On the last day of February's "Fool's Spring" we set out to make the very most of the last drops of sunlight by helping to make the tow path sparkle in the evening sunshine.

Nicky found Samia perfecting her best new bollard stretch outside Sainsbury's and Samia patiently waited for Nicky to finish her 5th electrician phone call of the day (don't ask!)

It started off small with the odd cigarette butt and sweet wrapper, but as we got closer to the riverbank we were greeted by the leftovers of the summer spirit and riverside picnics. It seemed that the sunshine must have been so bright that it had dazzled some sun-seekers and stopped them from being able to find their own way to the bins with their rubbish!

So sad to see, but glad we could help to smarten up the riverbank and leave it ready to be enjoyed, come rain or shine!

Apparently it's February, although you'd be forgiven to think we'd skipped a few months. Hard to resist a trip along the towpath and evidently a lot of other people have thought the same but left their litter behind, so it was time to combine a towpath stroll with a bit of litter picking.

With some stops along the way to admire the river in the sun and stumble across lots of leftover plastic bottles, the bag filled up quickly and was soon full. Now time for a sunny run!

There was mention of this being a "prace" (plogging race) against the sunset - but the forecast suggested an earlier plog may avoid the rain and, well, a splog (soggy plog). But the plan backfired, with some earlier-than-forecast showers - so a semi-splog it was!

This was an extra environmentally-friendly splog, avoiding plastic bags in favour of relay trips back and forth from the Big Belly Bins. Bonus discovery was the pedal on said bins, meaning splogging also incorporated Samia's favourite stretch.

When plogging incorporates your favourite stretch... pic.twitter.com/59CuwbKZIt

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) January 26, 2019

And there were also plogging profits of £1 - straight to the RED January fundraising pot of fellow GoodGymers!

We met for the latest installment of Luminous Jackets on Tour: The Post-Work Plog - but Samia let the team down, having left said jacket in her bag. Ooops!

Nevertheless, the plog would go on and we headed out on a circular tour to Canbury Gardens with our bags and matching gloves. It began like any other plog, the usual items of chocolate bar wrappers and cans entering the bags - but Nicky noted that local litterers had an affinity for some brand of menthol gum (or maybe all have colds at the same time?) and then...

Oooh, it's a bag for the bag!

Samia had found some kind of case with an electronic item and lots of leads inside. What could this be?, we pondered. The excitement was overrated as it turned out to be a calculator when Nicky cast her headtorch on it - but I still wonder why it case in such a huge case with all the leads? Oh the wondrous mysteries of the Post-Work Plog!

2 rubbish bags full of, well, rubbish, we bid our farewells and Samia scuttled off enthusiastically remembering that she could buy ice cream!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next installment of Luminous Jackets on Tour (I'll try to remember to wear mine next time...)!

Firstly, a massive thank you to the White Hart pub, who very kindly let me leave my pannier bag with them so that I could plog freely - very much appreciated.

Holly and Jon had a scenic long run to Kingston Bridge, whilst I'd had a somewhat less scenic run on the Runners Need treadmill to try out new trainers, but regardless of how scenic our runs were, we got to plog with a backdrop of beautiful scenery.

We headed along the towpath towards Hampton Court, with sensation in our extremeties fading as the sun set, nattering away about trainers (the running ones!), more trainers (the PT ones!), life and, most importantly an update on the state of the planting that we did on Richmond's group run last week. Some (Holly) were more adventurous ploggers than others, almost risking a trip into the Thames rather than just walking alongside it...

After a ramble whilst rambling on, we headed back to collect my pannier bag (thanks again, White Hart!), and discarded the three bags of litter than now has been stopped from entering the Thames.

Now time to warm up those toes...

We fitted in a sneaky pre-community-garden plog to improve the surrounding area outside the community gardens in Canbury Gardens.

Items collected down the alley next to the gardens included: lots of beer bottle caps (from a variety of brands, Kate was keen to note), lots of beer bottles and drink cans, tissues, carrier bags... and, in the style of The Generation Game... the Mandatory Plogging Football!

We collected 3 bin bags full and were done in perfect time for some gardening!