill & peak. We knew our parkrunners had been out in the woods but with all the paths, time-slots etc. we seldom bump into them but yesterday and today were to be an exception. Whilst on our speedy walk on Thursday we came across Richard from our 'core team' who was wisely walking up The Hill in the middle of , what sounded like to us, a long morning run. We stopped him for a chat and he said he was keeping fit with 3 runs per week. He said he would finish up later for coffee in the woods-cafe and that is where we found him again with Dan, walking his dog and also stopping for coffee! We all nattered as there was 15 weeks of catch-up.........still (just) at a 2 metre distance. Dan tries to walk 5 miles per day with hound as well as mountain biking. He is one of our main stay regular volunteers, runner, core team and RD. He, like us and Richard had missed holidays but on the bright side, we were all keeping well! The Friday not-parkrun went as expected, Lesley just made 38 minutes and I made 40 minutes....just over. We had vocal encouragement at MP6, the top of The Hill, from Dan who for the 2nd day we passed, walking the dog. I struggled along the top and was pleased to see the (old) finish and a nicely placed log to sit down and recover! The heat, even at 8am was a factor but heavy legs didn't help. The cafe was just open and our cheese & ham croissants were in the oven, ready to eat outside in the bright sunshine. It suddenly got more pleasant, flat whites, our favourite snack and hardly a sole around. it was so nice we decided on adding 20 minutes and a couple more k's jogging back..........but, we bumped into Alison, another parkrun regular volunteer and runner. She was into her 4 mile run but stopped for a catch-up at the same time as Kate, another regular, was passing by on her run, up from the village...........and then 2 of Lesley's running club, not running, but walking their dogs! We were out for 3 hours, our jogging clothes were almost dry but it was still only 10:30 am. I think everyone is missing this meeting up element of our lives, as we are in the main, social animals and just chatting with friends gives you a real lift. 

It's now July and freedom not-parkrun 16 following a week of announced easing of lockdowns . We have kept up our midweek shuffles by completing a woodland 8.5kms of seriously up (walking) and downs (again walking) by taking some familiar and less familiar off-main-track routes. It is still quiet through the woods and Friday not-parkrun is no exception as we reach the old start at about 8:45. We both have body niggles and I have rubbed on the smelly stuff that is only psychologically effective.........surely? And Lesley has some specialist recommended, rub-in Nurofen for foot and hip! Should we really be jogging?...........well, the proof will be in the pudding! It is a nice day, dry and not cold or not hot and we have decided on early as we are to be released today and drive down to our Southdowns, Stan the static, for a few days break to meet the children and grandchildren. 16 weeks now that we have only Zoomed them! It is not strictly permitted to stay Friday but at midnight+ it turns to Saturday and I, according to Fitbit, fell asleep at 12 past the 'legal' hour! The run went better than expected and with the exception of The Hill, we jogged around quite happy. There was no feeling of a record time but were 'shocked'..........we were only just under 40 minutes! Over a coffee and croissant and at a table distance from  2 fellow parkrunners that were just dog walking today, we analysed where we had 'lost' time.....The Hill? no.....we both kept going as normal, the end 'flat'? no.........jogged all the way. So, was it the slow start, the stoney Gruffalo down, the nice flat through the woods? A mystery, but then that is just how it goes some days. Today we couldn't chat for long as we had the car to load and 1hr 40mins of M25 at it's best, a bit busy but no hold-ups. What was Stan the static going to be like after 16 weeks of non-occupancy? Dead house plants, flies and spiders taken over, freezer stopped working, boiler seized and no hot water?????? 

Freedom not-parkrun 17 but before we had a nice week in the static and managed visit family then to attack the overgrown garden, attempt to revive the parched indoor plants , failed to fix the 'dead' fridge-freezer and thankfully, take a nice run along the Downslink. The Downslink is a disused railway line turned into a long distance cycle, walk, jog and whatever path. It stretches from near Guildford in Surrey, almost continuously for nearly 40 miles, to Shoreham by Sea. We have cycled it one-way twice for charity events and have walked a fair bit along the .........very flat......route! When down in the South we often jog on the stretch from Bramber towards Shoreham and back,  the first thing we noticed on Wednesday morning was it didn't make us puff after 3km, huff after 4km and almost expire at 5km. In fact, had it been a WW parkrun we would have finished in a comfortable 35 minutes which shows WWp adds around 4 minutes to our 'flat' time! We travelled back on Thursday afternoon to Wendover and after unpacking we just have time for a sleep and rise the next day for not-parkrun 17. The rain had abated leaving mud in places so track-shoes was a good choice as we started around the 9am mark......not that it really matters as no one is watching. After the Wednesday 'training session' it didn't appear any easier. The Hill was walked and the rest was shuffled as normal and the time of under 40 mins was sort of respectable. The cafe welcomed us with our usual croissants and flat-whites as we sat outside to chill-down.......not a problem as it was a little chilly for the second week in July! Never mind the long walk back home and a promise of higher temperatures for the next week with little or no rain should put us back in summer mood and we may even venture out for an alcoholic beverage.......well perhaps not just yet! Just as an aside..........we have about 8 not-parkrunners on the parkrun site that are putting in their times, and some guy, same age category as moi, seems to do 26 minutes! We checked him out, as you do, on the regular parkrun site and sure enough he seems to be local and those are the sort of times he normally achieves. So a long way to go for me then!

Just as another aside........watching from our balcony.......as we do, and previously 'reporting' on the goings-on on our green, regarding exercise and play, a guy dressed in an all black one piece lycra skeleton suit, a rather sinister black helmet & standing very comfortably on a large electric powered skate board! He went past our window and up into the woods at a fair speed!  Ah well! takes all-sorts and talking of all-sorts we decided the weather was about to cheer up from drizzle and dismal so donned our running gear at about 4pm this Wednesday for a 'training' shuffle through our Woods. 'The Snake' first in about 6 minutes then off left along the top in opposite parkrun direction, veering off by 'The Post' and along the keep-fit trail, avoiding roots and assorted trip-hazards. Reverse parkrun down 'The Hill' but continuing on down and left along 'little Switzerland' before winding up the wiggly hill and back on the reverse parkrun route all the way to the Cafe. It's probably not in the training manual but we stopped for 2 very strong coffees! Then, suitably hyped-up and alert, we jogged all of the way back down hills to home! 

Freedom not-parkrun 18 and Lesley with her aches and pains was to have a 'good day' but the morning walk up to the start and a jog from the 'Roundabout' gave no indication that our previously discussed tactics would be used so early today! We had decided that we could not go much quicker on 'The Hill' or the 'flat' section for 2 km towards the finish so the only place we could really chip-away seconds was the 2kms from the start! Previous reports would have shown you that my noisy shuffling near Lesley was of-putting for her and we had 'agreed' to sometimes not run together. Today was one of those days. From the off  she had built up a 50 metre 'lead' by the time we passed the cafe and a 100 metre by the time she had rounded 'The Hairpin' I made no attempt to narrow the gap, mainly because I couldn't! However, she was visible for most of the run but some 3 minutes at least in front by the time I plodded over the 5kms and clicked my Fitbit at 39:37. Under the magic 40 minutes.........still alive, legs heavy but heart-rate under control! Lesley was so far in front that she managed to get a video of some old man with a 100 parkrun T-shirt, shuffling over the line with a stooped posture and reddened pained face! You guessed it, ME! Breakfast strong coffees and cheese& ham croissants did the job although the cafe had added almost £1.00 to the cost of each so it may be back to the bacon baguette, cut in half next week! Not content with the 5km we walked the long-way back and sat on a log by the cornfield listening live, to Boris's  announcement regarding more easing of lockdown. Criticise as we may, it is a delicate balance now to get the economy moving, get people moving, but not to let Covid back again to do it's worse. We aren't out of the woods by any means but the 'roadmap' gives hope that mass gathering in stadia, conferences.......and parkrun!!! may happen October/November time. Fingers and everything else, crossed............but don't hold your breath and keep up the walking, jogging or running! 

No. 19 and another perfect morning for jogging our not-parkrun. It is around 17C and a hazy morning sunshine greets us for our walk up to the start. Lesley has her volunteer shirt on and me, my red 50 gets an outing. The chances of me jogging at the same pace as when I collected my '50' were not looking good.......but then, I was still doing flat Aylesbury so no comparison really. It has been decided (by Lesley) to let me off at least 3 minutes early as probably she doesn't want to hear me shuffling along with my feet around 1mm from the dusty surface! The Gruffalo has been 'released' from the Covid barriers as I pass by on the downhill stretch to the 'Hairpin' and all is well as ascend the ripple of 'Primrose Hill' to the view point over the conifers when.........a deafening noise above with that unmistakable sound of the throaty Rolls - Royce Merlin engine. It stopped me (briefly)  in my tracks as it appeared through the trees at, what seemed, just a few feet from the tops! It then banked steeply towards Halton RAF base for what must have been a routine, end of training, flypast or simply a celebration of our 19th freedom parkrun? No more excitement today just 'head down' as I was determined to jog all the way and finish in circa 38 mins. When I say, jog all the way that means no walking up The Hill........not easy for me as it is very temping to fast walk as there is precious little time difference between this and jogging! Once I reached the top fitness Post  and started on the last 1.5 km I half expected Lesley to be gaining the 3 minutes she waited but no sound of her so I just battled on to the finish in a respectable (for me lately) 38.37. I walked back to see Lesley coming into view and jogging nicely towards her finish in around 39 something. It was the first day of Boris's wear a mask in shops and cafes. (with too many exceptions to mention here) So suitably prepared we both masked up and bought our flat-whites and croissants. This new strange world we live in does nothing for our natural......sociability streak we all have. You find yourselves just taking the goods, paying with your touch card and getting outside with little 2 way conversation, remove your mask, eat and drink in the fresh air pondering, what will happen if we are still like this in the winter?

It's August 1st, not parkrun 20 and we have just returned after a week staycation on the sunny south coast. Our static caravan had been through extreme temperatures whilst we were away and the result was, yes a plant, but also a dead-fridge-freezer with the dramas of ordering one on-line, finding it would not fit the door set up in the kitchen, having it taken away, bringing another one later in the week, unbelievably ignorant delivery drivers, fridge only just fitting the narrow gap, modifications required to the cabinet, permanent removal of doors.......but apart from that, all was fine and it soon chilled our food that we had stored in our plug-in camping box!  The weather was very kind and in the week we managed 2 x 5kms along the seafront, both on early mornings to avoid the heat and the crowds. It was a 'proper staycation' starting with our very flat 5km, breakfast and coffees taken long before the inevitable rush, then the tranquillity of setting up our chairs & umbrella on an empty beach, swimming in the gentle waves before the inflatables take to the sea, was a joy. It just means in these strange times that after mid-day you really need to move-on. Your sea is now crowded and your beach space has been invaded with the 2 metre rule just about being followed. The cafe queues have lengthened and that game of round & round the carpark waiting hopefully for a gap to magically appear is being played out in a sweltering 28C.........probably the same, all along the south coast! ..........but back to not-parkrun! It's cooler at home and walking up through the woods to the start just before 8am there is a nip in the air that reminds us that we probably only have a month before thicker fleeces and leggings will be the order of the day! Where has the year gone?......oh yes...covid19! The start is looking fabulous with blue skies overhead and the sun twinkling through the branches and a plan to just jog, chill, look at the views and keep it in and around 40 minutes. This will mean the cafe should be just opening , we wont be too  shattered  as we have lots to catch up with in the allotment later! We stuck to the plan and shuffled, together, all the way round, no stops, no walks, no sprints........41.39, over the line and just over 5kms........again, how does that happen? We felt that the 20th run we should get the Gruffalo in the picture as he has been there throughout although only having been 'released' from lockdown recently. Guidance is all consuming at the moment with peaks and spikes over parts of England. Can we now walk/run/socialise with 30, do they all have to be from one family, do they all have to wear a mask, should we all take each other's contact details...........I think we will carry on as we are, just us or family or small group of known peeps for chats and walks.

Forecast to be around 32C &one of the hottest days of the year, not-parkrun 21 was going to be tackled early to not only avoid the potential of crowds but to minimise the risk of having the on-site defibrillator being used on me! Shouldn't joke as 22 + degrees at 8am was on the limit and it was only the shade through 85% of the walk-up and the course that makes 'hot running' possible....... at our age! The sun was high as we started beside the old course 5km start-post and the welcome shade soon dissipated beside the cafe where I was already looking forward to being in, hopefully, circa 40 mins. We greeted Gruffalo as we passed him by and  back into the shade for almost all of the remainder of the 5km, popping out briefly beyond The Hill for the view and again at the 'fateful peak' where I tripped, thankfully without too much damage to my knees and elbows! The long straight back from the fitness post to the poo-bin finishing line was getting harder as I passed the start and I seemed to have to speed up, reluctantly, to keep Lesley within sight. We ended up 40:25 for her and 40:34 for me, so not unreasonable but I am thinking this slow time is the new-norm........like Covid-19. Yes, I am getting older, it was pretty warm, there were no shrieks of encouragement or ripples of applause from the 'crowd' but the heavy - legs are becoming a drag..........literally! Richard, a fellow parkrunner, joined us at our breakfast. He had run a good-deal further this morning than us  but looked pretty fresh and it was nice to have a natter with humans in this strange still distancing times we are in. As we conversed about the ridiculous traffic jams in the New Forest a parkrun HQ message popped up on the whatsapp with pages of detail on how we could all get back to parkrun again in the 'near future' It makes for a good read and they have put lots of detail in how to comply, how to keep safe and how we could practically operate a parkrun. It will mean changes and could cause more work for volunteers......indeed we will probably need more of them. Contactless will mean the parkrun app is the only method for timekeeping and scanning, lots of washing down of kit etc. etc. Oh well, on with the not-parkrun until we hear more. 

'Monkey Van' joins the parkrun course for not-parkrun 22! As the heatwave comes to a noisy end with a terrific thunderstorm the evening before, leaving a morning of thick mist and a cool 14C ! It's a much better temperature for jogging our 5k but such a contrast with an almost head-torch darkness up through the woods to the start. Not a soul this morning, in contrast to the last few days heat, when dog walkers, runners, indeed anyone that couldn't sleep, took advantage of the slightly lower early morning temperature to do their thing before expiring in 33C of the day!! I wasn't sure if my glasses were steamed up or the mist had descended to ground level as we couldn't see the 'start post' until it was upon us. ( turned out it was a bit of both) Quickly off as the mist turned very shortly to spots of rain as we passed the new addition of a 'Monkey Van' ice cream dispenser! That we later took a picture of.............with us in the foreground! Apparently this will open in the week as an alternative draw to the cafe, in the summer, then quickly converting to hot drinks in the winter, very shrewd of the cafe owners but will interfere with parkrun start & finish if we keep to the same course.......... when it returns! Spots of rain became a steady downpour through the 'nice' section. However it didn't really matter as we were well-warmed-up and into our stride. Certainly if colder it would have been unpleasant in our T's and shorts but somehow it added to the murky atmospherics of The Woods sections. Distance sounds of chainsaws greeted us at The Hill but they were well into the thick of the woods so no pausing for felled trees today. Just plodding was the order of the day and we seem to be doing that very well. I was leading and Lesley was doing the encouragement........"keep shoulders straight, keep the arms pumping, take deep breaths, think there is a balloon on your head".........you know the score! It must have half-worked as we came in just a smidgen over 40mins but still not under......again. Back to the cafe, photoshoot in front of the 'Monkey' and a coffee and roll outside in the rain but thankfully. under the cover. Winter approaching and unless the cafe opens up indoors, this is going to be a real issue. Empty seats and only a few hardy customers today huddled under the 'overhangs' that keep you dry but will not stay warm in just a few weeks from now. We jogged back downhill for a shower and back out to meet up with the eldest grandaughter who is just about hanging onto her flight attendant job with Easy-jet. Life is not getting easier as we move South for a few days to our static.

      We are 'South' and midweek we had a day and night of rain followed by a glorious, wall-to-wall sunshine. So, with the 'threat' of a warm day we headed on our short drive to our favourite flat parkrun at Lancing Green. We don't do the exact course and especially today as the green has been filled up by a rather large fun-fair! The parkrun normally starts on and crosses the green for a short 'out-and-back' before taking to the tarmac coast path until the about turn at the orange beach-hut. It then re-steps all the way back to finish on the green. We do all-tarmac. Starting at the bandstand and following the same coast path beyond the said beach-hut, round the bollards at the entrance to Shoreham Beach-green and back along the path, finishing back at the bandstand. Easy-peasy, flat with views to the sea towards Brighton and the Seven Sisters on your right and then views back towards Worthing pier and the Isle-of-Wight on your left! The first half ( 2.5km) was 'easy-peasy' but then probably the lack of too much exercise this week and 2 bits of marmalade on toast started to tell. Nevertheless , we finished in a very OK 34 + something, followed by chilled grapefruit juices from The Perch cafe on the seafront. Very wisely, we had packed our chairs, umbrella and swim gear in the car and swiftly retrieved them to sit the rest of the morning on the beach. As can be seen from the picture the sea was near perfect for a swim which quickly eased our ageing muscles and joints and erased the memory of us both huffing & puffing in circles around the bandstand until heartbeats got back under control! We recommend this lovely shared path if you are nearby but as it is shared, expect to see bikes travelling sometimes much to fast for safety and of course, dogs on (long) leads, children, not on leads,  so earlier or later in the day, the better! The Perch is great for coffee and snacks from its outside kiosk although going inside is fine it involves the usual Covid checks and balances making it all a bit of a pain...........still......c'est-la-vie! We will head back later in the week to try for not-parkrun number 23, complete with woods and hills but no sea-views!


That's 23 weeks since the start of lockdown/latchdown and still noises from parkrun HQ but not near a full return by any means, even NZ is back to the rest of the world. Most are trying to keep to Boris's new slogan that now has the face masks added and the save the NHS taken away. Back from the 'southern retreat' and back to the woods for a Saturday morning not parkrun. We left home at 9am so were expecting a few more people today but last night's wind had deterred many from venturing out too soon. Both of us had discussed our body situations and an expected slowish jog today, accordingly. No branches down on the way up and the wind was just a strong breeze that would assist or hinder, depending on where you were on the circular course. There was the usual wait at the start-post, not for the crowd, but for the Fitbits to find the satellites! 'Connected' and off we go at a slowish trot passing the cafe and down the hill, resisting the temptation to speed up, that this morning we felt would have left us lacking somewhat, to tackle the latter sections. So pretty even jogging today and managed without walking on the hills to finish in a shade under 42. Slow but sure with energy to make it back to the cafe for coffee and rolls. The food seems to be on a downward spiral, over-priced with nothing fresh just heated, reheated or overheated in the cabinets, so we vowed to go for just coffee on our next visits until they sort out the food situation. I am sure that the numbers at the cafe are way-down on what they could be and this is still summer, where outdoor eating is tolerable on most days. Increasing prices as it is a 'captive' market is never going to bode well for repeat business. Anyway, enough about our stomaches, from our viewpoint it was looking very much like rain so we headed back, jogging, on one of our favourite down-home paths through the woods. Rain did come a few minutes later and stayed with us until indoors. Although off our 'pace' today we both thoroughly enjoyed it and looked forward to number 24! As with the last few weeks we entered our times on the not-parkrun site that last week has diminished to  only 4 runners, including the elderly 70+ guy that seems to consistently run around 20 minutes...........not on our course, surely he must run on a flat tarmac path?

It's a bank holiday weekend, well Monday is the official day and it's the last weekend before children in most of England go back to a strange place..........school! Both of my daughters, grandchildren and friends,  are throwing in a last ditch chance of a summer camping holiday before the organised chaos of juggling childcare, work and a family life. The weather does not look kind to them today for putting up tents but with just a hint of 3 or 4 hours this morning, rain free, we plumb for not-parkrun in the woods this morning. It's number 24 and I really can't take in that in just a couple of weeks it will have been half of this year when our lives changed so much. Cross trainers definitely chosen as recent heavy showers are bound to have turned the dust to mud and the chalk to a skating rink! Walking up through the woods it is apparent the recent 50mph gusts have done their unseasonably best to bring down cones ( those little rollers that cause so many slip-ups), twigs and some pretty large branches along our route.  It is also a tadge chilly for August and we are grateful of our lightweight fleeces this morning, only taking them off when we burst into life at the Start Post. We both agreed though that it was a pleasant temperature for jogging and with the sun peeping through the trees, we would call it near-to- perfect! Thankfully, today there were no dramas. No unleashed fierce dogs, no trips and slips, in-fact nothing nasty with the exception of course, of The Hill, the nervous descent of the Downward Shuffle and the huffy Viewpoint incline towards The Post! We crossed the line(s), there are two as 5km comes up earlier for Lesley's Fitbit and I have to keep going to the Poo-bin, another 20metres or so. Why is this? Answers please on a 'folded sheet of paper'. So I crossed The Line first but got a slower time than Lesley! I suppose that when the time was just over 40 mins (again)it really doesn't matter...............it's just the principal. Talking of 'principal' we stuck to our resolution last week to not partake in food at the cafe until an improvement in quality and general 'value-for-money'. So just coffees, a nice cool down on the outdoor seats and a jog back before the torrents of rain descended for the rest of our Friday. 

25th anniversary not-parkrun and it was midweek this time as the rest of the week we were heading south to our static! The previous wind and rain had left the way up and our not-parkrun course, full of puddles, twigs and branches. It was more autumnal than summer but an excellent temperature to assist us and our aching bodies. We had shuffled a nice Monday course through the trees and probably not fully recovered from this 7km circuit ( with a coffee break at 5km) but undaunted we both took it easy passing the cafe, the Gruffalo, The Hairpin, The Nice Section.........before something strange tweaked in Lesley's dodgy hip-joint and she slowed to a walking pace until it passed! This left me 50 metres or so in front as we both toddled up The Hill where the top affords a few seconds to take a brief peak at the Chilterns view. No more dramas on our 2km back as we both finished in just over 42 mins with me about 30 seconds ahead........that's all, which shows that a brief spell of walking makes very little difference at our pace! The cafe was pretty empty but still quite a few school-aged children around that were just a day away from near-on 6 months of extended holiday. I am sure both children and their parents would be pleased they are going back.........although with mixed feelings and some trepidation. So, masks on, instantly steamed up glasses to pick up our 2 flat-whites from our cheery cafe lady (she sounded cheery but I couldn't actually see her through the fog) and outside to de-mask & savour the well earned rest and the double strength coffee before we trot back home to pack for our short sejour! At the bottom of the hill a large tree had fallen across the main return route a couple of days ago, which we had reported, and the team were doing a great job of clearing the path, their chainsaws waking those local residents that were still on holiday or still furloughed! No hanging around for us, a quick shower, visit the allotment to pick the produce.......again, then off for the M25 drive to the Downs...........it's retirement! 

Not-parkrun 26 week but before that the weather for early September was.............like weather for early September, that is, nice! Yes we had a bit of rain down in the South but plenty of sunshine to attract us to take a long walk over the Downs for Sunday roast lunch, and then back, some 11 miles of pretty steady climbing and descending. On our last day, Tuesday, we took to the beach and coast path for an early morning run. Lesley had started by being dropped off east of Worthing and trotted to Goring and I drove on to Goring and trotted back and forth to both finish at about the same time and same distance! Coffee and cake with sister on the beach before driving back around the quiet M25.  It was WW parkrun's 2nd birthday week which caused a large amount of 'chatter' on the said Whatsap site. How shall we celebrate? After a period of shall we, shan't we it was decided to get a picture in the woods of not-parkrunners next to a tree...? or with the Gruffalo. So, Friday morning at the 'usual' time, 9am start we celebrated, on our own, by the tradition of running in reverse around the course. I am a fan of this direction, having done it......well twice, before! There was a definite autumnal feel as we walked up to the poo-bin start (normally the finish) which is where I, spookily, felt the need for my own relief and sped off to the loos. This made us 5 minutes late for the start.......9:05! I put this sudden change to the start-time down to my shingles jab the day before that warned me of several side effects that included, said rapid change to start-time but luckily not the rare but extreme side effect of, DEATH! Just at the back of us RAF Halton have had an enforced Covid break from training and as a consequence they have had no fortnightly Tuesday lunchtime  fly-past, but now they are back the fly-past has started up but a change of time and day to.........Friday 9am! Just as we are looking at Fitbits to start our watches, an almighty roar from, what seemed a few feet above us, as a solitary military jet did its best to shake the squirrels out of the trees and wake the Gruffalo from its slumber! Back to the run, as I said earlier, I am a fan of this reverse route as for the first 2km it is almost flat with just the hint of a slight downward slope. This leads on to nasty downhill slide which today is a manageable uphill trot. A downward sharp right takes you onto The Hill which is now, in reverse, a smily, recoverable slope! Sharp left at the 1st turn and onto the Pleasant Section, normally a downhill trot of the usual 15 minutes of false sense of security but today a steady uphill 'undulating' section, steepening at the hairpin before it turns into a steady up, passing the Gruffalo and onto the cafe. This is where I really, well almost, enjoy! It's a flat 1km all the way to the Start post (end post)! It's almost ecstasy compared with the norm of 2km uphill, pain, grimace, heavy legs & fatigue!.......but that could be just me? However, 38:50 is (for us) going-some! That's the best time for 6 weeks and our 3rd best since records began.........well, 'not-parkrun' records! We celebrated as we normally do, with flat whites at the cafe but as it was a 'special' day we shared a muffin too. Then it was Whatsap posting, as requested by the core team, pictures of us and tree and us and Gruffalo. So a funny week all-in-all. parkrun HQ with their optimistic start-up programme in late October, Boris with his boisterous but pessimistic reversal of rules to 'groups of six' , parkrunHQ hurriedly publishing that  it won't affect their decision but..........with the caveat that things are very fluid and could change. That seems how we are all looking at the bigger picture at this moment with us in no particular hurry to look at anything more than week on week to plan things. Walks, runs, holidays, Christmas.........

not-parkrun number 27 was taken earlier in the week and for us, a first for a Thursday morning. A chill in the morning air meant the premier outings of our long leggings only to regret this over-cover-up some 3 minutes into the run! We had company today as we chatted with a young couple who were asking where to 'start' and to briefly run through with them, the course. We let them leave the starting blocks a couple of minutes before us.......just to keep social distance and give them a fair chance! Needless to say we met them again 39:50 minutes later where they were feeding the parking machine, drinking their coffee and nibbling the last of a snack purchased from the cafe, probably quite a few minutes ago! The good news for us was that the young guy had 'blown-out' (his words) at 4.5km somewhere near the roundabout we assume. Sounds like she had driven him too hard to me as they must have had some pace early on to walk the last 0.5km, and get coffee, and walk to the pay-station, as we were just finishing. Back to our run. It was very OK, not fast and not slow, no dramas, comfortable but challenging, not too overheated and were still able to walk unassisted to the cafe, to sit outside in the sunshine and soak up our solitary company, very un-parkrun like, with no noisy throng from the excitable finishing atmosphere we still just remember! We took the beautiful long walk back around the course and then down The Snake to wind-up a lovely morning before the unfavourite chore of packing the car to take the 2 hour drive south to our static for the next few days of respite. The core-team's Whatsap site had burst into life over the last few days following speculation of a restart and then the sudden re-tightening of our movements and visits. Covid numbers are rising exponentially again with the recent return to both schools and workplaces. We are all anticipating things will not get any easier and are waiting for perhaps a further Boris announcement in a few days that may even curtail not-parkrun and our other outing activity of the Ramblers. Talking of which, we had a Wednesday 6 mile ramble with 8 others so the 10 of us ambled through the woods, nattering and banana-breaking.......at a sort of social distance  for 3 or so hours. The rules seem to be crazy as we could walk in a group of 30, as agreed by the powers that be, safely and legally. Our local group have decided to cut that figure to a maximum of 10. We all think this is the absolute maximum we would all feel safe and not look too disrespectful to those who are restricted.....to 6! It was very noticeable that with this 'rule of 6' we felt we were ( surreptitiously )being counted by those law-abiding folks that passed us! Everyone was being very 'British' of course and greeting & smiling but you could feel there was soon to be a conversation to be had as soon as we were out of earshot! Strange World............getting stranger.

We feel another form of 'lockdown' is just a few days away at best! At our Southdowns static for the week and weather is perfect, plenty of sun but 2 of the children are grog with grog children. Return to school has instantly given colds to everyone. So avoiding them we spend our week so far, walking 12 miles over the downs, gardening and tidying then the real warm day we went early for our 5km beach path run (34.31) and then the rest of the day on the beach to chill and swim. Graham came down too and a nice time was had by all. The sea was calm and...........cold but we all soon warmed up with shivering, splashing and a bit of swimming. Wednesday saw Klarger-wash of the static before heading back home to Wendover justas the glorious late summer ends with a heavy burst of showers, good to keep the dusty trails in the woods at bay, we thinks!  

Back in Wendover for the 28th not-parkrun freedom run but things have changed in the week with Covid levels going the wrong way all over the UK. Boris has put those areas, not already under their own restrictions, back into a sort of 2nd lockdown........a curfew of 10pm, a few more meeting up restrictions and more masking-up places. These measures, whilst not affecting us personally as 10pm we are just having our hot milk and toddling off to bed, have managed to knock any hope of parkrun return, completely on the head! It always looked iffy to us with maximum size groups of 6 all over the nations, then 1, 2, 3, 4, 500 or a thousand runners, every Saturday charging through the paths and countryside. Most driving their cars, taking busses and some coming from afar and bringing or taking Covid with them. All the well intentioned mitigations in place would convince few and having built a world wide reputation for doing good for the nations health over 15 years, all would be dashed on the very first day...........a personal view of course. We all are disappointed but looking at the social media response, more are with me than against! Our start picture today is a Saturday mid-morning and although smiles are present the thicker tops zipped up to the chin says much about the sharp drop in temperature! In just a couple of days, 24C has become 6C, with good old UK, with its changeable climate bringing the jump from summer to autumn, all in just a few hours. I decided it was not a good time to trim my stubble and Lesley has smuggled a sneaky thermal vest under the warm top plus her T shirt. I have opted for leggings so no bare legs today. Various in house reasons meant a mid morning Saturday run this week, the sun was shining giving a deceptive feel........from behind the apartment window. It must have felt the same for a good few of the local population as they were here by the bucket-load. Swinging from trees in the 2 Go-Ape trails, occupying every chilly outside cafe table, crowding round our normally lonely Gruffalo............it was "mobbed". We decided to quickly set off before it got any worse and slalomed around the first of the dog walkers with several small, rat-sized ugly faced dogs and then the cute cuddly canines on those trip hazard, invisible, retractable leads. Then the 6ft wide double buggies with mum, dad, grandad and grandma all stretched out across the track..........the cafe entrance with indecisive, do we wear a mask or not, people, the new toilets with those hovering around waiting for their loved-ones to finish their business, the activity trail with leaflets in hand ....... then, peace ascended at last. The Hairpin was rounded and there-after we encountered only just a few odd batches of humans. What we both noticed though, these strangers to the woods (for us at this time of day) had little regard for any social distancing, either with themselves (to be fair they might all be in 'bubbles,' ) or more especially, to us. Although we run together we always go into single file swerving to the left or to the right. Not these strangers, they barely move at all, it's as if they own the woods, they don't of course, we do! They might pay good money to park their RangeRovers and BMWs whilst we, of course, just walk up for free...........ah! perhaps that's point ? Back to our jog. It was mainly under control today, not quick and not slow, 2 minutes down on last week and Fitbit said my 172 max and 154 average beats, was well down on some previous occasions. Is this good or bad? Was I not trying?I don't know but I am still alive! The cafe was far too busy and we would have soon got chilled sitting outside so we jogged back through the trees that were now starting to creak with the ever stiffening wind. The paths in the woods are now covered in twigs & leaves so care for us oldies is a must to avoid slips and falls. Winter is coming.......with its darker mornings, rain, hail, frosts and snow. Are we going to be able to keep this up for possibly 6 more months?

not-parkrun 29 and the threat of storm 'Alex' from Friday onwards has brought forward our run-day to a Thursday morning. Thursday is pretty OK with sunny intervals and spots of rain, we experienced both on our 5k this morning. Autumn clothes were selected and needed as the pace today was moderate at just over 42 & 44 minutes. The 2 minute gap was due to Lesley having a degree of jip with her hip/leg/toes, so she chose to 'release' me at The Hill and shuffle at a distance behind me. Not only is the hip playing up but her Fitbit has expired....well it has burnt out the charge plug terminals, yet again so with 15% left of its battery life it was just a question of not if, but when, it will die! With more people back to work the woods are relatively quiet with just buggy-pushy-mums, retired dog walkers and the occasional joggers. Overnight rain has dampened the tracks but not enough to bring back memories of last winter's mud and puddles, so a bit of track 'softness' is not a bad thing..... for the joints? The week has been a normal week with Boris giving another ramp-up of the lockdown as the Covid is ramping-up too. Ramping-up this time has been dyer warning from the 2 science guys that if we don't adhere it will only get worse. So exercise outside hasn't been restricted so no change to our weekly not-parkrun. On another subject, we took our first venture back to our small local gym! We mastered the booking-in system the night before and ventured through the open-door to check in with our new NHS app QR code, took our buckets with wipes and spray and settled onto the cross trainers.........after wiping, spraying and wiping again. The gym was pretty empty but freezing cold with every possible building opening oreface, wide open! The equipment has been reduced but with just the 2 of us on them for our allotted hour it was OK. No atmosphere from fellow users, no bouncy uplifting music and no silent big screens to divert your attention! A bit soulless you could say but hey-ho! It's October now and parkrun are trying to get people back by taking part in not-parkrun, socialising, at a distance and generally trying to rekindle the spirit. Certainly locally it is as dead as a dodo on that front so I wish them well. We keep trying and will keep doing our bit!

30 weeks of shutdown and we know its autumn but (me) just cannot accept that 12C means more clothes on and put the shorts away for a few months. We checked the forecast and went for a 'slot' between showers that meant late morning on Friday. Changeable is a word the forecasters love to use with heavy showers breaking out at any time and just about anywhere. Lesley has a new nifty backpack thingy packed with a warm jacket to put on afterwards when sitting outside for coffee at Wendover Woods cafe..........after the run. My old spare Fitbit came in handy for her as no news on the Ionic repair/replacement front. The sun had peeped out at the start so we forced a selfie smile as we set off gently but quite determined to get back under 40 minutes again! This optimism was brought about by our midweek run on the flattish 7km Halton path circuit. We both set out in opposite directions and finished in pretty reasonable times..........well we would have done if we didn't both bump into (at different places on the course) some Rambler friends that we hadn't seen for a while and it would have been rude to just run past without a few minute chat! As the hour was later today than normal the woods were far from crowded but quite busy around the cafe seating area but became much less busy once the Gruffalo had been passed. The Hill loomed as Lesley suggested we should speed-walk up it today, just to see the difference between our usual shuffle and you guessed it, none at all! If anything we were slightly fresher at the top corner to mount a last gasp dash to the "summit with a view'. Following the horrible downhill the path became more akin to the winter past, with the need today for frequent diversion to avoid the muddy patches. Thankfully there was always a small way through to save the slip & slurry. Should the rain persist, it will surely become 'more interesting'! So 39:43 tipped us just under, not by much but psychologically it worked wonders. Covid is on the march and the North of England, Scotland & Wales have been in a state of lockdown with all areas of the UK expected to follow. We don't think restrictions will come to exercising just yet so will try to carry on.....regardless, health willing of course.

Boris has introduced 3 'tiers' of lockdown to help counteract the virus and the confusion..........he broadcast to all (England) in his latest briefing. Tiers 1, 2 and 3 with Liverpool in the highest and the rest in 1 or 2. No confusion until you see how it is worked out and then the bargaining by city mayors to remain in 2 or go to 3. Gyms open in some areas with level 2 and closed in other areas........of level 2! Back to the woods and we managed a mixed week of walking, chilling, then walking and running......in the rain! +30,000 steps and it's a longish story of lost gloves that after a pleasant 10km walk with Ramblers, Lesley discovers her best gloves have been left somewhere in the woods, probably on the seat where she took a group photo or on another seat where she blew her nose or possibly on the Jubilee monument that marks the highest point on the Chilterns. You have guessed it by now? After a dry morning, back out we trotted this time, to find the said gloves. No happy ending and we got soaking wet as just after we left home (again), and as per all the forecasts, the heavens opened. Just 8C as we did virtually the 10k route again but in a slightly quicker time than when we previously ambled round! So busy busy and no time this week for Friday or Saturday not-parkrun so Sunday it was, as we peered through the early morning mist on our way up to The Start Post. Just a few early souls out and their hounds as we happily burst into life at 8:15am. Just 4 minutes into our run and I couldn't resist a toilet stop which gave Lesley a clear run today which I think she does enjoy! I trotted off at my set pace being passed today by several pairs of trail runners which I think were completing, for the fun of it, yesterday's Tough Runner event that was postponed, like just about everything at the moment. One pair were even doing a photoshoot at the 3km Hill with View, very professionally using a tripod and selfies! Without the 'pressure' from Lesley, I reverted back to my 10 second alternating run and walk on The Hill and just managed to overtake a dog-walker! I never thought it would be a PB today and with the Poo-Bin finish........and Lesley in sight, already recovered and taking pictures of my 'sprint' this was not a good omen. 39:22 on my watch and 38:54 on her watch........ This just goes to show that we are pretty evenly matched even when not running together with Lesley slightly faster (she did do a training-trail run on Tuesday with her running club) and me of course, slightly older! We fell-for a bacon roll cut in half today and it was rather nice, washed down by our flat-whites and a 5km walk......the long way, back home with just a hint of..............still looking for the gloves on the way back! We WhatsApp-ed our photos to the parkrun team......as usual, which brought quite a lot of positive chatter from those that use it to communicate. It transpired that a couple were, or might have wanted to come up to Wendy-woods later today but the carpark had been closed to inbound traffic at 11:30 due to it being full! It was a Sunday yes, but dull, not warm and enticing, some of the playthings are still closed, the cafe has no indoor seating, so what is going on? We mulled this over and although it is the start to Half Term........no one is going abroad, some of the UK is out of bounds and people just want to meet up with others out of doors, as indoors for anyone outside of a 'bubble' is a big no-no.......I think? Probably need to go online, put in our postcode and make sure.

Its Tuesday..............yes Tuesday and it's time for not-parkrun 32. Why you might ask, so early in the week as we had only just completed 31 a couple of days ago? We are going to head south on Thursday for 2 weeks so with the weather forecast on Wednesday showing storm Barbara heading our way we thought..........today's the day. How right we were as Tuesday was a near perfect autumnal running weather, 15C mainly sunny and windless day, as opposed to Wednesday that did turn out to be a day of torrential deluges with barely a break all day. The run today was using our new, found it on Amazon,  tweedle-dum back packs with room for a spare warm coat etc. I found it very comfortable with no 'rubs' or 'chafes' to report so highly recommended if you walk locally and you need a change of clothes or simply a warm cover-up. The new packs made us look like very 'professional' extreme, if not old, trail-runners. Clearly, if you have read through my diary that is far from the truth! From the start we both were in as fine-fettle as we had been for some time with no reports of niggles. (we kept them to ourselves today) Lesley went off at steady pace after clicking her new no. 3 replacement Fitbit Ionic. Passing by the cafe and good news this morning, me, passing the toilet without stopping before heading down Gruffalo Hill, again at a steady pace. Following on from the nice sections and rounding the T junction into The Hill we both trotted to the summit and shuffled down the other side. The long gently rising section home was at the same steady pace with even enough in the tank for a speed-up towards the Poo Bin. How-come then we did exactly the same time as the last not-parkrun? I was convinced we would be in the 38s at least not 39:22........again! Still, it was not the fastest and not the slowest and we were still smiling, once we recovered, and were still fit enough to be able to walk over and get our flat-whites. After sitting for half an hour or so we walked the long route back home, pretty pleased that we were still enjoying our short runs. It looks like with a break South we will have to juggle in the next not parkrun 33 at the coast but will be very content if we can get back to the woods soon after our return.

33 is not going to happen............in Wendy-woods anyway as we are have a shortish break in the South. Friday brings a day of pretty reasonable weather so we pick this day for a coastal 5km from Shoreham to Lancing, and then back again. Either my body is not working or the forces of coastal nature are holding us both back. It's unbelievable how today's headwind makes such a difference on the outward leg. I try to point my cap-peak down to deflect the gusts, but to be fair, and I am sure Lesley would be happy for me to say it, our bodies are not really very streamlined! Turning at the bandstand for the return 2.5km I find it hard to not carried away by the turn of pace.......it's like a long downhill but I know it is dead-flat. Looking back at Fitbit we have done 'perfect' splits with slowest to quickest evenly over the shuffle. Our 33 not-parkrun will have to take place later next week and looking at the abysmal weather forecast  it is a case of seeking out a weather window and going for it!

not-parkrun, could this week be just our Thursday 5km parkrun course around Hove Park in Sussex. We have shuffled this undulating route through the lovely park on many occasions in the past whenever we were 'south'. Recently, or before Covid, we mixed running this favourite parkrun with the flatter Lancing seafront route. Hove is our preferred course if only for the after-run, ham & cheese croissants and flat-white coffees taken outside the Hove Park cafe, often in sunshine. Today, no sunshine but apart from a brief shower it was dry and breezy. We warmed up by walking down to 'the start'  from our car, which incidentally was parked right next to the park in free-bays......well for 3 hours free, which is believe me, not at all bad for the Brighton area! Fitbits started and we set out running with, against or nearly tripping over, the myriad of runners, dog-walkers, buggies and children. Today was pretty busy as it was half term and half-decent weather to start the day. In our usual parkrun fashion we greeted and encouraged those that looked as if they had just taken up running or wondered at those that flew past us..........there were all sorts and levels of activity. First the short loop and pass the start then the first of the large loops, where today thankfully the strong wind was pushing from behind us up the 2 main hills before the second and final loop where the top poo-bin is our marker for a downward 'rush' towards the finish before veering left in the imaginary funnel with no marshals, stopwatches or barcode scanners. Looking at our Fitbits Lesley's said 34:12 and mine had failed to start until the 1st main loop! So apparently I only covered 3.4km in just over 34 minutes. We have a few days booked into a cottage just outside Swanage until early next week, so we may try a run on the promenade however, the weather looks 'bleak' with all-sorts of yellow warning of high winds and storms look to put us off.

Run 33 and looking at a month lockdown from Boris & Team and now we are back in Wendover this is the last day of 'semi-freedom' so we decide to volunteer today and fast-walk round our WWp course. It's a nice day for it as we seem to be shaking off the intermittent showers that have turned up over the last week or so, just to spoil a good day. We had returned from a few days in a cottage near to Swanage and almost on the SW coast-path. We had walked in both directions from our village and had either packed our wet gear in our rucksack only to struggle it on and off between deluges or left the cottage fully wet-proof only to have to remove it when the sun came out! Still....mustn't grumble! Back to our 33 walk that was just the usual 5km parkrun course but both walked all the way. It's surprisingly tough and you soon warm up sufficiently to feel you are doing the body good and it's a rest from jogging. Time today was 49:36 so about 10 mins slower than our pace at the moment. We opted out of coffee and left that 'treat' to Friday.

Run 34 was the 1st of the latest national lockdown-2 and although we chose to run on our more-usual Friday, it was still very busy..........in the usual places, near the cafe, near the Gruffalo, on the play-trail etc. This was surely due to everyone going for their allocated exercise. For our start photo we drew up our bandana scarves which must have made us look like jogging bandits to the crowds around us. It was slightly tongue-in- cheek really but the idea of social distancing seems to be ignored during these busy periods in The Woods. It was however a near perfect autumn day and we did manage again to finish in pretty good, if not average, times and it was also for the 1st of our 28 day  challenge of doing a 5k every day! Not just running but mixing it up with fast and not-so-fast walks..........all recorded on Lesley's 'Runderware' clothing Strava site. each day a random person is awarded a prize of £28. So both of us in at just over 39minutes although due to slight differences in our Fitbits she had to run on for 30 more metres to record 5km. The cafe is still open for take-outs and bizarrely they have had to swop exits around and barricade off the terrace seating area but we can still use the lower seating which obviously doesn't belong to the cafe! Just one of many Boris anomalies of these strange but necessary rules. We took coffee on the 'lower terrace' with a view over the valley and made use of our small backpacks that carries a warm coat as the wind-chill would have driven us straight home without a fresh warm layer. (p.s.....Lesley won the £28 Runderwear voucher........!!)

This week has been an unusually upbeat week in what has been months of gloom. Pfizer announced that their Covid vaccine is in the final stages and has been mass-tested and found to be 90% successful, which for a new vaccine is excellent. Other vaccines are near and most work on the same principal as Pfizers'. This could be the light at the end of the proverbial............bot Boris and Van Tam have warned us that we all must carry on as before, in lockdown. The other news but once again, caution is needed, is we appear to have a new US President! The stock markets did what stock markets do and soared a few %'s on the dual news announcements. But life continues for the not-parkrun number 35 in Wendover Woods. We have been sticking to just the two of us but allowing ourselves some respite from each other with meeting a friend outdoors for local walks. The weather has been reasonably kind and quite mild. This has brought out people to the woods and once again we  are convinced people are unable to count up to 2 and frequently they believe that 6 is OK! It's difficult to be entirely sure, children under 5 don't count towards the 2 and family bubbles are fine but tables full of mixed groups and strolling multiples taking up the whole width of the path without the courtesy to give us space to pass, is something we have to live with around the busy zone ( near to toilets, cafe and carpark ) Grumble over as 90% respect 'the rules' and it is only a small 10 minute section of our not-parkrun. The mild weather has still brought it's fair share of rain at times meaning that the course, far from drying out, is getting slushy and slippery. Not only are our trail shoes suffering but also our run times! Today was just over 40 minutes for both of us,  still not bad.......for our ages and we are on a 5k+ everyday mission at the moment with both of us recently running the Halton 7km flatter circuit in pretty good times. We run the first part downhill together then go off in opposite directions passing at about 2.8km and then see who gets to the front door first! We don't discuss tactics and I decide to keep shuffling the last 1 km up hill to home and arrive about 5 mins before Lesley who very wisely, walks up the said hill! So next time, to save me suffering from doing a bit-much.......I will walk it.

Well into November now with the 'lockdown 2' starting to work with the daily figures levelling off but not falling yet. It's week 36 of our weekly runs and to add to that we have volunteered to 5km walk or run, every day of the lockdown 2 ! An easy enough challenge with the woods on our doorstep but somehow the weather has made it less than 'fun' on some days, in-fact a look at the weather app and discussions over our 1st cuppa is the order of the day.......every day. Shall we go for it early before the rain or wait till late afternoon before dark? On one memorable day the rain started overnight and was still there the next evening, so, just tog-up with waterproofs and grin and bear-it. Today was sadly no different. Not-parkrun day and the Met App showed a window at 8am till about 10am before rain for the rest of the day. This came with a slight put-off of an overnight frost meaning it would require some extra layers and extra willpower to get us up to the start. A warm selection of long thermals, hat, gloves and a spare lightweight pac-a-coat for afters and we were off up the hill to The Start-post. Someone, perhaps a fellow parkrunner, had kindly placed a very meaningful phrased painted rock at the foot of the post which deserved a big 'thanks' and a photo of course! The rain had done its best to turn some of the parkrun course from a trail-run into a 5km challenge that would be proud to be claimed as a 'Muddy-Mucker'. This didn't bode well for a fast time or even a moderate time but hey-ho as we set-off once again in trail shoes that are already caked-up somewhat, just from the walk up!. Lots of, mainly female, runners today and we learnt later ( from Strava) that one of our regulars had set off 20 minutes behind us and with her time of 34minutes (our now good flat-run time) she must have almost seen us at the finish! In these strange times we constantly find ourselves in our head-count for Boris mode, there were a group of 4 and frequently groups of 3, without counting children. Never mind, we say, it is out in the fresh air so no harm done.....hopefully! With mud clad trail shoes and mud splattered legs we finished around the upper 39s and chilled down before donning mask that instantly steams up my glasses and fumbling along in the cafe  for coffees and as a treat today a bacon baguette sliced in two. This not only to keep the cost down but it seems too greedy to have a whole 12"baguette!

Nearing the end of 'lockdown 2' and not-parkrun 37 is back to our Friday but later in the day to avoid the frost. However, the frost has dissipated to leave a pretty cold and drab day in the woods and even at 3pm we take our headlights..........just in case! We have our coats on up to the start before bundling them into our trail-sacs for later. Trail shoes that were nice and clean were back to the norm for the last few weeks with 2-3" of slushy mud on the main trail from the carpark and cafe. With thermals and wooly-hat and gloves there should be no danger of getting chilled........even at our speed, and speed wasn't an issue today as we both seemed to lack any! Lesley wanted a 'gentle' run and at 41+minutes and me at a speedy 40+ with excuses of cold, muddy, tardy in the day..........as we sipped our flat-whites in near darkness on the cafe outdoor seats.........or not the cafe seats as they are still barricaded off as it is still lockdown rules so we have to sit on the adjacent seating obviously owned by others, weird or what? So we take warm coats and we take plastic bags to sit on the damp seats, look at Fitbit results in dismay again. No friends around us again just the remote 'kudos' Lesley seems to get within seconds of posting!

Wednesday brings us out of 'lockdown 2' and back into tier-3. This means to us that we can meet-up with 4 others ( six in total) outside which is just as well as Saturday is my 72nd Birthday and we are down south to meet up with siblings, most of the big kids and some of the little grandkids! We decide that Hove Park not-parkrun near to the sea,  for our number 38...... not at 9am, would be a good WWP substitute  as we are far from home for a week or so. We both enjoy Hove as it is gently undulating, tarmac throughout and you can see the start and finish, as well as the cafe, from pretty well all over the 5km course. 35:55 was the 'quick' time some 4 or 5 minutes less than WWP! By the time we were fully recovered a little family group were waiting to give me birthday prezzies, cards, coffee & crepes from the charming French ' Monkey' van that was doing a brisk Saturday morning trade from all the enthusiastic mums & dads of the mini-footballers! We toughed it out, chatting at a distance until the morning cold got right through to our bones and we disappeared back to our socially distanced hidy-holes! Good news on the vaccine front though should mean we can see the light at the end of the proverbial! Meeting indoors, hugs & pubs and all the other things we are missing like mad! With the temperatures barely getting above freezing we curtailed our static caravan sojourn to return back to our warm apartment in the woods! Our holiday caravan is nice, its near all the offspring, close to the Southdowns, a stones throw form the beach..........but, like most statics it takes a lot of gas (and money) and time to heat and then looses all the gains in temperature in a drop of the (wooly) hat! Oh well, summer is just around the corner.

As a child I loved mud, in-fact you couldn't keep me out of it! Bring it on, wellies or no wellies, warm weather or chill, I couldn't be happier. So, not-parkrun 39. I should have been in my element. Sadly, I am no longer that child and the thought, let alone the sight, of mud does nothing for me anymore except tread gingerly trying in vein to circumnavigate it! It wasn't unexpected as we have had our fair-share of the wet-stuff and with a distinct lack of sun and drying wind it was never going to be an 'easy' run today. We weren't disappointed as we slipped and slid our way up the chalk paths to be greeted with........more mud. Our friends at Forestry England had chosen this relatively quite spell to take their big fat tyre trucks, high-vis chain-saw gangs to decimate the already squelchy track and bring down a few trees as well! On the plus side, the aroma of freshly cut pine permeates from the woods almost giving a feel-good smile as you pass by the cuttings. Back to the run...............and I had a small painful hip issue that I felt sure would 'run itself out' today but just in case, I let Lesley go off on her own.........well, I saw her disappear in the distance and trotted off. With the exception of just a few spots, it was a bit of a "muddy-mucker' again but this time there was little point trying to choose the best route through the puddles as horses, bikes, 4 wheel drive forestry trucks and humans had made this a 'just go for it and hope for the best' plan today! I have to clean muddy boots so a bit more mud on them would make little difference. Lesley finished in 39 something and me in 40 something so all in all.......a good result.

A gloomy week in general, mainly from the news that we are moving into Tier 3, the Oxford vaccine has not been approved yet and.......as can been seen from the 'moody' picture, the weather, with the exception of a brief morning of sunshine yesterday, has been awful. For not-parkrun 40 we waited and waited to find an opportunity at the end of the week where there was likely to be a window from the weather but sadly, the only day possible, we were visiting our grandaughter.... and lovely it was too albeit at a distance with no kisses or hugs! So Christmas get-togethers are off the menu, no pub on Christmas day lunchtime but happily the vaccine is being rolled out to the top-needy at a good rate. Friday would be the only choice of days and the weather started off being bleak and just stayed bleak for the whole day! At 3pm, with no sign of improvement, we donned our raincoats, walking poles......a must in the woods at the moment, as chalk mixed with mud and leaves is a cocktail of slippery sludge that has us creeping along like two old people..........oh, I suppose we are! As we crept up through the near deserted woods we realised that the last minute decision to take Lesley's bright chest light, wear both waterproof tops and bottoms together with our 'ramblers' style walking poles, were going to be the best decisions of the day. Dark was falling very early as we set off past the cheery christmassy cafe with just a few guests braving the wind and rain. Two runners, a couple of brave families with kids, one lost and needed our directions to find the carpark, plus a small group of dog wakers were all that were lucky enough to see the spectacle of two oldies, barely trotting with walking poles in full wet-weather gear through the fading light......must have been a sight! We opted out of coffee as it was nigh pitch dark, still blowing a gale and horizontal rain. Perhaps had the cafe had indoor seats?...........no probably not! Lesley's running searchlight is amazing as we would otherwise have been feeling our way back. The intense beam picks out the trip hazards really well as they are mainly chalky bits of flint that show up in the track, even the rain soaked glistening routes were no problem.  Next woods run happens to be planned next Friday, which is Christmas day! 

Not-parkrun 41 and it's a fabulous, frosty and very bright Friday..........and it's Christmas Day! Nothing much stirs as we sneak out of our flat at about 8:40 to be greeted with a white frost and crispy crunchy mud instead of weeks of the slushy gooey stuff! We turn right in the woods .....just for a change, as it is Christmas.......to take on The Snake! As is evident from our 'selfie' we are dressed in our best, once-a-year, charity shop rejected jumpers and hats, Well Lesley's hat is, but mine is my favourite, a gift from my big-sister.......and obviously not a Christmas hat but a Madeira shepherd hat that has sufficed as a stand-in hat for many occasions but today it is very useful as it is extremely cold around the ears as well as being quite 'fetching' ? The 'Woods' are closed as it is Christmas day so no opening of the gates and cafe so the only visitors are those that walk in via the many footpaths........mainly with dogs at first but gradually small groups on pre-dinner strolls and of course, a few runners. We greet everyone with a "merry Christmas" and most return the greeting with appreciation for our jolly attire. Due to the 'unfortunate' closure of the ever popular, The Hill, due we are told to some unsafe trees. So today we decide to start at The Roundabout and head down and around what is usually the 3k to home. It's the undulating route with a fair degree of puddles and mud that has frozen into a nice crunchy sort-of brown 'sorbet'. We pass the finish Poo-Bin, empty car park, deserted cafe, closed toilets and lonely looking Gruffalo down towards and around The Hairpin. Its more or less all downhill now as we reach The Hill with barriers across the upwards track that means we do a left and just run down towards Hale Lane until the 5km 'buzzes' on our Fitbits at 39:32. We take a short walking breather on down before jogging slowly back along Hale Lane for 2.5km to home. A strange (not) parkrun day when in normal times we would be part of hundreds, somewhere in Sussex probably, as Wendover woods are always closed to cars, sharing the day with Santa dressed runners, joggers and walkers just getting out before meeting up with families and friends but none of that today............just Zoom. Whatsap or in our case, our prezzy to ourselves, our newly installed Facebook Portal! 

It's the last week of 2020 and 'things' are happening at a rapid rate. Covid positive rates are up by 33% in one week with the help of this new 'UK strain' that appears to be much better at infecting people! Boris has now put us all, more-or-less, into the highest tier for the foreseeable. The 'Oxford' jab has been approved and roll-out will start as early as next week...........really great news and as he said in his bulletin with frequent use of those lovely phrases, the light is not only at the end of the tunnel but we may soon be out of it...........but!! Then also the much heralded Brexit deal was finally signed off with just a few days to spare before 1st Jan. As for us two, we did some walks and runs in the woods keeping well clear of the car-park area in the woods and this morning we did a 'course-check' ready for the New Year not-parkrun tomorrow. It was foggy and cold but this had turned the woods into a Christmas wonderland where the fog had frozen onto all the leaves and bushes. The really bad news though is that The Hill is still closed due to dangerous trees that are awaiting some intervention with a chainsaw to make The Hill safe again! So we intend to re-route slightly and instead of our favourite hill we will turn right just before the half-way post and use a steep and muddy forestry side track up to the main track where we will turn left and carry on the same route. This will make the course shorter by a few hundred yards and we will simply just add-on the end, finishing somewhere near the cafe......or when Fitbit beeps 5km! We are planning an 8am leave house so that we can avoid the expected NYD 'crowds' giving us time for a coffee in peace.

It's New Year's Day, a Friday and a traditional parkrun day.............in different times. No 42 and we are up at the crack-of-dawn! It's still very dark at 7am and seems not long ago we we woken by the midnight fireworks (early to bed last night) and then again at nearer 1am. by 2 huge 'explosions' that could only have been crow-scarers........thank you 'revellers'. We aimed to be started by 8:15 and having checked the outdoors temperature, that even down here was well into minus, we dressed up in thermals and running gear! As we walked up to the start the freezing fog was settling on the leaves and branches giving a dazzling display of natures best. The higher we went up the colder, foggier and prettier it got. We were blessed with the display and the welcoming crunchy sound underfoot on the tracks, that were bound to be slippery but had at least frozen the mud of the last few weeks. Fitbits synchronised and off we shuffled. The cafe was soon passed by and was already open and ready for the hordes, that we hoped to avoid today, as we passed by (the other direction) our first runner of the morning and  descended the distinctly frosty Gruffalo Hill. There were just a few dog walkers to bid "Happy New Year" to, as we trundled, mainly downwards, to almost the Half-way Post where we doubled back for a few paces ( to make up the distance) and took the sharp left (right if you get my meaning) and encountered The Hill Mk2! With just a few strides upwards on the skating-rink-like path had us throttling back into walking mode. It seemed to us the gradient would not benefit our run-time trying to shuffle or, more importantly, do our ageing tickers any good at all.......especially so early into 2021 and with the hope of our Covid-jabs just around the corner (not literally)! It seemed an age to reach the top and indeed Strava did confirm this when we later checked out the segment time, back in the warmth of home. Left at the trail to meet the 'unsafe trees' barricades and a right fork to continue back along our usual course. This section has a nice descend before the treacherous view-point. Treacherous, only because I took a tumble some time ago while looking at the valley view. No point today as you could barely see a hand in front of you due to the freezing-fog and looking down at the path is particularly important to avoid flint trip-hazards and over the last month or so, to choose a route through the muddy quagmire. No such problem with mud today as jack-frost had sorted that. Lesley was just behind as I pointed out to her that it was now snowing! Very pretty.  We had decided that the course today would be a little shorter, even with our 200 meters 'double-back', so we would run, passing-by the Poo Bin finish and on until our Fitbits beeped at 5km. We would then stop watches and stop shuffling. Well I stopped just after the Monkey Van and just before the new start & finish whereas Lesley had to keep going before her beep signalled her to stop beside the old cafe, some 200+ metres  further on! This discrepancy meant I finished in 44:18 and Lesley was just 45! With just a few soles mooching in the fog and several other not-parkrunners just starting or finishing their runs we ventured, masks on and steamed-up glasses, into the thankfully empty cafe. Bacon butty for Lesley and sausage butty for me, 2 flat-whites and a sit out on the very empty benches before the novelty of a winter-wonderland began to wear off as the chill of damp apres- excursion set in, necessitating a quick shuffle back home in the warm for the rest of the day. That's the first of the year and another ticked off but there will be no 'double' tomorrow as there would have been in 'happier' times! How many more? There is talk around ( our house) that when we get to 50 (weeks) we will review the way forwards.

not-parkrun number 43 and although I try to stick to the running bit the week has been overshadowed somewhat by the rapidly rising covid numbers and hospitals that are 'chocker' with mainly covid patients, so much so, that the a 'Major Incident' has been declared in London and the southeast. Meanwhile, back in Wendover Woods we prepare (well within the rules) to wrap-up nice and warm and head up into the woods on a foggy, frosty -1C not-parkrun. It's that sort of day that after a decent climb the trees and shrubs turn into a winter wonderland again. Photos are compulsory as is the usual 'start' photo, however nothing will be normal about today's start or today's run! Some of The Woods have been turned into a lumberjacks demolition site including, we soon found out, the parkrun route we usually take. Last week, for the same reason, we couldn't run/shuffle up The Hill as it had been 'barricaded' due to unsafe trees that needed specialist equipment to lop the tops. We had settled for plan B, start at the barricade to the Hill and continue on the normal last 2k route passing Go Ape, the cafe and heading down Gruffalo Hill etc.  The track was mainly frozen with the exception of 'The Muddy Section' that now seems never to drain and annoyingly, never seems to freeze! There must be some sort aqua-thermal geology going on close to Boddington reservoir (disused). At The Hairpin we were to take the route back and then the short diversion back up to The Roundabout but......... more barricades! So, nothing left but to carry on down the track for about 1 k and double back up Gruffalo hill until the Fitbit buzzed 5km. At about 4.8k Lesley got her buzz to finish close to the gruffalo, my buzz came 1 minute later just outside the cafe entrance! So I achieved 42: 26 and Lesley 41:21.........how does that happen? Where did I gain 200metres? Or Lesley loose said distance? Same watches, same start and I assume, same satellites? We took coffees and stood up as now all the seats are taped up for safety. Today We had  passed a couple of 'On the Runners', greeting them, at a distance, and later on, on the way back we bumped into Alison, one of our loyal parkrunners and volunteers. She is a keen 'longer' distance runner who thinks nothing of 6-10 mile training runs!. A brief, at a distance, chat to check if her and Dave, hubby and ancient (75) runner, are OK before the trek back home and that's yet another one ticked off! Its starting to get lighter in the morning now but I feel there are plenty of cool days to come before some Spring warmth that will dry out the mud and allow us to take a layer off and run 'lighter'! 

The week has 'flown' past as we are back already to Friday not-parkrun and it's number 44. Our routine of everyday walks runs etc. may account for this creeping monotony of 'lockdown 3' The weather too has a monotonous flavour to it as well with temperatures around 0 C it was to be another wrap-up day. To say the woods were muddy is an understatement as right from our path into the woods, mud had taken on an ice- rink like property where it is already sodden from yesterday's heavy rain and lays nicely  over the chalk bed to make it almost impossible to get any grip at all! As we ascend the fog thickens giving a spooky feel to the woods and already we can hear the 'tree-demolition' machine that probably means it is plan B or even plan C ! Sure enough barriers are over The Hill trail so a 'new start' & photo taken by the Roundabout info-board and off we go trotting downwards for a few hundred metres to join the normal route, last 3k section,  where we have decided that trying to route round the mud is pointless and possibly more hazardous than just plowing a straight course......puddles and all! These treacherous sections come thick and fast.......in the usual spots but many more appearing where we least expect them. I cannot remember the woods ever being this bad and a later conversation we suggest that it is not only the amount of rain but the seemingly weeks of  dull and misty days that have allowed no drying at all. Another factor is surely the sheer numbers out walking the paths, cycling the paths , riding their horses and of course the dogs, deer, badgers etc........not to mention, the forest-harvesting, as they like to call it. We think it is more tree vandalism as this huge JCB with lights all over it ploughs into the woods knocking over everything in its path and leaving giant furrows from its enormous tyres. Many of these previous tracks remain visible, seemingly for ever as foliage just grows over the tracks leaving these humps and ruts everywhere they have been. Back to our shuffle and few are out today for two reasons. The lockdown of course and........the weather also, I feel. We pass the (closed) Go-Ape and the (open) cafe where if we are not too chilled, as ice is now forming on my hat, we will take a coffee later. Checking the distance we need to find about 2.7k as we descend Gruffalo Hill and using my sharp brain that means we need to shuffle down the trail for about 1.5k as the Hairpin is still closed,  and return the same route  where we should finish somewhere near the Gruffalo leaving a 'cool-down' walk back to said cafe. This section is usually nice and firm, if not, too firm as it has been resurfaced with overly coarse stones that even after 2 years and many thousands of feet, tyres and horses, they have not bedded in well. Today, its mostly slippery wet leaves and deep mud! Undaunted, we continue to the turnaround post, a memorable marker if we have to do this route again next week(s). Now it's just a head-back up a long drag until my 'Fitbit' beeps first to tell me it's time to click and slow to a walking pace (not a great deal of change from my 'hill shuffle') We met 2 'On the Run' ladies at the top, just into their muddy run through the woods and had a brief catch-up chat before back to the cafe for 2 flat-whites but no cakes, as we have both put on a little excess bulges over the last few weeks or months. Nice run today though and even nicer to be able to still go out and 'enjoy' !


not-parkrun 45 and our Friday bucks-the-trend of a wet and dreary, mid-January, typical weather, week! We are greeted to brilliant sunshine and a white frost that is as dazzling as it is welcome. This should mean a harder surface and perhaps some of the worst mud-spots are a little better? We are nor expecting the usual parkrun route as we have discussed the path closure situation with one of Forestry England's wardens when we caught him slightly off-guard during one of our weekly walks. "It will be several weeks yet as they (tree-fellas) have to finish all the clearance and then pick up all the logs and reinstate the tracks" . So a plan B was hatched over our morning tea to start from our normal start and finish somewhere near our normal poo-bin finish, still taking in as much of the course, the 'temporary' barriers will allow. This new course would involve a small degree of doubling back from Gruffalo Hill as far as The Hairpin and back up to then join the Boddington loop beyond The Roundabout. We had one slight diversion which meant a slightly longer route and therefore a shorter finish when the eagle-eyes of Lesley spotted a full set of house keys, along with an Audi key-fob! These were given in to the lady on duty in the Forestry hut and we heard later of an excellent outcome of them being returned to the grateful owner. So our start took us past the cafe, that was still closed as the new 'Covid' hours of 10am-4pm had just come into place, rounding the bend and down to the Hairpin, about turn and back up Gruffalo Hill. This hill, even though it comes early on in our shuffle, is pretty slow for us and a definite feeling of relief as we peak, hand in the keys and continue back along the slushy track towards The Roundabout and left down the hill and continue on the familiar course, giant puddles and all, back to the finish in a not quick, 41:50 according to Strava. Looking back at our times over the last few months and they are slower by several minutes. We don't have fellow runners around us could be one factor, age and few achy joints could be another but the state of course, whilst keen trail runners may love-it, we suffer from the heavy & sticky course and we can't wait for a bit of dryness and warmth so we can take off layers and enjoy! We did however, enjoy our flat-whites and promised cakes whilst sitting outside on bench facing the view and a hint of pleasure from the sparkling morning sunshine. As we walked off to take a long route home a couple of walkers were sharing a lower bench and had 2 glasses of what turned out to be, prosecco. No special celebration they said, just a wonderful day and we are still able to do this! Our walk back soon became cold in the shade of the trees and even though we bring coats with us in our running back-packs,  it called for a slow shuffle, 3.5k all the way home. 

Snow was in the air and on Monday it fell out of the sky by the bucket-load! Our Wendover Woods were turned into a snow scene that reminded us of trips to Austria and Switzerland. The trees were laden and all the mud of weeks past were buried under several inches of the white stuff! This, and the fact the woods had been closed off to cars made for perfect conditions for.........a run! With virgin snow on the tracks and that lovely crunchy sound under-foot that always brings back memories we were well wrapped in thermals as we plumped for using the exit road as it had no traffic, was mainly flat and a perfect mile long to the gate with a mile return. This, together with the roundabout to warden's hut trail, made for a perfect distance. A big bonus today was that the cafe owners had made it in before the gates had closed so a mid-point coffee and cake before a jog back home........perfect! The weather took a turn for the worst later in that evening as rain set in and continued, on & off until Friday when it was not-parkrun number 46 time, again. We found a window in the day at just after mid-day where we chose yet another 'modified' course as the woods still had some closed trails including The Hill trail. The good news was that The Hairpin had reopened so we favoured an out & back for as far as the barriers would allow. This gave us a normal start, 2.5km out and 2.5km back, with Fitbit pinging at just past the post where we started from. We were now nearer to home than our normal finish and further from the cafe! A decision had to be made as rain was due at any time. No brainer, we walked back to the cafe for our usual then trotted back a further 5km round the 'long route' beating the rain by a few minutes. The lockdown has made us appreciate our time outdoors and some days the thought of going straight home is a hard decision as we then should remain inside unless for the few 'reasonable' reasons like shopping, we personally only click & collect or local outdoor market and we are still waiting for our tier 4 & 5 jab call up, so that's just about it!

Week 47 and the weather, once again has let us down, with the exception of Tuesday when it was 14C ! Very freaky. This heatwave sent us to our neglected allotment to dig out (the soil was so wet it it was a pull-out) the remainder of the brassicas that had already yielded or simply rotted, placing them in the decaying mulch, of our composter. Highlight of excitement or what? We both got in a Wednesday morning  5km+ on the relatively flat and mud-free pavements. Another 'highlight' Lesley had previously completed a 10km on the Monday morning when I dropped her at Aylesbury after doing our fortnightly click & collect! These shopping trips are again another highlight in our 'lockdown.' Back to not-parkrun, the morning was chilly but dry and this was to be the first walk in the woods, without wellies! but still slipping and sliding up the horse-path, the cheaty-path and the main drag to the top Roundabout whichis a challenge on its own. Every foot forwards in the mud has a half slip backwards meaning that we were well warmed up before the 'off ' at the Start Post. Same plan as last week, run as far as we could on the normal course, if The Hill is still closed off with barriers, and it was, double back and run until Fitbit beeps 5km. This new alternative has the pleasant, nearly all downhill for 2km + followed by a 2km almost all up that has both of us huffing & puffing until released besides The Cafe on a now pleasant slight decline towards the anticipated finish, around 100 metres short of The Roundabout. It felt pretty tough, as usual, but the time was mid 39 so not at all bad  and nearly a minute quicker than last week! From Fitbit beep (only Lesley's as mine only registered 2 minutes run before I must have paused it accidentally). We took a selfie and strolled back for our regular flat whites aware that we have a 'weather warning' of snow followed by snow from Sunday well into next week........still might be able to get back into the woods for another "snow-run"

Midweek snow run number 2 of the winter season. Yes, it's back, the 'Beast from the East 2' has brought a substantial fall of the white-stuff but along with the snowy covering it has brought very low temperatures. A widow of opportunity at around mid-day where the sun shone and the temperature had risen to -2C so it's off up to the woods via the least steep route we could find. Rather than the virgin snow of our last snow-run, today was frozen to the core and to prevent us being ditto, we possibly over dressed, certainly for the last of km our 6km. But......we did have to walk back as we decided that A&E didn't need a couple of oldies with broken bits and pieces! Especially now that I have had my 1st Jab!!!! Well done NHS, well before the 70+ deadline and now it's just 'young' Lesley's turn for the call-up! We went up on Friday, as nearly always usual, to do our run but Lesley was 'run director' today and after starting and running, or sliding,  on the flat before skating on the ice just at the top of Gruffalo Hill she decided, quite rightly, to cancel today as being a severe health & safety risk! We didn't cancel our coffee but just walked a slightly longer route back home. 

Sunday is not a favourite day in The Woods, especially in lockdown as hordes of pepes arrive and stroll around, just generally getting in the way and not getting out of the way to let us pass. Not-parkrun 48 must be done and the weather is on the turn. Too early and it it would still be freezing, too late and the trail would be slushy mud again. 11:30am and it was just right! We did slightly over dress as the wind had picked up and it was still around zero......and we aren't getting any younger. The Snake up had to be negotiated first, just to warm us up and already we saw more people than a normal, no-work-day, Friday. It was decided to start at The Roundabout and run our normal route finishing wherever 5km buzzed on the Fitbits. Up with our snood masks and brave the 'crowds' as we pass by the cafe and the dawdlers going down Gruffalo Hill. The trail was near perfect with just a hint of ice in a few places but certainly not enough for our 'Run Director' to call a halt! We had decided earlier to do an about-turn at The Hill bottom and return our steps but with the 'dodgy tree' barricades being pushed to one side we went for The Hill for the first time in weeks! Relief shone in Lesley's face as we cleared the 'dodgy tree' area and shuffled to the top and beyond! No mud on Boddington just groups of strollers. I did an almost trip in the same 'fateful' place at The View but managed, just, to keep upright thank goodness. Along the top we were overtaken, easily, by a couple of 'youngsters' looking like perhaps they were out for a Valentine's day run. They turned left at The Snake and seemed to not slow at all on the deep and dicy descent! So, for us just The Roundabout and along the top dodging side to side to avoid the groups and with the Start Post in sight out buzzing Fitbits stopped us at 5km. No chance or even desire for coffee as spots of cold rain started to hit our faces and continued till reaching our front door when it turned into more of a deluge. 3pm was collection time for 2 x takeaway roast beef Valentine's day treats. Time for showers and change into our best indoor clothes...........for a change!

The rain has subsided and the outlook is much warmer and dryer but not-parkrun 49 hasn't started to benefit from this.......just yet ! This means that Friday morning, although some spots are dryer on the walk up hill we don't for a minute think that Boddington Straight will have changed at all. We shall see? It is 'half-term' this week and although schools are not back, the little ones benefit from not having to do their Zoom classes and countless home projects as per 9 years old grandaughter that has learnt all about....how to make a mummy (Egyptian) by pulling out the internal organs through the nose before doing the wrapping bit! This will come in useful in later life So what will they do with themselves?  You guessed, Wendover Woods! Mustn't grumble though as we did foolishly wait for a weather-window and 12pm start is well into busy time. So on with our new Giraffe Snoods, (very fetching) hold your breath, 3-2-1 off we go! All went well on just a dampish surface, Cafe bypass, Gruffalo Hill, Hairpin, Primrose Hill, The Nice Bit until we came to the barriers! They were only partially blocked before The Hill, so once again (don't tell anyone) we sneaked through and shuffled up hill as quick as we could, passing the dangerous tree and at our pace, still not very quick and through the small gap in the barriers at the top...........very naughty! As suspected, Boddington Top was atrocious with no way round the mud that threatened to engulf our boots completely and 'the bad patch' seems to be getting longer and wider! Just onto the 'flat' uphill, the Roundabout and finish just beyond the Poo Bin. Not quick and not too slow.......again. People had taken over the spaces on the path, the Cafe looked busy and the weather didn't add to our temptation to take a coffee, so back home and another one ticked off!...............

Footnote: The Hill barricades: We bumped into Katie on Saturday, our original Forestry England parkrun set-up manager and general good sort. She had been furloughed but is now back to her old job but a bit of a dual role of helping out as a manager or dogs-body in The Woods. As usual, after a chat about this & that we mentioned that it is now 'months' since The Hill was closed and what is the problem? It's ruining a circular walk and........apparently, it's the danger of an Ash tree "exploding" when it is cut down by normal methods all due to Ash dieback!  It needs 'special guys' with special equipment who are, due to Covid etc. etc. in exceptional demand...............Must look that one up on Google!

It's actually 50 not parkruns! It is also a week when parkrun HQ has announced a date when they will, fingers crossed, be back and up and running! A stunning morning greets us when the sun shines, blue sky, no wind, a little crunchy frost under foot, no mud.....anywhere and so early that there are few people! We take the now obligatory start selfie besides the 5km Start Post with full regalia on that consists of or huffalo & puffalo parkrun orange T's. A little under-warm protection as it is still February and only just hovering round freezing. We read somewhere that you should dress for the 2nd km. Due to our age and pace (slow) we dress always for the 1st and just lately carry our lightweight coats in our back-sacks to store whilst shuffling and then donning for coffee and walk back home. We are going to stick strictly to the 5km course with the exception of The Hill as it is still, annoyingly, closed to through-foot! Forestry England have left a message on their Facebook page to not move (or vault)  barriers where they are out as the trees are very dangerous on these sections. We will conform but are pretty annoyed now that it is 3 months now that a designated public footpath has closed without the proper notification and signs. We are happy that in an emergency they can do what is necessary but come-on......3 months.........1 tree!! So, It's 50 runs with just the two of us but just as we are about to start, two On the Run-ers appear. We see them most weeks at around the beginning or near the end. They usually start their circular run in the village below and end back where they started after around 17-20 kms. Lesley had been sworn to secrecy on Thursday when an email came from parkrun to say they would make an announcement soon regarding start-up! Mum was the word as we chatted about speculation surrounding Boris and his 'roadmap' & no, she managed not to give the secret away! Off we went on our trot mainly downhill before the sharp right and steep ascent up the trail where we broke out into a laboured walk! Safer for our tickers we felt not tempting the irony of an incomplete 50 due to......you know what!  No dramas all the way back to the finish and on to the cafe for our outdoor coffees. Once the news of parkrun date for restart came out the WhatsApp for the local core committee went into overdrive! 

Number 51 and we are back to the Woods for an mid-afternoon Friday run due to a long awaited and feared morning visit to the dentist for Lesley. She had put it off once until she hoped the effects of jab number 1 had 'kicked-in' making the visit safer. No need to have worried as it was just a temporary filling again as it needed a longer appointment! So more fear and trepidation to come later in April. Although we are now into March, we seemed to have slipped back to mid-winter today with temperatures barely above freezing, even at 3pm. So thermal leggings and under things, lightweight coats to put on before the start and at the finish, selfie taken and off for the nearest 5km route we are able to take to the actual course which means, walking up that steep trail after doubling-back at The Hill barriers! Just before Go Ape a couple of  Forestry England trucks pass us .(see later for explanation) It is reasonably busy, considering the extra chill in the air, but being the afternoon the kids have been 'released' from home schooling and are letting off steam around the play-trail. Not much longer as this extended holiday break comes to an end with schools starting from next Monday! On and downwards passing the Gruffalo with only a slight muddy patch from recent rain before rounding The Hairpin, up the gentle rise of Primrose Hill that should soon be back in bloom and onwards to take advantage of the early downs before reaching the turn to The Hill.............no barriers! The forestry guys are loading them onto the trucks and we are given the 'thumbs up' & 'all clear' to legitimately ascend our 'favourite' section, the first time in over 3 months. The haul up is with our usual shuffle and head down so we fail to notice the dangerous, ash-dieback, felled trees but we do spot them on our walk back home. The ash trees are pretty close to the trail and the stumps and debris are looking rather sad as the disease took them well before their time, leaving only logs that I am sure will come in useful? Finishing in around 40 minutes and on our way to the cafe for refreshments and a sit-down, Lesley remarks that we have 'lost' 4 or 5 minutes of time since lockdown! A nice post came on our run WhatsApp page from Richard, a similar aged runner albeit a longer distance specialist, " It will get back to normal when we run with a herd, but if it doesn't.......so what! " We both agree. Coats were soon put on as a slight breeze, damp bodies and a chill wind soon had us drinking-up and walking the long way home. Plenty of time on the way back to reflect on the possible start up of Wendover Woods parkrun. Will anyone turn up? How will we limit numbers? Will we still have to adhere to Covid rules? Do we feel anyone would be happy to volunteer? Will we still live in Wendover.................?

not parkrun 52 is an infamous number that means this week we 'celebrate' a whole year of this Covid thing completely disrupting our lives and causing illness & death, job losses, bankruptcy, furlough and mental health issues as well as home schooling and general loneliness & frustration of not meeting up with family and friends. Our national debt is almost incomprehensible and must surely take years to pay back. We haven't been to shops and supermarkets, just relying on Amazon and 'click & collect' . Staying local  has meant we know every path in Wendover Woods.......off by heart. No surprises any more during our daily exercise with the exception, just lately, of our weekly not-parkrun route! However, now the dodgy trees have been lopped and felled, the full course is open for us to 'enjoy' We had set ourselves a mental limit of 1-year of consecutive runs and with the exception of missing a week just by one day, we achieved in fact we always ran, even in the early days of the pandemic when we were released briefly and stayed in or static near the coast! This gave us the 5km along seafront or 5km around Hove Park. So now with a whole year passed the pressure is off of our run in The Woods, lockdown will be gradually eased and talk-around-town is that parkrun will start up again in a couple of months. We decided now we won't put our weekly mugshots on the 'core-team' WhatsApp page and just run the circuit.......when and if, we feel like it! So back to our 1 year run. No mud, not hot and not cold just a pleasant temperature at mid-day and sunshine to accompany us all the way round and while we sat and celebrated with coffees!  I finished my 5km at just past The Poo Bin, as usual, in a 'startling' 41:29 and Lesley finished her 5km a good 300 metres earlier than me at around 41 mins. We both started together, same place, same time.....just the usual anomaly from Fitbit and its satellites! Just like today, we walked a 12.77km circuit of the whole woods. Well I walked 12.77 but Lesley, although she walked the same route at the same time (except a small 10 metre diversion into the loos) she had covered 13.86 km! Thats is quite an error? Yes we have restarted watches, phones, bluetooth and Fitbit apps......several times. I am now going to measure the journey using Ordinance Survey digital map and see who is right and who is way-out!  (mine was almost spot-on!)

'Limbo-land' we call it.......that's the plan to move home. We know it takes forever and we know that we just need to chill-out and let the myriad of stages in the process, just pass through at the rate of an unfit snail! Still, that hasn't stopped our Friday not-parkrun no. 53. Yes we have finished our year and now under no pressure to continue. No more posting on the Wendover Woods parkrun core team WhatsApp but we still let the family know that we are still alive and kicking! It's not now going to be every week same time, same place as we are predicting, fingers crossed, we may be busy soon. Back to today and the weather was damp and mizzle until late morning and pretty chilly still. Joint decision, have some snack at lunchtime and drift up to the start for 3pm. This would coincide with the woods being empty and the threat on the weather site, of sunshine. As we started our ascent it became obvious that today would be remembered for slips and slides. Mud, mud and more mud and that was just as we entered the woods! We walk up the 'Horsey Trail' and horses, dogs, bikes an of course runners an walkers use the path on a daily basis.  Passing the defunct reservoir an ominous sound of a not too distant chainsaw with the usual cordoned off safety barriers and signs marking out where trees are likely to fall. We chat with a couple of forestry guys who let us through and explain the huge amount of work they are undertaking to fell the die-back affected Ash trees. This coupled with 'normal' foresting has changed the look of The Woods completely. Where once there were dense patches for all to explore, now there are scenes of devastation looking like a hurricane has just passed through! Our selfie start by the post as usual and as we headed for Go-Ape turn with the sound of mud-spray from our feet, along the top track, alerted the few walkers that we were coming at 'speed'. Passing the cafe we were spotted, probably from our show of parkrun T-shirts, by a young lady " excuse me, I know you are running the parkrun.......where does it start and when will it be"?  We felt it rude to ignore her and paused to explain, "soon we hope, meet here, 8:45am at the latest, check the web-site for more details" . Off we went again, thankful that we had been such helpful advocates of parkrun and grateful that Strava records only the time we are running, ignoring pauses! The rest of the run is uneventful, which at our age is a good thing? The Hill we managed to shuffle all the way, we ignored the muddy patches and just waded through. We slipped up to The View like an accomplished ice-skater, one step forward and 1/2 step backwards. I patted The Post like a long lost dog grateful there was now just the long incline all the way back to my finish at The Poo-bin in 41:31 and Lesley finishing 60 metres before me , but just behind me, in the same time.......exactly according to Strava! Mystified, we amble back to the cafe to enjoy our flat-whites on the seat outside, in relative warmth. It is slowly getting warmer every week if only we could have a few days without rain to sort the mud out..........it would be perfect!

We got our wish this week as several days joined together with no rain and therefore.....no mud. Looking at the forecast, Thursday was to be near perfect before something horrible, that includes a day and night of torrential  rain and high winds spoils everything again! So, Thursday it was. Blue sky with just the threat of a passing shower had us scampering up the mud-less tracks to start No. 54 not-parkrun. The woods are pretty empty now with schools and nurseries returned as we stripped down our coats and put them in our back packs ( mainly carried now for after run coffee & chill) to set watches at the Start Post and off. Passing Go-Ape we noticed that there was a big team meeting of Ape-ers, obviously and hopefully preparing for the start-up which should be very soon now. They were tucking into, what smelt like, bacon rolls. Very cruel for one whom is not impartial to the occasional treat! The smell soon faded as we passed the cafe, the Gruffalo, The Hairpin, Primrose Hill, The Nice Bit and.........reached The Hill. The shuffle up to the top was slow but steady and unbroken. I had a feeling that if there was no slipping and sliding, no tripping and tumbles and a steady jog back on a mud free Boddington Top........it would be a reasonable time ! Just the odd dog-walkers, pairs of pushchair striders, keeping-fit couples to delay us by the odd dodge, swerve and socially distance around.  My Fitbit paused at 5km just slightly past The Poo Bin finish! Lesley's 5km came up some distance past this as her watch was running 'long'  this week! So, 39:50 was recorded, a few seconds under the 'magic' and lately, unattainable, 40 minutes! Just as an aside.......we heard via our WhatsApp posted from one of our WWP core team, that he made it up to the woods for his first full parkrun since lockdown and although younger than us, but no means a  'spring-chicken', he circulated the course in 22 Mins!! Back to us and with lots of post-run grunting and attempts at stretching that involved tree-pushing and trying to find our feet at the end of our legs, we waddled back to the cafe took our drinks, removed our masks and had enjoyable sit outside. After an encounter in the woods with a 'twitcher' a few days ago we were using our new-found knowledge  trying to guess ( and remember) the feathered friends that were flitting around us.....blue tit, great tit, tree creeper, bullfinch, siskin, chaffinch......pigeon.......you know how it is?

Spring.....and back to Winter, all in a couple of days! From this weeks temperatures in the low 20's back to this morning when it peaked at 5C. We put off the Friday not-parkrun day to the, used to be, parkrun Saturday but 8: 30am start. We are now in 'groups of 6' and 'outdoor sports' according to the latest Boris guidance. An unusual start today as we posed at the view-seat and decanted coats into back-sacks as normal but suddenly a gippy tummy, on my behalf, had us starting our run at different places. Lesley at the Start Post and me............just outside of the toilets, some 5 minutes apart! So, not-parkrun 55 and rumours are abound that WWp won't get going until September due to decisions made by Forestry England at all of their sites. It's possible a assessment turned out to be unfavourable, but who knows? It's outdoors, early in the morning, work had been done by parkrun HQ to make it 'touch-free' with the use of the App only so would be interesting to see their report and conclusions.  This 'hilltop' start with the next 2km all downhill had me turning in two, good 1st leg times, according to Strava. The early morning, despite it being Easter weekend, was very quiet until I reached The Hill when I seemed to have almost caught-up with another fellow not-parkrunner. No it wasn't Lesley but a lady of slightly less years and longer legs! She had already attacked The Hill and was 10 metres in front of me before she started walking. This was my opportunity and an extremely rare occurrence, to overtake someone! Overtake I did........but not until I had almost peaked The Hill. Excitingly I rounded the bend before her only to have her pass me at The View and edge ahead, with more confidence than me, on the Horrible downhill. This small glimmer of winning spirit was dashed again and about seven times, by other not-parkrunners that passed by with friendly greeting all the way back to the finish. Obviously, my 5km finish today would not be at the Poo Bin as my start was at the unmentionable toilet! So I continued on, way past the congratulatory & burgeoning crowd of not-parkrun finishers, passing the start-up toilet and on and up the exit-road for a few hundred metres before clicking my Fitbit at 38:56 ......yes, not a misprint! For some reason, perhaps the cold, perhaps 'the cheering crowd', we both had pretty quick times.

The, not unexpected, death of the Duke of Edinburgh had us 'glued' to the telly on Friday watching the various tributes but more interestingly was his 99 years of a very full life. I had an in-cling of some, especially his childhood and his mixed-up, Greek, Danish and German blood and also a bit about his naval career but the rest was just fascinating....... gaffs-n-all! Saturday and it's just after 8:30 when we start at the post in a wintery 4C but no rain. In fact it has been dry and a little Spring-like for several days that gave us a decision making opportunity at banana breakfast of whether to wear our new Hoka trail shoes and the picture shows.....we did!  In respect we tried to wear black kit today but the garish colour shoes and stripy neck-things and Lesley's leggings, didn't quite work! As it was a Saturday morning and early the woods were sparse with just the usual dog walkers and gradually a few runners. I think we both felt good today and relished the no-mud and anticipating our lightweight Hokas might make a small difference to number 56. We shuffled together for almost all the way admiring the display of primroses on Primrose Hill but at the turn Lesley was happy that I went a few metres in front at the The Hill and stayed that way passing The View and  touching The Post. Certainly, the new shoes were feeling fine for me but the last 2kms section of the not really flat but uphill before the Poo Bin was still a struggle. I clicked at 5km and Lesley, just a few yards behind, did hers. 38:15 !  Quickest for a little while I believed?  So stretches all done by trying to push the Junior Go-Ape log and tree before a satisfying stroll back for a chilly outside coffee. A steady flow of not-parkrunners were doing their bit as we walked the course on our way home. We offered our encouragement.......parkrun-style.......as they passed by before chatting to a girl that walked The Hill with us before leaving us and breaking out into a steady trot at the top. Her hubby came past he was doing the circuit on his bike. That is what the whole ethos of getting out, keeping fit is all about. She said, on our stroll up The Hill, that they both enjoyed the exercise and then the breakfast at the cafe afterwards!

Number 57 and Saturday morning 8:40 am start and the frost was just starting to go off. A brilliant blue sky and not a breath of wind as the weather, at last, promises to set fair for the whole week. In the week we had our first '10 together' 7 miles Ramblers walk, that's 4 more than we were previously 'allowed' and it was good to meet up with a few we had not seen in a while. Whilst 10 or even 30 ramblers is ok according to Ramblers HQ it still feels strange and you can see people we pass by, mentally or physically counting us on their fingers! We had some disappointing news on the flat-sale that was, going to plan when our conveyancing solicitor threw a spanner in the works on Thursday, quoting, we had not produced 'lease clause 106', so we are baffled as to how we go from here? However......a good run this morning will help to defuse us, we hope! We set off at a moderate pace passing by the Junior Go-Ape that was just getting started, exceptionally early, we thought. As the official parkrun course goes right through their start-up area we felt we should let the parkrun ED know as 10am was the norm before lockdown! The cafe was just opening up and just a few people were trickling from their cars making the whole site seem very quiet and peaceful. The run had no dramas thankfully and we both trotted within a few strides of each other right to near the end where I was just a a couple of yards ahead of Lesley . The weird thing is, my Fitbit must have lost a satellite and I had to run past the Poo-Bin, past The Monkey Van before 5km came up and I stopped the watch at 41:04. Lesley had the opposite and she clicked her 5km at The Finish Post........39:54 yards before even The Poo Bin! Anyway it's not a race she kept telling me as we sipped our flat whites on the, now open, cafe terrace........oh and a cake cut in 2!  As has been the case when we go for Saturday at this time, quite a crowd of joggers were doing their unofficial parkruns......some going the right way round and others backwards or deviating on their own route. We chatted with a small gathering of guys that we have seen on a few occasions, they started nearer 9am and were back in around 30 mins. They were missing parkrun proper but we all realised that we still have months to wait as the difficulty to start-up seems there is no control of numbers that turn up unlike with other sports ( Ramblers included) where pre-registering is mandatory. So carry on for now until a solution to all of this jostling that has even prevented Junior parkrun starting last week........due to Bucks and possibly other counties and Landlords not giving a licence for their parks where they cannot be sure of safety of recording or limiting the numbers starting!  

Rumours are abound regarding the re-start of parkrun. The WhatsApp for the WWp has been positively 'buzzing' July has been anticipated but 'stakeholders'.........Forestry England, National Trust, local councils etc. etc.....would need to be convinced that the numbers that turn up would not cause an additional issue in these times of ultra-caution. Still, that's not on our minds this morning as the sun is out and for the first time in ages, we have not got our coats on! There is no sign also of an overnight frost as we make our way to the Start Post, take the mandatory selfie and off we go. Lesley is doing an early morning 10kms with her running club tomorrow so she encourages me to pick up my pace and leave her to shuffle on in her own time. I try, but perhaps running twice in the week (albeit flat seaside runs) I don't have much in my 'tank'. However I surge ahead, opening up a gap of........10 metres.....by the time we reach The Hill. From here on it is 'head down' although I do try to keep upright, as recommended by all top coaches, but find myself still staring at the trail below!  Today I noticed that my wrist buzzed the 1kms marks at unusual spots on the course  which probably means I am inevitably going to have an extended 5kms, today.........again! From The Hill onwards the welcome sight of DoE teams were back in force with groups of map-reading, chattering, mainly girls, doing their things. Nice encouragement came from some of them and I think it helped, especially along Boddington Top where I just seemed to be shuffling at a very even, very slow, pace! Sure enough, I checked my Fitbit at The Poo Bin finish and it said 39: 40 but it also said 4.78 kms! I carried on to The Monkey Van, turned around back passing  The Poo Bin and on to The (old) Finish Post where 5km buzzed up at 40:39!  Lesley was just shuffling to her relaxed finish in about the same time as me. Ah well, it's only a bit of fun? Back to The Cafe where I donned my new stylish mask, steamed up immediately, felt my way round the snake queueing system that had no one queueing where Lesley had already bought our flat whites and cheese and bacon slices! Outside the sun shone on the terrace seating as we watched the not-parkrunners finishing their runs and going home or coming back for the usual refreshments & social chat. The group of guys, who do circa 30 mins,  stopped for a catch-up conversation about 'the return' etc etc. They said how much they love Wendover Woods, much more than their home run of Wycombe. Each week they run in a different direction and we discussed their preference that appeared to be anti-clockwise as it avoided going up The Hill!  I asked what the hardest part of  was ......."trying to remember what direction we did last week". Oh well, it's not just us that has memory lapses!

not-parkrun number 59 and it's Friday at 8:30 am with the sun shining and a hint of warmth in the air as we walk up to the Start Post. It's been a week of house-buy anticipation but, according to our slightly strange conveyancing guy (a Jekyll and Hyde character if ever I saw one) we have just 2 hitches left and we are done! Lesley has a niggly hip/leg strain she picked up at her run club last Sunday so she has decided to give it a week to heal and 'only' walk this week. So far this week we have been with the Ramblers twice with both walks being circa 7 miles, so to keep up the exercise regime it will be just a walk, albeit at pace, today! I don't know if you have tried going 'down' from running to this type of walking but I assure you that with the exception of not feeling close to death at the end.........it's pretty hard. It is also very quiet at 8:30 with barely a car in the carpark and barely a sole out on the trails, in fact with the exception of forestry England guys checking on their saplings and a few dog-walkers we were on our own. As we were going slower than normal I was able to check my Fitbit at 1km intervals to see how we were doing. This is usually a hazardous thing for me as by the time I have pulled my sleeve up, clicked the watch and gazed at the screen trying to focus on the numerals, I have tripped and caused a minor calamity! So I don't normally check. Today the 'markers were almost spot on with the kms and already we were calculating that this pace, if maintained, would bring us home in about 48 minutes. Well, 47 minutes it was,  to be precise, and that is just 5 or 6 minutes slower than our run-pace! Cooling down and stretching at the Junior Go-Ape start area we analysed that next time we could either walk quickly, run slowly or perhaps a combination of both? Walking does give you time to look around, take in the vistas and listen to the bird-song trying to guess the species. Running, I don't dare look at the vistas and the birds can't be heard for my heavy breathing and pounding chest. Will this 'walk'-thing catch on? Perhaps in the future as our bodies succumb to that ageing thing. Over a coffee and cake we decided that we should do a walk and run next time and see if this new plan could be the best of both worlds? 

It is now 60 weeks since parkrun lockdown and the weather for it is perfect. An early Friday run is a necessity as the stress from our flat-move is overwhelming this morning as an 8am phone call to our removal company reveals they have 'let' the pencilled-in date we have saved GO! Back to the drawing board on dates only to receive an email that says they (our buyers) are not 'quite ready'. So, a run today instead of Saturday  in the hope it relieves the angst. (it did!) Lesley has still got this hip, leg niggle and wants to run ahead of me with a 10 minute gap so I didn't drag her to speeds that she couldn't maintain! So, photoshoot by the stump that later in the day a WWp core team member WhatsApp'd "Oh no! someone has decapitated the Gruffalo"!  Ho Ho. She was off, with a distinct hobble to protect her healing hip and I waited about 10 minutes and shuffled into life. Despite the lack of a running partner I shuffled at a pretty even pace just fast enough to want to measure my progress at each 1km marker but slow enough to look at the gorgeous vistas on the way round. Stunning today and just enough residual damp to bring out the strong pine scent through the forest section. I had my dry weather Hoka trail shoes and they felt great, in fact I couldn't feel them at all, so must be run-in ok by now. It was very quiet on the trail and I could count on one hand how many people I passed. A lady on a horse was making an easy descent of The Hill whilst I was making a distinctly huffy-puffy ascent of said beast.  Forestry England were out at the top doing tree-y things and a pair of fast dog walkers passed me by ( coming the other way I might add)  at The View and that was about it! The 1km markers were again not in the right place after mark 3 and not in my favour as I must have lost the satellite somewhere and this can only mean one thing...............no Poo Bin finish! After The Roundabout I looked out for Lesley but she was obviously doing a reasonable hop-erty shuffle as I first saw her walking back to greet me at The Finish Post where my Fitbit said 4-85km! I ran on passing The Poo Bin, Junior Go-Ape turn, The Monkey Van and hooray.....5km in 39:29!!  or was it 5.15km? Oh well it's only a bit of fun! Coffee and cake followed after making a donkey of myself in the cafe by being reminded I had forgotten my mask! Embarrassment was that I walked back to the door and put my mask on before coming back again.........much to the amusement of our friendly cafe manager! Still, made someone's day. We had an Amazon  delivery of packing boxes coming at 11am but it still gave us time to walk slowly back and take in The Woods, a de-stressing must as we planned out plan B or C or just stay in our flat and give up the move. Plan B it was, load up the car and head south to out static and forget all about it........for a few days at least! 

What a week it's been. I shan't bore you with the details of the move.....is it on, or is it off. Well, just to say we exchanged on Wednesday afternoon with completion in a couple of weeks! We arrived back home after a generally lovely week in the south with plenty of sea, sand (pebbles) and a little bit of 5km flat running along Worthing & Goring sea front in a comfortable 37 mins. Tarmac-flat and breeze free followed by coffee and cakes, meeting up with most of the family over the week, but........!! Lesley started to feel unwell on Thursday and by the time we did a quick dash for home her face had turned into a swollen puffy mess. Pain, she said was awful on one side of her head, her eye was sore and nearly closed up so we called the doctor in advance and he saw her on our return. The outcome? Shingles............the slightly frivolous name makes the illness sound like a mild inconvenience but rest assured you don't want it and like Covid, if you are of a certain age and offered the jab, take it! So Friday, just when she wanted to get stuck into the packing, she could hardly lift herself from the sofa. Saturday, instead of not-parkrunday, it was an early eye appointment at the hospital. Lots of prescribed anti-virals,  penicillin and regular eye-drops. I can only hope, for Lesley's sake, things sort themselves out on the health front as soon as possible, as she always says "I don't do ill" !!  Meanwhile, I pack, clear the loft, pack and......go for a woods run in the evening where I manage the full parkrun course......only in reverse, in a de-stressing 37:49. Lesley, sleeps, watches the Cup Final and falls back to sleep again almost immediately after my superb culinary delight that required no recipe books....jacket potato & baked-beans with cheese grated on the top and a dash of Branston's on the side.......superb!

What can we say about the weather? From the dry March straight to the wet April and May and with June approaching the low temperatures make it still feel like winter! On the health front the shingles is still causing major jip with no chance of Lesley running but we did achieve, in-between packing, a full circuit of Halton and a walking 5km not-parkrun 62 in around 52 mins. Fatigue set in for Lesley on our return but lots of pre-moving chores were still there to be ticked off! As I write this the removal team have started, the house in Goring has exchanged and it feels like we have just 1 circuit of our beloved Wendover Woods left this week before we head south. We are due back for a few 'appointments' and after our resignation.......for want of another word for core team parkrun-volunteers........we have promised to be back at, or around, the start-up, hopefully late June or July. There is certainly a tinge of sadness, missing the parkrun team and the special views on a sunny day but also a lot to look forward to.....especially some much flatter parkruns that should more  suit our ever ageing bodies! So, along with quite a lot of work to our new pad, we anticipate summer on Lancing Green parkrun or perhaps Worthing or Brighton Promenade, or if we feel like an undulation, Hove Park, followed by the infamouscheese & ham toasted croissants.

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