Heads of the Valleys

Twice round - no short cuts!

Difficult to believe that this lake at Parc Bryn Bach was once a desolate industrial wasteland. They filmed alien landscapes for Dr Who and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy here! It's now a lovely leisure park with plenty of activities such as fishing, kayaking, walking and...guess what! Park running. Twice round the lake on a gorgeous sunny morning and we were set for the day. The park is at Tredegar very close to the Heads of the Valleys road which runs perpendicularly to the north of all the well known South Wales valleys such as Rhondda, etc.

Our next parkrun was at Worcester Woods a pleasant gallop round another well wooded park - we didn't stay at Worcester but found something a bit special over at Droitwich - this was the Chateau Impney, a fantastic French inspired palace of a hotel in beautiful grounds. A good price as well if you want a fairy tale weekend away!

And then came Storm Hannah, this calm peaceful lake at Bala in mid Wales was transformed by howling winds and pouring rain into something else! Just about all the park runs for miles around were cancelled, but not Bala! We made it down from Denbigh to find a paltry total of 30 runners there - and what good fun it was battling against the storm and getting drenched - highly recommended - this includes the very nice cafe which I'd award ten out of ten for their sausage sandwiches!