Club tourism time, this month we were off to Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, a National Trust and World Heritage site. A parkrun with a big reputation, everyone who ever visits sings its praises, many claiming it the most beautiful event they’ve run. In my humble opinion, it certainly lived up to the hype.
Nestled in a small valley, the ruined monastery is a sight to behold, especially on this day, drenched in glorious sunshine. The two-lap course, starting in view of the titular building, took us east along the riverbank, crossing it at a wide bend to bring us back west along the other side, up a significant incline, and back down round the back of the abbey to start again.
Very considerately, the 2nd lap added an extra loop at the far end, leading us into Studley Royal Park, across a narrow footbridge (“single-file only please”), culminating in a finish line set up just before we’d have to tackle the incline again. Aside from only having to scale that hill once, the other couple of slight rises that occurred on both laps were brief and inconsequential, meaning the course was generally pleasantly flat with a few nice downhill sections, entirely run on well-maintained tarmac paths, and stunning views throughout.
Of our band of 10 tourists, 4 were return visitors, Ann and Eddie Smith both impressively earning course PB’s on a rather warm morning. Run done, we climbed back out of the valley to the visitors centre for coffee and pastries, whose staff coped admirably with the horde of perspiring parkrunners flooding through their doors. Several of our number actually stayed into the afternoon, to explore and really make the most of the gorgeous surroundings.
There was plenty of tourism going on elsewhere in the UK. Our tourism orchestrator, Lena Lou, unable to be at Fountains Abbey due to prior commitments, ran with friends on the Merseyside coast at Southport. Also by the ocean, but across the border and on the opposite coast, Lucy Keating could gaze out across the North Sea from West Links parkrun in Arbroath.
Staying in Scotland, Arthur Liu could be found more centrally at one of the alphabet-chaser’s favourites, University of Stirling. Coming full circle back to North Yorkshire, Lucy and Rob Ward were at Dalby Forest (though this is actually almost as far east from Fountains Abbey as Newcastle is north!)
There was room for some more ‘local’ tourism. Tom, Gill and Mariana all visited Elemore Park and its infamous ‘speed bumps’ for the first time in County Durham, Chris Jones was the latest to sample the nascent Oakey Park in Stanley, Katherine Bell accompanied her son around glamourous Hardwick Park, and Izzy Neatrour travelled to the far-flung Marshall Drive near Saltburn, where she finished as 2nd lady.
Also finishing in 2nd was Heather Steel at Saltwell Park, with Sarah Kerr taking 3rd at Town Moor. Harry Mawdsley was 2nd overall at Leazes, while the other course PB’s of the day went to Sarah Taylor and Antony Darne at Blyth Links and Riverside respectively.
Finally, to the overseas adventurers. While still technically in the UK, Aoífe Monaghan made her fifth appearance at Enniskillen in Northern Ireland, completing a trio of 2nd lady placings for Claremont this week.
