"The Last Post"

25th October 2013 - This Blog is now retired.

A quick word of explanation: when we started this blog in late 2011, it was a first step in using the internet better to communicate with our members and with the wider world. At the time, we had only our original website and a quarterly paper newsletter. This blog was started as a way to communicate news and updates, schedules, and "This is what's happening now!!!!", and as a place where members could post things of interest.

Anyway, during 2012 and 2013, we have moved our member communications forward in lots of additional ways. We have a new website with more dynamic and up-to-date content on it, particularly in the area of race results and our club schedules. We have a regular email newsletter which now does a lot of what the blog used to do.And we are making a lot more use of Facebook, where we have a WVR Page and a WVR Group. As of October 2013 the group has 68 members.

We have therefore decided to dispense with this blog for the future, and put the focus on our email newsletter and on Facebook. In particular, the things we'd have posted on this blog will now be on our Facebook page. We hope you will still continue to enjoy them there.

(Note: you do not need to register with Facebook to access the WVR Page, it is public.)
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Looking for the October 10K Results? Click here

Want to look at our latest newsletter and the newsletter archive? That's here.

And our main website is at www.windlevalley.com.
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Thank you to those who have contributed to the blog over the last two years, and if you would like to look back over the 156 posts made during that time, they are all still here. The index to them is on the right -------------->>

Nick Cook - Man Of Steel!

Nick ran his first Half-Ironman last week at the New Forest. He sent us the following report and pictures.

New Forest Middle Distance Triathlon 22/9/2013
Registration and bike racking for this triathlon was on the Saturday, so we arranged to stay with friends for the night and trundled off down to Sandy Balls Holiday Park in the morning. I registered and picked up the race pack before heading off for the briefing. First time NFMDTers got a round of applause before sniggers when hills were mentioned. We were given three kit bags and were advised to leave our running stuff in one of them there and then in the change tent.
This is a two location tri event, so we then had to drive down to Ellingham lake and leave my bike in transition there. We then drove the bike course (funny how hills don’t seem quite so steep in a car). Back at our friends house I packed the bike kit in one bag and swim stuff in the other. I didn’t want to be messing about with kit in the morning.
Sunday morning the alarm went off at 4:45 and I was out at 5:15 for the half hour drive to Sandy Balls. From there, it was a five minute coach ride to the lake. Got in the loo queue and then got changed, put dry stuff in one of the bags to be taken back to the finish at Sandy Balls, then back in the loo queue again. 7:00 and it was still foggy, so the swim was delayed for 20 minutes and the course shortened. The director said it was only 200 metres short, but if so, that was the fastest 1.7k swim I’ve ever done – 31 minutes (I took 45 minutes to do 1.9k the previous week). I’m rubbish at sighting in open water and looked up at one point to see myself on my own in the middle of the course. Slight direction adjustment and back on course again. Out of the lake, into transition and off on the bike.
I had intended to stay at a gentle 16/16.5 mph on the bike, but after an hour my average was 19.2 mph so slowed down a bit, although it is hard when you’ve got bikes in front that you know you can overtake. Horses and cows have no respect for cyclists in the New Forest and riding over cattle grids was a new experience too. The bike course was about 57 miles and I completed that in 3 hours 17 minutes, so was pleased with that. The really steep hill in the last mile didn’t help at all! Back at transition my bike was taken off me and chairs were supplied in the changing tent – luxury! A quick slug of Lucozade, a gel and then off for the run.
I massively underestimated how hard the run was going to be, particularly as I thought my running had been going quite well. The first hill took everything out of me, after that I walked up the rest of the hills. It was an out and back course, so it was quite gratifying seeing faster runners walking up the hills on their way back. At 5 miles friends and family were waiting at Fritham with a well needed boost of lucozade and gels, then a nice flat stretch to the turning point. Back to Fritham to the support team and then the return hilly bit. I got overtaken by quite a few runners on this stretch as my pace was getting slower and slower. At last I was back onto the road for the last mile slightly downhill to the finish. I was well over my anticipated time of 2:10 as I finished in 2:25, but I finished the whole event in 6 hours 19 minutes, 10 minutes better than I’d expected.
I really enjoyed my first experience of a middle distance triathlon, but I don’t think I’ll be doing another one anytime soon!

Windsor Half Marathon - Tony Sheridan Reports

Windle Valley Runners again make their mark on this year’s Windsor Half Marathon

The kick off was 1300 and the weather had warmed up considerably. When I arrived just before the start, I pitched up at the Copper Horse (statue of King George 111 for all you history buffs) in a matter of no time, a large crowd of supporters had gathered and were yelling out as many names and clubs they could feast their eyes upon.

After about seven or eight minutes I spotted the first of the Windle consignment wearing her first claim vest. Laura, looking very comfortable. At around the six mile mark, she still looked good and running a steady pace. Next on the Windle menu came Miles wearing a large grin. Obviously enjoying the race! Wendy flew by very soon afterwards followed by Chris sporting his Windle colours.

A little while later, Alex thundered through wearing a sponsored tee shirt and smiling to boot. Caught a very quick glimpse of Amanda, threading her way through the field.

Lyn was the last of the Valley troupe. Nursing an old back injury, she had decided to walk most of the course and was taking her time as she stopped to have a chat with me.

Have not any results as to date but I am sure they will be up on the net very soon.

Laura looked very strong on the home straight with about 2K left to eat up followed by Miles crunching those miles, chased by Chris and Wendy a little further back. Well done to all the Windle Valley Team.

Click the gallery image to see Tony's photos from the day.

Update: Results

Alex Perrior	2.15.22
Amanda Borthwick	2.32.05
Catherine Thorin	1.51.59
Chris Phillips	1.39.28
Laura Hales	1.34.46
Lyn Taylor	2.43.06
Miles Cudmore	1.37.22
Wendy Cudmore	1.41.52

PB's, good times and bad predictions - it's the September 10K

The competing attraction of the Windsor Half Marathon kept several of our regulars away from the September 10K handicap, but there were still 18 runners who turned out on a mild but breezy morning, including four running it for the first time. 15 out of the 18 ran faster than their predicted times.

One of the first timers, recent joiner Richard Everingham, gave the most accurate prediction of the day, running two seconds under his forecast of 43 minutes, and doing a big PB at the same time. Steven Handley and Dee Green also set new PB's, Steven's coming 24 hours after he did the same thing at Parkrun!

Fastest time of the day came from our newest member Koji Miyazaki, with a fine 38.26 in his first time round the course.

First runner to finish was also least accurate prediction of the day, with Robin Wakefield forecasting 55 minutes and then doing it in 51.05!

Barbara Rodriguez, Dave Nicholls and John Williamson all did their fastest times of 2013 so far, and Lisa Norman came within 10 seconds of doing the same.

Full results are below. Thanks to scorers Geoff, Bob and Steve. Photos to follow soon.....

Lost property announcement: whoever left their running top behind, we have it, give Steve a call on 0784 219 0785.

Koji Miyazaki	38.26
Mike Frean	41.52
Steven Handley	42.21	PB
Keith Hull	42.34
Jim Brown	42.56
Richard Everingham	42.58	PB
Sachiko Dixon	44.59
Paul Bolt	47.10
Dave Nicholls	47.39
Robert Littlejohn	48.08
Dee Green	48.09	PB
Robin Wakefield	51.05
Mark Coxhead	51.21
Barbara Rodriguez	55.01
John Williamson	58.04
Lisa Norman	59.08
Tony Sheridan	59.08
Chris Lovell	72.15

August 10K Handicap Race results

August Bank Holiday weekend gave us a smaller field than recently, with 15 runners taking on the club 10K Handicap.

There were three members running it for the first time ever, so well done to our debutants Dave Goldsmith, Andrew Scowcroft and Ali McGeogh-Williams, who all made it round without getting lost :)

Pride of place this month goes to Ali, who ran a 10K PB of 35.57, which was also the fastest time in this race since January 2006 - which was 34.48 by Nathan Aspinall, I know someone's bound to ask.

First across the line (and worst prediction of the day) was Andy Stevens, and the best prediction of the day was from Sachiko Dixon, 4 seconds faster than her forecast of 45 minutes.

Tony Hatch registered his fastest time of 2013 so far, while Lyn Taylor struggled with a sore back to her slowest, but well done to Lyn for making it round! The physio awaits.....

Welcome back to Dave Pearce after a long period of injury, returning with a fine 57.12 after many months stuck helping with the timing.

Full Results:

Alastair McGeoch-Williams	35.57
Laura Hales	40.57
Keith Hull	42.43
Sachiko Dixon	44.56
Pete Jones	46.03
Andrew Scowcroft	51.00
Mark Coxhead	51.12
Tony Sheridan	51.48
Nick Cook	52.58
Nick Askem	53.25
Tony Hatch	54.17
Andy Stevens	56.13
Dave Pearce	57.12
Dave Goldsmith	66.07
Lyn Taylor	67.02

Thanks to the scoring team of Dee, Nathan, Dave and Steve.

I'll add photos once we get them from Mark.

WV runners spotted in Skiathos

Dee and Nathan have just spent a week on the beautiful Greek island of Skiathos and discovered some interesting and challenging hilly runs.
Coincidentally the Dennison's were on the island too for their vacation so it was too good an opportunity to meet up for 'happy hour' cocktails and some lovely Greek food and wine.

July 10K handicap

Another great turnout this month and some good performances - well done to all 21 runners!

Our thanks to Geoff, Dave and Bob for timing.

 

Link to results here: http://www.windlevalley.com/index.php?node=results-archive

 

 

Thanks Mark C for the photographs...

     

Runnymede Relay results

The results from the Runnymede Relay are now available (http://www.runnymederunners.com/relay_13/rrr_team_13.html ). Thanks again to all our runners who took part - it was a very hot afternoon. I thought Nathan had 'over-egged' it on the water however we cleared the 36 bottles, and Keith's homemade cake went down a treat too.

WV team finished in 10th position (out of 58 teams)
Ali McGeoch-Williams
Pete Mannion
Miles Cudmore
Rob Batchelor
Mike Hewison
Steven Handley

WV team finished in 27th positionJenny Livesey
Wendy Cudmore
Laura Hales
Lisa Norman
Jo Obertell
Dee Green

WV team finished in 42nd position
Kevin Pedley
Nigel Williams
Keith Hull
Nathan Green
Geoff Williams
Andrew Scowcroft

Our reserve runner: Becky Hughes (thanks!)

A few photos from the day (some good caption material).....

Farewell Chris Dent

As Chris Dent heads off to pastures new (Devon pastures, very nice!), 20 of us turned out to give him a 9.00am send off at this morning's parkrun at Frimley Lodge.

Even at nine, it was really warm with the temperature in the mid 20's, and the sun blazing down on the park. The shady parts of the course offered some relief, and with the course nice and firm underfoot, there were some good performances. It was good to see Pip Webster-Smith return after a long injury break, and she smashed her PB, getting under 25 minutes for the first time. Steven Handley's rapid improvement continues, and he set a new PB of 20.06! Steven's times a mere six months ago were around the 23 minute mark, so that's a huge improvement. Now for sub-20........... Well done too to Jon Payne with a top ten finish, and to Laura Hales who came within 5 seconds of her PB, finishing as 2nd lady. Pete Hansen has been finding it all too easy lately, so decided to do this one pushing a baby buggy with attached baby - which did slow him down a bit!

Chris duly completed his 92nd parkrun, after a goodbye speech by the parkrun organisers. We wish you all the best at the Barnstaple parkruns from now on Chris. We'll look out for your times.

Pete Mannion wins Dinton Pastures 5K Series

Hats off to Pete Mannion.

Last night Pete completed the Dinton Pastures 5K series, following up his times of 19.02 and 19.06 in races 1 and 2 with an impressive 18.57 in race 3.

He won the V50 trophy last night, and his aggregated times made him the overall winner of the race series!

Thanks to Sophie Mannion for sharing the picture of Pete weighed down by his trophies:

Runnymede Relay - How Did We Do?

There was a good turnout from the club at the Runnymede Relay in Windsor Great Park last weekend. We fielded three teams of six runners each.

How did they do? Good question!

We are asking the same thing ourselves, as the event website still doesn't have the results on........

Dee will no doubt be letting us have a race report soon however!

Meanwhile, thank you to Jenny Livesey for sending us this photo of a happy-looking bunch of runners in the sunshine:

We will keep you updated as we get further news.

We won an award :)

Windle Valley Runners has been voted as Athletics Weekly "Club Of The Month" and is featured in a two page article in the July 4th edition.

Athletics Weekly - July 4th 2013 Edition

Now we need a trophy cabinet!

June 2013 10K Handicap - Results and Photos

Once again the sun shone on our monthly 10K Handicap.

Hot sunny days may not be ideal for fast times, but they usually produce a good turnout for the races and today was no exception. We had several guest runners, plus first time appearances from Sam Dennison, Catriona Cairns and Ann Keefe.

First runner home with the worst prediction of the day was Jo Obertell, running five minutes quicker than she predicted! Fastest time was by Keith Hull. Most accurate prediction of the day was by Robert Littlejohn, coming home within 10 seconds of his forecast. Well done to Chris Phillips for running a new PB on a day when times were generally a bit slower than they were in the cool spring months.

Full times were as follows:

Keith Hull	43.08
Chris Phillips	43.21	PB
Sachiko Dixon	46.36
Sam Dennison	47.06
Giles Blackham	47.07
Mark Wye	47.36
Robert Littlejohn	47.50
Karim Jaser	47.51
Jo Obertell	48.03
Ed Butler	48.28
Christelle Gental	51.15
Gordon Trout	51.45
Gregory Brett	53.25
Catriona Cairns	53.51
Adam Donaldson	54.05
Anna Holland	55.27
Robin Wakefield	55.30
Alex Brett	56.18
Lyn Taylor	56.41
Tony Hatch	58.11
Barbara Rodriguez	58.30
Lisa Norman	60.52
Amanda Borthwick	66.10
Hadley King	66.10
Ann Keefe	70.06

Finish line photographer Chris "I'm no David Bailey" Dent took a fine set of photos which can be found by clicking the image at the top, or this link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.519223874809381.1073741826.109710435760729&type=1&l=5f559116e4

Many thanks to Bob Webb for doing a water station out at the halfway point, we know many of the runners appreciated that. Also to the start/finish team of the two Daves and Steve. 

Kracking parkrun by Pete

Peter Mannion 'Krakow parkrun in Poland which I did with my daughter Sophie on Saturday. The other 2 in the pics were the only others from England there. Would have been a nice fast course if it hadn't been 30 degrees!'

Victory in the Windle Challenge

Battle commenced at the Lookout on Tuesday night, and was re-joined on Wednesday around the streets of Bagshot. Yes, the Windle Challenge was back for 2013, with WVR taking on Southern Navigators in a combined running and orienteering contest.

In the inaugural match last year, we had to settle for second place after proving that we probably couldn't navigate our way out of a paper bag.

This year, we turned the tables and won the match!

• We had a good turnout, with 23 members representing us across the two evenings
• SN struggled to get their members out for the run, possibly affected by the racing at Royal Ascot, making travel difficult. 

Cross-Country Race

We had a brand new course this year, set by me and Keith, and considerably kinder than last year's. Although it started with the long climb up Sandy Hill, once that was out of the way the only remaining hill to contend with was Surrey Hill leading up to the two mile point. From there on, it was flat or gently undulating, going via the two Star Posts and past Caesar's Camp with the final mile then ahead and a mostly downhill finish. The course was very enthusiastically marshalled by Geoff, Tony and Nathan, with Tony also fulfilling the role of on-course photographer. If he remembered to put film in his camera, we will bring you his photos as soon as the prints are dry. 

The race was very convincingly won by Ali, who came in a full four minutes ahead of Laura in 2nd place, and Gus just behind Laura in 3rd. WVR took 8 of the top ten places and, once non-attendance the next day had been factored in, we won the race by 74 points to 142. (Like in the cross-country league, the better you do the fewer points you get.)

Orienteering

The next night we congregated behind the Co-op in Bagshot High Street. Southern Navigators had an enormous number of people turn up for the orienteering - though fortunately for us most of them were ineligible to score as they had not done the run! Setting off at one minute intervals, we were set the challenge of finding as many checkpoints as possible in 45 minutes, spread out around the Bagshot streets and even in Lightwater Country Park. The map they give you showing the checkpoints does not have street names shown on it - you have to find your way around without that. 

Suffice to say that the enthusiasm we brought to the task was perhaps not matched by our skill at it. The best five SN scores were over 200 (not all counting) and our top score was 151, from both me and Robin, and 150 by both Rachel and Mark. 

Anyway, when all the scoring was done, Southern Navigators won the Wednesday by 95 points to 116. Then it was off to the pub to celebrate our overall win by 190 to 237.

Lessons learned for next year:

• Don't put your GPS stopwatch on auto-pause, which makes it stop when you stop to look at the map, write down a checkpoint etc. As you get penalties for returning outside the 45 minutes, this was a very costly mistake by Gus who ended up incurring 54 penalty points for a score of 26 ! 
• Don't cut it too fine. After a (failed) attempt to find one more checkpoint near the finish, I was gutted to find my official time was 45.01, and got a nine point penalty :(  Two others on our team were also just over the 45 minutes.
• Learn how to map read!!!!!!

The full results can be found here. 

Steve

Parkrun PB Blitz!

What a good June our runners have been having at Parkrun, with new PB's galore.

As Robin posted recently, Pete Mannion became WVR's first "100 Club" member, doing his 100th Parkrun at the end of March. Pete is now up to 110, and clearly practice is making perfect, as he did his fastest ever time in his 106th race - and then bettered it again in his 109th on 1st June.

Pete's PB time on 1st June was 18.21 at Bushy Park, which that morning would have been good enough to place him 2nd on our "all-time fastest" Parkrun leader board, squeaking in 2 seconds ahead of Jon Payne's 18.23...... except that the same morning, over at Frimley Lodge, Jon himself also ran a new PB, of 18.13, to stay second!

Meantime, our all-time leader, Ali McGeogh-Williams, was also setting a new PB, with an awesome 17.35 to finish 3rd at Frimley Lodge, while Ali's dad Nigel joined in the fun with his second ever Parkrun, coming in with a new PB of 25.53, a two minute improvement.

Not to be outdone, two of our ladies also set new PB's at Frimley Lodge on 1st June - Anna Holland took two and a half minutes off her best time with 27.17, and Lisa Norman took almost two minutes off hers with 27.34. Great stuff!

One week later, the PB's continued to flow as Simon Cutmore ran a 25.21 at Frimley, and Ben Feltham posted a fine 23.06 at Guildford.

Update on the 15th - The times continue to tumble. Ali and Nigel both lowered their PB's again, to 17.16 and 25.39. Ali is now 25th on the Frimley Lodge all-time fastest list. We will find out what they are eating for their Saturday morning breakfasts and report back!

Sadly, the Parkrun photographer seems to have been on on leave during June, but here are our three top men in earlier races. They hurt, these PB's!

Organised run at Frimley Green/Mytchett - June 17th @ 7:30pm

Hi All,

If anyone is interested, a 5-mile run is being organised by Steve Osborne, who was the original Frimley Lodge ParkRun Race Director.  Here are the details that Steve sent to me:

When: Monday, June 17th @ 7:30pm

Meet at: Frimley Green Working Mens Club (I would park at Frimley Lodge and jog back up to Frimley Green - the club is after the bridge on the left-hand side).

Where: "2 Valleys of Mytchett"

Format: You can either opt for a 3-mile walk, a 4-mile run, or a longer 5+ mile run.

A chicken curry is available afterwards at the Working Mens Club, but you will need to let Steve know if you want it - contact details below:

01276 506247
07510 128594

Brian Holden, one of the current ParkRun Race Directors, will be assisting.

All the best,

Robin

10K Handicap, May 2013, Results and Photos

We enjoyed another nice sunny morning for this month's 10K Handicap. The (slightly) warmer weather seems to be bringing out the best in many of our runners, with two new PB's achieved and also many of our regulars producing their fastest time so far this year. It also meant our volunteers didn't get frozen stiff this month :)

Fastest time of the day, and one of the PB's, was Jon Payne's 37.27. First across the line, with the least accurate predicted time of the day, was new member Chris Phillips. He'll learn! Most accurate prediction came from Tony Sheridan, coming home just one second quicker than he said. Tony has had plenty of practice of course....

Thanks to on-course photographers Lisa Norman and Pete Berriman, and to the race timing team of Steven, Dave, Bob and Steve

Jon Payne	37.27	New PB
Pete Mannion	38.52
Keith Hull	43.04
Tom Smerdon	43.15
Chris Phillips	44.32
Karim Jaser	46.09	New PB
Robert Littlejohn	48.21
Tony Sheridan	50.59
Mark Coxhead	51.45
Malcolm Vaughan	52.58
Anna Holland	54.25
Marina Cambiano	54.45
Zira Longley	54.49
Pam Berriman	55.39
Fay Cowell	55.50
Tony Hatch	56.17
Paul Conlan	60.57

Click here to view all the photos taken by Lisa Norman and Pete Berriman out on the course.

Race Catch-Up: PB's, Woggles, Beasts and lots more

There's been a lot of racing going on in the last week or two, and here are some of the highlights.

Pam Berriman and Zira Longley waded into the "Beast In The East" on Saturday and seem to have escaped alive:

 

 

Pam writes:
"The weather was kind ---not too cold but more important it didn't rain cos those  hills would have been very difficult to go up and come down if it had . The course was set in a Motocross Circuit  which was  1.8k around ending in us wading through a very large ,cold , deep pond ( up to my chest and  up to Zira's nose ! ) see photo !  then we were taken off into   wooded trails again hilly and tough but very lovely with BLUEBELLS  !   Then back on the motocross circuit for another undulating lap and the deep pond ( much better the 2nd time around but seemed even deeper ) With only 800m to go ( so they said !) we had to crawl through some netting on the ground --- loads of mud again !    

It was a tough 10k but well worth it we had such a laugh !Our times were Zira  1hr 07 , Fran 1hr 09 , Lou 1hr 10 and myself 1hr 11 and considering we had to wait 4 minutes the 1st time around to get into the pond I didn't think we did too bad ! Thanks to your hill training  Steve ta very much !

The worse bit was cleaning the kit afterwards took me a couple of hours to clean the shoes and 3 cycles to wash the kit in the machine !

So the next Grim is on the 30th November & 1st December in Aldershot  --- can we get a WVR team together by then ???

COME On You WVRs !

Luv Pam

PS A big thank you to Pete for taking all the photos and driving us gaggle  to and from Swanley in Kent xx "

Also on Saturday, Pete Mannion ran in his 106th parkrun and managed to beat all the previous 105, setting a new PB of 18.28. Just a few days before, Pete finished second overall and first V50 in the Dinton Pastures 5K, also with a sub-19 minute time! 

On Sunday, Lisa Norman, Anna Holland and Ben Feltham were woggling up hill and down dale through the bluebells on "The Woodland Woggle" 10K near Farnham:

 

Lisa writes "A lovely run with some tough hills but worth it for the view and the bluebells were out.. where was Steve when I needed a push up the hills :-)"

Meanwhile, back on the (relatively) flat, Jonathan Payne and Mike Hewison were setting new PB's at the Hook 10 Mile, while Jim Brown and Keith Hull were picking up the first two V60 places in the Staines 10K,. (This was Mike's second PB in a quick succession, having set a new 10K PB at Shinfield.)

A week earlier, new member Chris Phillips took on 200 obstacles over 20 miles on "world's biggest assault course" in the Rat Race "Dirty Weekend" at Burghley House near Grantham. 

 

That same weekend, another of our new members, Pam Moscrop, ran her first ever 5K race at Dorney Lake, finishing in 30.43.  Pam only took up running this year, working through a "couch to 5K" training programme, which was clearly a success. 

What an adventurous lot of members we have, and what good runners too.

See the race results page on the website for full sets of results. If we've missed yours, please let us know.

Click on any of the pictures for a larger version.

Run of the month Little Frensham Pond

After Robin’s 20 mile warm up on Saturday in preparation for his Edinburgh Marathon in a couple of weeks’ time, he led the Windle contingency around the beautiful countryside surrounding Frensham Ponds.

We were anointed to the woodland trails that spiralled throughout this very sandy domain. It did feel a little like we were on the sand dunes of our southern coasts, particully navigating the hills, which were a tad bumpy.

We had on this excursion, a couple of canine followers belonging to Keith and Yvonne. They must have covered over double our 8 mile run, and tested out most of the muddy pools on route.

We enjoyed the stops on the way to take in the panoramic views. It also enabled those lagging at the back (mainly myself) to catch up with the “pacemakers”  The weather was on our side as it was sunny together with a slight cooling breeze. This was certainly a run that has to tried again. I have attached a couple of shots of the Windle  party who attended and sure they enjoyed it as much as myself. Again, thanks to Robin for a good call

Running, you know it makes sense

Tony Sheridan

No Bluebell Run This Year :(

Normally this week we would be heading off for our annual "bluebell run" in the woods behind Bagshot Park.

Having heard from Keith and Rob that the forest area that contains the bluebell woods was being trashed by forestry operations, intrepid route-meister Steve set out today to investigate how accessible they still are. The answer is "not really accessible at all for a run"!

  

  

Click any image to see it larger

The bluebells are just coming to their best, and it is possible to walk there from Bagshot Church, picking your way through the obstacles and the mud (after ignoring the sign above!) But it will not be practicable or safe to organise a run there this year, sorry. Here are some bluebell photos to be going on with:

 

 

Maybe there will be bluebells in the woods at Frensham this weekend.