Beckoned to Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun, a most eggcellent and hoppy Easter venue.

Whatever the subtext inherent in Blanche’s utterings, it’s not a bad thing sometimes to have to rely on the ‘kindness of strangers.’ Anyway, in the parkrun world, there aren’t really any proper strangers, because for the most part, if you have done a parkrun before, you will meet friends of friends at any random parkrun anywhere in the world. Not so much grappling for six degrees of separation as ‘ooh, you’ll know so and so‘ and so it begins. If that doesn’t work, well then new people at a parkrun are basically that old cliche of ‘friends you haven’t met yet’. Really, they are! Today is a case in point as will unfold if you have nothing better to do than read on.

Honestly, parkrun is quite a breeding ground for the aptness of cliched phrases. Phrases that it’s all too easy to mock, yet we might secretly have up on a poster at home somewhere. Not ‘live, laugh, love‘ though I draw the line at that. Then again, did you know it actually comes from a longer poem? No, I didn’t either until quite recently. Might make you see it differently, or might not, I haven’t read the poem, so it might be equally trite. Another thing I didn’t know until just now, but I’ve readitonwikipediasoitmustbetrue, is that that whole aesthetic vibe is known as Cheugy. I know, interesting isn’t it? Rhetorical question, yes it is! Let me illuminate further:

‘Things described as cheugy include “mom jeans“, “live, laugh, love signs”, “Minion memes“, and “anything that says ‘girl boss‘ on it”.While it has been compared to being basic,^[3] some sources have suggested that it is “not quite ‘basic'”.^[1] The Evening Standard said that “the cheug’s logical archnemesis is probably the hipster‘

Hmmm, I mean, that is quite a challenging statement in some ways. Because, in the interests of full disclosure and transparency, personally I do quite like Minion memes – the microphone drop is a classic. The phrase ‘Girl Boss’ is an abomination of course, anything that infantilises women through language like that is a ‘no’ from me, but then again, to have someone who uses a jam jar as a drinking vessel (that’s how someone once defined hipster to me many years back, and it’s sort of stuck) as your archnemesis – is almost admirable. Imagine them in a fight and it’s hard to know who would win. You’ll have to come to your own conclusion. The thing is though, today, the kindness of strangers really picked me up, so hooray! And I’m not using it in the sense of trying to reframe abuse, (that’s good to know, obvs) I actually mean it, the kindness of strangers was a total tonic. Even so, it is a classic film though ‘A Streetcar Named Desire‘ if more than a little disturbing. I might need to watch it again, it’s been a while. Meantime, here is a minion image to muse on. And Viv and Marl too. Go on, knock yourself out, enjoy.

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You’re welcome.

By the way, do you remember that Google mic drop April Fool? That was awkward…. Oh, just me then, never mind, it’s not the first time that’s happened.. Moving on, where was I? Oh yes, heading off to Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun, for their Event 6.

I have been vaguely aware of Beacon Hill starting up recently, and wanted to avoid going too soon to give the event a chance to settle in before descending on them. Not that I was expecting any particular special arrangements on my behalf, though wouldn’t say no to a red carpet down the finish funnel obvs, and I’d properly LOVE to tick off my last outstanding bingo number. It’s just that current etiquette is to avoid making parkrun tourism to brand new events so the teams don’t get overwhelmed and scared off before they’ve had a chance to establish and flourish. I have a new phone, in fact have crossed over to the other side and am now in possession of an actual smartphone. Not gonna lie, it’s not just amazing to have a decent camera at last, but I love the 5k app. When I was pondering where to go, this came up as a new to me and near one, and it happens to be a new needed number for my Wilson Index (the maximum continuous parkrun event numbers you have attended – at any event) taking it to the dizzy heights of 6! Fortunately, I’m not in a hurry, and I’m not particularly going for the Wilson challenge, mainly because it seems a lot of effort for an arbitrary achievement, but not gonna say no to the chance to sneak a new number in. Today was Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun number 6, so fitted the bill very nicely. Not too far from Sheffield, and I’d heard good things about the course and event so yep, that’d do.

The course blah de blah on the official Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun website describes the course thus:

Course Description: The course starts near the Native Tree Collection by the lower car park. The first mile is uphill through woods until reaching the upper slopes of The Beacon. The route then takes an anticlockwise loop, down the Rippon Avenue (of beech trees) and around the West Beacon Fields, enjoying the panoramic views across the Trent Valley to the Peak District beyond. The course then follows the same track back down the hill, through the woods with views that open out across the Soar Valley. After a couple of sharp bends, the course finishes on the field in front of the café. The route can get very muddy in places in wet weather.

Please keep to the left throughout the course except when crossing the route at the top of the hill. This is a multi-use track used by horses, pedestrians and cyclists.

Facilities: Toilets are available near the entrance to the Lower Beacon car park, and also in the Upper Beacon car park (which is also half way round the course). There are children’s play areas near both car parks.

Location of start: The event starts near the native tree plantation by the lower car park.

The nearest parking is available at the Lower Beacon car park (LE12 8TA, w3w ///pull.scrambles.deaf), car park marshals will normally be on hand to help you park as closely as possible. Alternative parking is available at the larger Upper Beacon car park (w3w ///mend.cube.mile) which is approximately 1 mile from the start.

Post Run Coffee: Every week we grab a post parkrun coffee at the Beacon Hill café which is open from 9am – please come and join us!

and it looks like this:

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Basically another contender for the badly drawn tadpole route, or maybe a kite? Like the one in the song, not the bird. The course does go pretty high up so it might be quite a good sport for kite flying when the wind is up I should imagine. Also, flying a kite is seasonally topical, only this weekend the Guardian listed it as a recommended activity for their ‘Blooming marvellous:56 small ways to spring into action‘ saying:

‘5. Fly a kite

It’s beautiful. It’s meditative. It’s contemplative. There’s only a small chance of it going berserk and injuring a child. For inspiration check out windswept.co.uk.’

Worth a go anyway, participating at this parkrun, whilst waiting for an opportunity to actually go fly a kite I mean. I do hope you are following. More than that, actually quite an eggciting prospect to hop up Beacon Hill and not too much of a scramble to get there being but an hour or so from Sheffield. Bit more if you are paranoid about being late and fearful of not getting a parking space near the start. I can just about manage to walk the parkrun distance now, though it typically will wipe me out for the days following, but not an extra two miles on top, particularly a hilly two miles. Yep, would Beacon Hill Park parkrun would be most fine and dandy, but a skip and a hop really.

Speaking of skipping and hopping, have you seen these cool chicks Not that chicks hop, but that big bunny most certainly will?

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Why were they crossing the road? To get to Florence Park junior parkrun of course!

Fair play to them, this is eggactly how it should be done! It was the reference to the egg timers that particularly cracked me up! Not gonna lie, in my world, that is actual genius! And as for having the actual Easter Bunny in charge of proceedings, properly awesome. Every parkrun should have a bunny on duty, I don’t see why not, they have one as a Wellness Officer for the Police in California after all.

Still, that’s tomorrow, we are still on today, Easter Saturday. I was feeling a bit sad this morning, in every sense. I’m so over being physically limited in what I can do. I could never run with particular aplomb before becoming ill, but I could run for fun, and mix in with the parkrun throng invisibly, it’s grim being such an outlier at times. Being final finisher is sort of a thing. You can’t just rock up, do your parkrun and slip away. Real inclusion is to be so much part of an activity you are unnoticed, I’m a way of that scenario at a parkrun unfortunately. I miss being able to trust my body. It was never anything to write home about in terms of appearance, I hardly had the body of a Goddess to start with, unless there is a Goddess of people who have been hauled through a hedge backwards? I don’t think there is, but there should be. I can see them being quite in demand. Despite this, I took it for granted that my body could do stuff. Walk all day; muck out stables; dig over gardens; run for a bus; ride a bike; trot upstairs; walk to work or to the doctors; drive for a couple of hours stretch or even stand in a queue for as long as needed. It’s what a body can do that matters. I feel thwarted to have lost that confidence that if there was a physical thing I needed to do, I could just do it. Never gave it a thought. A consequence of this long, long incapacitation is that I’ve lost my way with parkrun a bit at times. I don’t really have a home parkrun as such anymore. I’ve lost confidence physically in what I can do, sometimes I think it’s in my head and I can do more if I just try, and then I do just try and it’s catastrophic. I can’t compute it. It’s not fair. I know other people have it worse, but I’m grieving for what I used to be able to do. The parkrun I used to regard as my home event isn’t a course suited for walkers. It has a couple of single file sections and is multi lap and doesn’t seem to entirely embrace parkwalking. I am not confident of having a good experience there, particularly as I would inevitably be the cause of many tailbacks on the way round. I am in a constant search to find parkruns where I can participate without feeling a burden on events. Walking at parkrun can be complicated. I don’t want to rain on everyone else’s parade by messing up their parkrun experience, but I’d still like to find parkrun parades where I can join the merry throngs on their celebratory processions around their respective parks. Celebrating parkrun day of course! In case you were querying the reference there. So basically, I’m sad because I can only walk at parkruns and I worry that not all will be pleased to see a walker rock up.

I’m also sad because I feel many parkrun adventures are passing me by. Various parkrun folk have energy and finances I lack, which enable them to head off to a seemingly endless list of exotic parkrun locations. I am pleased for them, really I am, but I’m sad I can’t join in too. It’s getting to that time of year when FOMO is brutal if you make the mistake of browsing parkrun related Facebook groups. Although, from time to time people I know will offer to walk with me – last week being a fabulous case in point at Hackney Marshes parkrun, I do always feel when they do that they are sacrificing their run and I’m rather spoiling their parkrun experience. I’m embarrassed at how long it takes me to get round, fearful of an impatient event team at the finish, and just have that overwhelming sense of being a burden. I feel I can’t put upon the same people too often. I’d just like to be invisible. To rock up and do a parkrun in the middle of the pack unnoticed.

To be fair, if I was actually properly invisible, I can think of other places I’d like to gatecrash too. Yes to theatre outings and a fly on the wall at important, usually hidden events. But I’d definitely also do minor poltergeist moving stuff around gigs, just for fun. Do you think you have to go everywhere naked for it to work? You know, like when the invisible man covered himself in bandages to appear normally visible? That would put me off some spots, but it would be alright in warmer climates I daresay, then again, midges. Hmm. You know what, I’m not pursuing that line of thought any more just now. It may lead to regrets. The point I’m trying to make is, that whilst for the most part people and teams are welcoming, it isn’t a given. Being an outlier can be a horrible feeling. Endlessly touristing on my own is pretty lonely sometimes, and nerve wracking too. Plus, I despair that I’m still nobby no-mates after so many years, parkrun travel buddies who share goals and aren’t fussed about time taken and live in the right geographical area are hard to find. Basically, this was the mood I woke up with. Just sad. Here we go again, off to a new parkrun on my own, just to walk round, it seemed madness. It’s just gone on too long, this not being able to do things. I still hope this isn’t the ‘new normal’ and that I will be able to run again, however ineptly, at some point in the future. Before all this happened, in the ago times, I was really wanting to test myself over ever longer distances, maybe take on maybe walking ultras if not running ones. I’d still like to, though accept that this seems ever more unlikely. Consequently, I was not feeling optimistic from under my duvet first thing. It seemed a lot of effort to get up and get out. Woe is me. The thing is, whilst I don’t endorse pity parties as a default position, I know they can drag you ever further along that downward spiral, sometimes you just have to allow yourself a bit of a slump and then you can pick yourself up and try again…

But dear reader fear not! My fear of being a problem and every parkrunner sighing inwardly and avoiding eye contact when I rocked up did not materialise. Beacon Hill Park parkrun embraced the parkrun inclusivity ethos. This is why having tailwalkers and parkwalkers is really helpful, people who are happy to go at a different pace, taking it all in and won’t tut at you for breing too slow. Another plus about attending a new-to-me event is that you get anonymity. There wouldn’t be any expectations put on me. There would be people for company if wanted, but more importantly for me, people who have come with the expectation of walking so that’s not a big deal. These things combined can help to stop me feeling quite so much in the way. Whilst it’s true I don’t have the same experience walking at parkrun as I did when I used to run it, and I do miss that, there are other wins from taking things slowly. You can appreciate the surroundings more, and sometimes, like today, you get to chat to some really ace people as you twalk (talk and walk) or chootle (chat and pootle) your way around! #winningatparkrunife. I might have set off in a literal fog for the drive, and with a dense metaphorical existential fog in my head, but by the end of the morning both the literal and metaphorical fog had lifted for the time being at least. Phew. I still wish my body worked properly though. And that my legs were the same size. Funny what you don’t even notice until you do. Then again I have tadpoles, and they are pretty awesome, privilege to have them in my life, and I’m not even joking. What’s more, tomorrow is junior parkrun day, and that always gives an injection of feel good endorphins to carry you through the rest of the week. I wonder if there will be any Easter Bunny costumes? Hopping so. Things are looking up!

Away I went. It was a really straightforward drive, and although the satnav didn’t take me quite to the destination, it was pretty obvious where to head as there were handy brown signs to Beacon Hill Country park. Hurrah! Also, as I got nearer, the countryside became ever more enticing. This really is a beautiful part of the world, it’s fantastic to have so many parkruns to choose from in this neck of the woods, it is the hoppy prospect of parkruns to discover that has after all brought me here. Honestly, were it not for parkrun, there are so many little – and even quite big – corners, pockets and parks of the world I’d never have thought to explore.

It was about 8.20 when I arrived. There was already a merry cluster of car park marshals in situ to sort the parking. I had worried about being able to find a parking space but in fact there were quite a lot of free spaces at that time. The first marshal had the important job of pushing the button to issue a ticket, and I guess the other marshals would start waving people to the nearest available space as the carpark filled. Apparently, just having button pushers speeds things up enough to prevent tailbacks of people waiting to get in. I’d love that pushing the button job, it reminds me of the joy of using an old fashioned ink stamp when playing post offices at school. They don’t have them any more do they? Proper ink pads with heavy rubber stamps to flourish. Kills the fun element of the job I’d imagine. The nearest equivalent today is probably stamping passports or visas in some tin pot dictator’s domain. The greater the delusions of grandeur the more numerous and enormous the rubber stamps required to gain entry would need to be. That would be fun, even if living under a dictatorship would be quite a high price to pay for just one strand of job satisfaction. Still, it’s a thought. You have to find what joy in your labour you can. Anyway, stop distracting me about the stamps, the point is, the carpark is pretty spacious,. It does however lack any painted lines to indicate individual parking spaces, which means it’s less efficient in terms of space, hence the need for marshals. There were little piles of horse hair round and about – people can park horseboxes up and head off with, or indeed upon, their equine companion and trot along the trails. They groom them either before or after, hence the little piles of freshly removed horse hair. I was quite tempted to take some home. Not for me to stuff cushions with, but I wondered if the birds might like it for nesting. I didn’t though. Another bright idea that never came to fruition. You pay on exit by the way, so don’t lose your parking ticket. Oh and there are loos – or at least a loo – available pre parkrun. You can see the start/finish from the carpark too, so it’s all nicely compact and reassuring. Hurrah. I always feel better once I’ve sussed parking, precautionary pee and espied parkrun people. Phew. Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun was going to be just fine! Not just ‘fine’, but actually fabulous!

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First task, was to go and investigate the finish area. Eager beaver marshals were out and about purposefully striding around carrying signs and looking busy and important. Others were huddled together for a pre parkrun pep talk or possibly bodily warmth? The venue looked immediately magnificent. There were woodland trails just begging for you to plunge down them to explore. The sun was shining, the pop up sign was out. Yes, this was going to be splendid! Ooh, and that’s the Run Director doing her checks, and there is a lion, a frog and an actual mole. All the things, hurrah! I have it on good authority that Beacon Country Park is always bathed in this perpetual spring sunshine bursting with promise of new life, it was 100% of the time I was there anyway, which you have to concede is a pretty conclusive stat. Go check it out.

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There was also a bear! An actual bear, but this one seemed friendly, not the sort who would partially consume you and then spit out the remnants to finish off later.

People started to assemble, posing for the mandatory tourist photos, but also checking out the new parkrun magazine which has just reached event teams – and is also available to purchase from the parkrun shop if you don’t know a local Event Director or parkrun ambassador to personally deliver you a copy next time you are at your local Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park junior parkrun say.

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Did you spot the elves? They are hard to miss. Well dear reader, I learned during the course of the parkrun that these are quite famous in their own right. Meet Coblyn Bach and Coblyn Mawr, no, I don’t know which is which, or should that be who is who? I do know, they grew out of the Elf on a Shelf idea, and then it evolved into ‘an elf is for life, not just for Christmas’ and it follows logically that an elf (or indeed elves) are also for parkrun and particularly parkrun tourism. These were in the guardianship of one of the tailwalkers. In fact both tailwalkers are old hands at being responsible for mascots after years of training in various youth groups apparently. Mascots are pretty common at parkruns world wide, though some are more animated than others. Have you seen fluffy the Emu in action at Nambour parkrun? That’s pretty cool, if potentially slightly alarming too!

https://www.facebook.com/nambourparkrun/videos/771884377682066/

Good to know. Did you also spot the rather magnificent sign? This one:

The huge map of the course. Oh, and I think those are the official run report writers in the back of shot, FYI. Back to the sign though. I LOVED it. Sadly, it seems it took a bit of a tumble last week and smashed into a million pieces! I hope whoever had to count them all out got an extra volunteer credit. Anyway, it’s been lovingly reassembled, and if not as good as new in the pristine sense, I think it’s actually better than new, in that thes creases and repairs become part of its own story. You know, like that fine china that is prized even more greatly when repaired with gold Kintsugi – a Japanese art form of repairing ceramic. Breaks are seen as the history of an object rather than something to disguise. Maybe I should gold leaf my leg and then I’d feel better about it’s lack of functionality. It’s a thought? Then again, if I treated all my broken or rubbish bits I’d end up looking like C3PO and that would definitely work against my goal of being invisible at a parkrun so maybe not. Oh, unless it was a May the Fourth parkrun occasion, but quite a while til one of those comes around again, not until 2024 apparently. Put Wakefield Thornes parkrun in your dairy for that date is my advice, it’ll be worth the wait. Anyway, that’s missing the point, the point is, well done creative mendy parkrun people. You did good. Bet you can build fabulous space ships for star wars parkrun day next year too. Start collecting your toilet roles NOW. This is the one to beat IMHO

The next enrichment activity, was the first timers’ welcome. This was well attended, I think a fair few of us were tourists, but there were also some first time everers which warms the cockles of every parkrunner’s heart. Hurrah, their Saturdays will from henceforth be parkrundays and their lives will be the happier for it.

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It was a very good briefing. There was an unusually thorough but helpful course description. It dawned on me (slow on the uptake I know) that the reason there is a beacon on this hill, and it is called Beacon Hill Country Park is because there is firstly a hill, and secondly quite a high and steep one at that! This course basically goes up and up and up through the forest paths, looking out for horses and other park users, then round in a loop and back down again. Great views at the top reward your efforts, and if going up is hard, coming down is super fun. The instruction is basically to keep to the left, until you cross to go right and round the loopy bit in an anti clockwise direction. Sounded straightforward. We were then waved off to the Run Director’s Briefing. She scampering off ahead to clamber on a handy tabletop for maximum voice projection.

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On this bright sunshiney day, the Run Director gave her briefing with gusto and aplomb. She thanked volunteers, welcomed tourists and newbies and went through all the usual safety briefings. Dogs on short leads, one per person (I’d forgotten to bring a dog with me, but that was fine) usual things. She also told us that she was making her 5k parkrun debut as a Run Director which was not at all frightening apparently! Good to know. It is noticeable how many people who volunteer regularly at parkruns move between the junior and 5k parkrun events. Your efforts are appreciated parkrun volunteers everywhere. I felt like we were in safe hands. This is still a very new event, but it felt like a well oiled machine already, there is an attention to detail and great positivity too. This event wants to succeed. The alert to look out for horse riders so as not to spook them – or more accurately their steeds – for example, the intention is to co-exist supportively with other users and all will be well. It all felt lovely.

From the briefing, there is a group trek up to the start. Oh, ok, it is indeed up hill! Some regulars had already gathered there, missing the briefing. I’m not sure what I think about that, it seems a little disrespectful, but better than talking through a briefing if you feel you’ve heard it all before. Also, to be fair, if you’d parked at the top car park and walked down, you’d have got to the start line before the main assembly point. Run briefings often do take place at start lines so I suppose you might quite genuinely expect it to happen there. If you are touristing, keep on walking though, and join the briefings proper, and you’ll be rewarded with a proper loo in case of need as well.

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The woodland track is nice and bouncy under foot. We were warned that there might be muddy slidey patches, but I thought it was pretty good underfoot. A few puddle sections, but nothing too daunting. Some parkrunners did have buggies – albeit fancy off road ones – and seemed to manage fine. I can see why they have the briefing in the open space lower down. It’s quite snug at the start. People sort of naturally put themselves in approximate positions for finishing times, it felt unhurried though, not bargey. After a bit of shuffling about it was time to ‘go’ and go everyone went. I stuck to the side slotting in as the numbers thinned out, so I could walk without being an obstacle.

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Well, this is lovely. There is something super calming about being amongst trees. Forest bathing they call it. You feel instantly at peace. The soft woodland paths make everything feel quiet and calm. The faster parkrunners had streamed ahead, and for a little while I was ahead of the tailwalkers and parkwalkers so had the whole place to myself. It was gorgeous. You need to remember to look to the left and to the right to appreciate the tall trees and the woodland canopy and espy the views to the right. It helped that the weather was just perfect for visibility, with come clouds giving lovely tones to the vista. Pretty much perfect. And as if that vision of loveliness wasn’t enough in itself, after a bit a marshal came into sight. Cheerily sitting to keep us pointed in the direction and safe from galloping horses, and presumably them safe from us too. All good!

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You’d have a job getting lost on this route, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a role for marshals. They provided cheery support, companionship, safety monitoring, equine lookouting as well as directional pointing. On the whole the parkrunners seemed well behaved. The usual hotchpotch of cheeriness yomping along. There was one miscreant participant who had let her dog off the lead at the first possible opportunity. It was an elderly labrador pootling along. The problem is, it was a loose cannon. Although I’m much better than I was, a loose dog is quite scary for me as I worry about keeping my balance and I can’t take evasive action very easily if a dog lumbers across the track or stops suddenly, it doesn’t matter if it’s old and friendly it’s still a hazard. I don’t understand why a parkrunner would just ignore a rule, it’s like they cannot comprehend the danger their action presents. I gather someone else also noticed and asked for the dog to be put on a lead, and it was, but not gonna lie, it spoiled my experience of the parkrun initially. parkrun isn’t compulsory, you can run with your dog off lead elsewhere, so why you’d feel compelled to do so in the midst of a pack of 249 parkrunners I don’t know. On the plus side, they were soon swept ahead, not before the runner in question had called the dog back to them causing it to stop, and trot across the path of a sea of runners making their way up the track. Some accidents aren’t just random, they are entirely predictable. I mind about this having seen a lose parkrun dog cause an elderly non parkrunner to fall really badly at York parkrun, he looked to have broken his hip and as in this scenario it was an entirely avoidable situation. Oh well, nobody came to grief today, and once they’d disappeared over the horizon, the hazard had at least passed for me, though I resolved if it was still loose on the way back I would hang on to it myself.

Pretty soon, the speedier parkrunners were indeed hurtling back. The uphill I was still negotiating gave people a real turn of speed for the final mile. Bet they felt superhuman. Though to be fair some of them seemed to be anyway, fair flying along. I love watching people run, it’s the joy of being alive, and on a bouncy trail in spring sunshine, downhill all the way through a forest arch there was no better place to be on earth in that moment than right there and then. My photos can’t really capture it, but here are just a few.

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At the top of the upward bit, there is a cannily placed marshal to shoo you round to the right. It has to be said, this is a bit counterintuitive as you are on the left and your instinct is to keep going left like you would if you were going round a roundabout. There is an arrow to advise but you need to keep your wits about you. It didn’t help that I was gravitating towards the returning parkrunners which encourages you to go the wrong way. One participant with a buggy did slip through the net here, and I nearly did too, but a hyper vigilant parkwalker spotted my error and I was called back on track. Even if you did go wrong, it wouldn’t really matter, you just do the loop the other way round, exactly the same distance and you can’t get lost.

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Once we were safely on our anti-clockwise loop, there were no more returning runners, so we had the track to ourselves. I was doing my stop start photo taking malarky. After a bit of metaphorical leap frogging, I ended up in companionable stride with the two parkwalkers. Initially, I was a bit self conscious about my periodic stopping, but they were excellent twalking fellows and game for photo opportunities too. We were comparing parkrun stories, and I mentioned University Parks parkrun as a particularly welcoming one. I was quite done in afterwards, so never did a blog post about it which I rather regret, because it was super welcoming and fun. A veritable army of walkers and a chilled atmosphere throughout, despite it being a grand occasion for the celebration of a 500 milestone parkrun for one of the core team. Anyway, guess what? I know, you won’t be able to, but don’t worry I’ll burst if I don’t tell you. It was only their local parkrun! Get in! So then we were able to find many a common parkrun friend, proving my earlier point, that as soon as you enter the parkrun jamboree, you will quickly find you are part of a super network of connectivity that straddles the earth with nearly as far a reach as fungal mycelium and where the fruiting bodies are new parkruns and junior parkruns rather than toadstools and mushrooms. All parkrunners are interconnected, but this is in a good way, more in common than divides us sort of way, not like in a cult, just to be clear. So yay for friends in common, though the irony of having missed them at their actual home parkrun was not lost on any of us.

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There were more marshals to interact with. This marshal had a very sweet canine companion who appeared genuinely delighted to see us. It was his first time as a marshal, the marshal not the canine, although it may have been the canine’s debut too, I really don’t know. Anyway, they were nailing it. He’d not only got a cuddlesome dog as an incentive to keep going, but on closer approach he was playing Kate Bush ‘Running up that hill’ on his – well I was going to say ‘on his walkman’ but I don’t think that’s a thing any more. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t actual Kate Bush either, I don’t think she does live performances any more. Anyway, it was definitely an external sound, and not a voice in my head. It was facilitated by this lovely marshal and his hound. Thank you both. See how expertly they pointed the way. Not gonna get lost in the woods here. Not on parkrun day at any rate. You could get lost in your thoughts though, if you wanted to.

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On we went. On our merry way. We met the parkrunner with a buggy, looping back in the opposite direction. Some of the marshals who were stepping down behind us started to walk back in a gloriously gathering guard of honour. On the descent you pass an adventure playground, the upper car park – which looks fabulous for kite flying purposes for the record. In fact, I even found a picture on a website somewhere showcasing exactly that activity. There was a look out hide – you would get fantastic views from there, I wasn’t sure if it was to look out for fires maybe, but it would be a great place to look out from with binoculars. Post parkrun viewing fun for the taking, but a lot of steps! Oh, and at the highest point, you also see the actual beacon, not lit, but definitely very much there. Must be visible for miles when it is ablaze. Not sure when last that was though. Queen’s Platinum Jubilee I think. You can check out more information about all the Beacons here.

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After a bit, we came to the bit that purported to be be ‘Beacon’s best view’. Personally, I’m a bit dubious about this, since clearly Beacon’s Best View is whichever bit you’ve just been looking at. However, it did present a very fine frame to pose behind, so we had to do all possible variants of people available to cover all eventualities. I will leave it to you dear reader to decide which arrangement of parkrunners, or indeed of none, constitutes the actual best view.

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As we wandered onwards and downwards, I found myself more in step with the tailwalker, and we too talked parkrun connections. Her home parkrun is Shipley parkrun. I had a sense I’d been there, but embarrassingly couldn’t quite recall which one it was, even when described to me. Later communications revealed it was the one with the apocalyptic rain! I remember that very well. Funny how it wasn’t so much the route I recalled as the sensations and memories associated with it, how I felt on the day. It was an awesome volunteer crew that day. Hilariously, again, we weren’t there on the same day apparently. Still our parkrun paths were clearly destined to cross at Beacon Hill Park parkrun instead 🙂

As we walked, and more volunteers joined our entourage, we got to talking junior parkrun. Turns out, a few weeks back her local Shipley Country junior parkrun was cancelled due to another event in the park, so volunteers decamped en masse to nearby Gedling junior parkrun for the first junior parkrun of the clocks changing Early starts all round!! The final participant had a magnificent escort to see them safely home. It’s a brilliant photo, shared on their facebook page. Isn’t it grand?

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It looked to be going the same way for me, which is not a bad thing, as the folk were friendly today. Oh, and we passed a jolly horse rider on a very calm looking and well turned out pony. It was nice to see lots of different people and their companion animals and elves sharing the space.

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and finally, the brightest beacon of all was the shining high vis of the guard of honour lining the finish tunnel. Flashing smiles of welcome I made it in, a little behind the parkwalkers and just ahead of the tailwalkers. Just as it should be. With a flourish of efficiency we were clicked across the finish line, and safely scanned in. Then the team busied themselves with course close down and results processing, and the scattering of parkrunners who remained drifted away, some to walk back up to the top car park, some to the cafe some homeward bound. Taking nothing but memories and a new parkrun credit and leaving nothing but footprints and smiles and hopefully their finish tokens too, because you really shouldn’t take them home with you. Really. Just don’t.

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My morning adventures were not yet ended though, because I then got to meet Athena. You know Athena right? Well, actually, I concede you may not, as I didn’t until today, but my life had been the poorer for it. The thing is, if it weren’t for Athena, then Shipley parkrun wouldn’t have a ‘mind the puddle’ sign and warning protocol. The story, as told to me – Athena may recall it differently – this can happen to the voiceless if they lack impartial representation, is that she towed her accompanying parkrunning human right into a massive pool of water. We are talking basically a near drowning, face planting, aquaplaning kind of scenario. It could have ended badly, but apart from a complete soaking and a complete loss of dignity the parkrunner survived to tell the tale. The happening has become part of Shipley parkrun history and folklore and you might say even memorialised with signage and health and safety warnings. Not gonna lie, Athena looked pretty unmoved by this, she may consider that she’s been framed, or basically really not care. She still loves parkrunning adventures though, under control on a short lead now though. That’s for sure.

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just time for the obligatory selfie

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and then it was time to go home… It had been a good morning. Hurrah. Heading home in the sunshine, and all was right with the world.

Thank you Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun, for reminding me you don’t need to travel to the ends of the earth to find a fabulous and exotic parkrun, or indeed very far at all, there may indeed be one just on your doorstep! Each and every parkrun is a place of wonder and connectivity. Thank you tailwalking and parkwalking comrades for making it a parkrun party at the back of the pack, and how brilliant we found where the intersections were on our parkrun Venn diagrams. Small world indeed. Thank you Beacon Hill County Park parkrun team for the warm welcome and congratulations on the not at all scary 5k Run Director debut to today’s top bunny. All you high vis heroes were good eggs. Despite a somewhat melancholy start, it was a hoppy ending all round. Hurrah! All is right once again in the parkrun world. We can live hoppily ever after in our shared parkrun world.

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Oh and for triangulation purposes, here is the run report for this event, written by a fellow tourist. You’re welcome.

And another thing, if you the mood takes you, you can browse through all my parkrun related posts here.  Or not.  It’s up to you.  You’ll need to scroll down for older entries though.