I must say that, for better or worse, doing these park runs seems always to be an adventure of one kind or another.
Today (Saturday 23rd June 2018) was another sunny sunny day in the longest unbroken summer since 1976 (which i also remember as a 10 year old kid being completely endless, full of skateboarding…. forever…. the true endless summer)
In 1574 the park was established by Queen Elizabeth 1st, and was called, the Newe Parke of Richmond. When King Charles 1st in 1637 founded the current Richmond Park for hunting, Old Deer Park was given its current name. It is now mainly used for Golf and Cricket.
The most interesting fact i could find about the park was that beside the River Thames in the park are a pair of stone obelisks. They were built in 1769 and were originally used by the King’s Observatory to observe the transit of Venus across the Sun that year. However, a legend says that they were erected in the 18th century as memorials to two men who lost their lives in a duel over a woman, who drowned herself in the river.
Old Deer Park is in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, and is highlighted in red in the picture below.
As is my usual way, I arrived with only a couple of minutes to spare, having gone to the wrong end of the park (by Kew Gardens) and then having to get to the correct end (Richmond). Even then, when i got off Scarlett, I had to run to what i thought was the start since there were a lot of people hanging around, only to find that it was a church running club. So by the time i found the ACTUAL start it was 9.10 and most people had already finished the first of the 3 laps!
So I threw my stuff in a devil-may-care fashion onto the tarpaulin and started running. It was such a difficult run! I think because i was uber-stressed, or maybe because i’m just not getting much fitter yet!
Anyway here is the course!
Old deer park is also where the children’s show “In the Night Garden” is held, in a large dome. My daughter Megan used to work there, showing parents and children to their seats. I used to enjoy the stories she would tell me about the lovely people she met, and the extremely arrogant and demanding parents she met!
Old Deer Park, like Richmond park and Kew Gardens, are also directly under the main flight path for Heathrow airport, which when you first go there, is quite shocking! Especially when you realise how expensive property if here!
You get used to it quickly though, and filter out the roar of the aircraft.
So, feeling relatively good about myself for managing to get there and actually finish the run (remember it’s a run not a race, according to parkrun!), I walk briskly to my motorbike, with a spring in my step, looking forward to the lovely afternoon ahead of me, a motorbike ride with my friend Walid, and then an afternoon tea with me bestie, ozzie. Sadly it turned out that somewhere along the line my bike keys had fallen out of my jacket (presumably as I had been sprinting to the start!)…….. aaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!
So……. I had to take the train home to north London…… get some more keys….. then train back….. sweaty in full leathers…. and by the time I got back to the bike I had neither the time nor the inclination to go anywhere except back home, have a bath and drown in my own tears!! (Joke!)
Next week…….. Bedfont Lakes
Gavin's Blog 