An invitation to attend my best friend’s birthday celebration weekend was the best way to finish the year. That he lives on the Isle of Wight meant an early start from London on Saturday morning to reach. This gave us the opportunity for some #parkruntourism on route 🙂
With our ferry to the Isle of Wight leaving from Southampton, we would be travelling down via the M3. Two parkrun options stood out: Winchester parkrun, which was closer to Southampton. Winchester is a cathedral city with lots of ancient ruins to explore afterwards. Alternatively, if we were running late, we could do Basingstoke parkrun.
Sadly, we didn’t just leave late; we left REALLY late. Basingstoke parkrun remained a possibility, but we realised we would need to park at a multi-storey car park a fair distance from the start and make the 0900 start looked touch and go.
As we trudged along the M3, my mood became heavy as I started to accept I wasn’t going to be able to do a parkrun, and that I had messed up this tourism opportunity.
Then, around 0800, my wife, who had disappeared into her phone (I felt to get away from my mood) emerged saying, we could take a detour to Reading and make it to Dinton Pastures parkrun. My spirits instantly lifted, we programmed the GPS, heart pumping and even the car seemed to find a new gear; parkrun tourism was back on!
Dinton Pastures parkrun is in the 350-acre Dinton Pastures Country Park in the heart of Wokingham. We pulled into the generous car park with me beaming like a Cheshire cat. We’d made it and when I got out of the car I couldn’t resist doing a jig.
We walked to the start with the other participants, regulars and tourists, a joyful aura in the air.
The event is a 2-lap course through the 350-acre country park which is made up of woodland, meadows and lakes. The course starts with an anti-clockwise lap around the White Swan Lake followed by a second lap around the west side of the Black Swan Lake. A largely flat gravel course with some trail sections it would require trail shoes if it had rained the night before. Fortunately, it hadn’t rained the night before and today’s light mist made sections of the course slippy but not boggy.
The course takes you through the 350-acre country park offering great infinite views across the lakes. This was a lovely woodland laketastic course with friendly marshals and colourful cones to prevent wrong turns.
The finish area was a hive of activity and good cheer. I got talking to a large group who were touring from Wales and enjoyed that post-run chat that simply warms every weekend.
Dinton Pastures parkrun took my tally of completed parkruns to 53 parkruns for the year. Alongside this, I’ve managed to volunteer at 50 parkrun events across three countries. There have been 13 new events attended plus I’ve somehow managed to come 1st TWICE. There was also completing the Southwark Slam (all four parkruns in Southwark in the month of September).
Parkrun has been the foundation for my year of running which saw me reach my goal of 2,000k. This included running the half-marathon distance once every month and the Burgess marathon in September (raising over 2k for charity).
The benefits to my mental and emotional well-being are incalculable. There have also been physical benefits, which are essential for keeping up with the little one.
Thank you to everyone for the runs, walks, kudos, inspiration and motivation. A massive shout out to all the parkrunners, banana crew, Southwark Slammers, Burgess parkrun volunteers, and everyone who reads/contributes to the blog.
I want to give a special mention to Lucy for the competition on Strava, Alice for running the Burgess Marathon with me, Madeleine, my amazing running buddy, come wind, rain, or snow.
Lastly a huge thank you to my most understanding and inspirational wife, Shveta Super Star. I am eternally grateful.
Here's to more running adventures in 2025.
Stay well, stay safe and happy running!
Excellent as ever
Glad you made it!
Happy new year!!
Here’s to a 2025 filled with more parkrun adventures