A Floodly Day for a Run

Two GG Yorkies met on a sunny winter's afternoon to help Fishergate Footprints check their walking route descriptions and make a note of sitting points so that they can be marked on printed maps

We'd been given the descripton of the long and short Love Lane routes, which included a lovely section along New Walk, a riverside footpath. As I ran up he opposite side of the river on my way to meet Emma, I got my first clue that things might not go to plan... it looked like some of the benches on the walking route side were slightly... underwater.

I met Emma on Millennium Bridge. She was excited to, not only be completing her first community mission, but also to see her first flooded York since she moved here in October.

We decided to start with the short route, as this didn't include the flooded New Walk section. I suggested that, as well as making a note of benches that we found, we should also do an exercise at each one. Instead of running away in the opposite direction, Emma said that it was a 'great idea' which just goes to show, that it only takes 10 or so good deeds to truly become one of us!

We hit our first obstacle at the end of a long, muddy track - more floods meant that we weren't actually able to get to the Love Lane section of the Love Lane routes!

I should have brought my swimming costume! (Emma)

We turned back with a plan to pick up the route farther along. On rejoining the official route, we ran down a path that we had personally helped to woodchip on a previous group run, and made a note of the big logs GG Yorkies had helped to move to create a seating area in Danesmead wood.

Next, we planned a detour around the flooded section of the long route, so that we could pick up the instructions from the other end of New Walk.

Yoo hoo!

On our way back towards the river, a local called us over to warn us that we wouldn't be able to use the river footpath. We thanked her, and let her know that we were checking out a walking route, so we still needed to get as close as we could to make sure the directions were accurate. With most of the watery obstacles negotiated, we ran through Low Moor Allotments where GG Yorkies have also lent a hand on previous tasks, and out onto Walmgate Stray.

It's a bit like Teletubby Land!

Emma exclaimed, as we made our way across the uneven (slightly boggy) land on Walmgate Stray - of course, taking the opportunity for walking lunges and star jumps across a few of the bridges, conveniently placed to help us across the boggiest bits of the stray.

After a fun hour and a bit negotiating obstacles and exercising on benches, we arrived back at Millennium Bridge and went our separate ways.