Our usual GoodGym litter picking collaborators weren't able to meet us this time; Gill is away and Scott was otherwise engaged. Lacking the usual stalwarts, I reached out to the Barnsley Litter Pickers group on facebook. This yielded some welcome results... nobody could meet us this week but there are some people interested for future runs with us. They gave me a location which warranted our attention to tidy. It was alongside the main road of Hunningley Lane which is quite a long distance from town, though we were happy to oblige.

To add to the challenge of the long distance to task, an extra hurdle to clear was actually finding the place; this normally wouldn't be a problem with a charged smartphone and Google Maps, but on this fateful Wednesday though, it was. My phone was running on 4% battery a couple of hours before setting off to meet for the run so I reasoned that I'd take a charging cable with me to remedy this on the commute and whilst waiting in Glasshouse. Lo and behold though I'd picked up the wrong charging cable, so I rushed to open up maps on my phone with ever-dwindling battery and quickly plan a route. I managed to jot down a literal handful of rudimentary directions on the back of my hand just before the lights went out (see photo). Luckily, one of the cables did fit my light, so at least we'd have some decent illumination on our travels. This battery mishap also meant that our camera for the evening was to be Daniel's , cheers for that!

We made our way from Townend Roundabout along the West Way A-road to Alahambra Roundabout. From here we plodded up Doncaster Road, looking out for Applehurst Bank, a short distance after which we needed to head down a gennel (jennel, jitty, snicket etc depending on where you're from). We located the gennel and proceeded through the slushy woodland ground it wound through. From here we turned right onto Yews lane, left onto Thornton Road, and right at the T-junction onto Birk Avenue, finally arriving at our destination of Hunningley Lane.

We didn't 'waste' any time, and got stuck into the task straight away. We worked along one side of the main road, picking litter from the grass bank and hedge behind, all whilst trying not to become 'trash test dummies' for the speeding cars on the main road behind us. We managed to each pick up 2 full bags of litter in a relatively short space of time, such was the amount available for us to pick, and had a friendly local dog walker commend us for our activities too, which was warmly welcomed.

No prior experience needed, just pick it up as you go!

After fulfilling our goal of filling full our four bags of litter, we endeavored to locate a roadside bin where we could leave them for collection. Luckily we didn't have to lug them too far as one was spotted 50 meters down the road! Phew!

Unladen, we set off on the long journey back. There would be no fitness activity tonight, as the run was a whopping 9.75 km in total, with some serious hills on the route too!! We did however use the long run to practice good running technique- using our arms, bent at right angles, to propel us forward, and imagining a balloon attached to our heads pulling them up for proper posture.

Upon our arrival back at Glasshouse from our mammoth trek, we headed inside the stairwell to stretch off, before parting ways.

Don't hold your breath, receive a sudden shock, put cold cutlery up your top, or drink ice water... just clear up your local area! Yes, it's a hiccups pun!

Becky visited her local park to clear up after a party some youths had had. They had left all of their rubbish behind and obviously the catering staff thought it beyond their remit to bag up the party favours. This was not beyond Becky though, she bagged up the plastic cups, plastic bottles, plastic straws, drinks cans and food wrappers. Thoughtfully the party-goers had left behind some plastic bags for Becky to use to contain the rubbish too.

James blitzed the boundary of Barnsley's town centre college campus, removing food and drinks containers from behind the fences surrounding some of the buildings where it tends to collect in the dips. Unfortunately my phone was out of battery so didn't get any evidence.

Linda had a wintery womble along the Monsal Trail between Hassop and Bakewell on a beautiful sunny day. Thankfully she didn't find too much trash on the trail, which left her free to take in the stunning scenery of the area unencumbered. The rubbish she did manage to find included part of a shoe insole, a fragment of a plastic container and a baby pacifier- she's no dummy!

I'm happy to be able to say that nobody had a rubbish time!

Another January week, another icy Community Mission prying up packets from the permafrost! This time around 3 GoodGymers from 3 areas intrepidly ventured out to clean up their respective communities.

Brilliant Becky braved the blustery blizzard to free a winter wonderland from numerous pieces of unwelcome plastic and paper. What scenery!

Legendary Linda released lanes of their litter. Alongside the usual array of chocolate bar wrappers, fast food packaging, drinks cans, bottles and cups, she managed to find a football on her rounds... score! Like Becky, Linda left a stunningly lush landscape lacking litter!

Jolly James jumped joyfully at the chance to once again get out with his new pickers. Countless crispy crisp packets were clawed up from the solidified mud on wasteland in Barnsley. As seems to be a regular occurrence now, inquisitive members of the public asked what he was up to and were noticeably impressed by what I explained we we all doing!

Good job this week team! Next week is the last special litter-picking community mission for the January challenge so get yersens signed up here, and tell your friends to too!

The plan was to pick around the Keel Inn, though on the way there a huge amount of rubbish was discovered hiding in the bushes at the greenspace next to Barnsley Sixth Form College. This couldn't go ignored! We had an incredibly shorrt run to the location, but made up for this by spending a longer time picking. A range of detritus was found and subsequently bagged up, from a pair of new school PE pumps to old lighters. Whilst clearing the flower bed in the center of the space we were approached by a local lady who commended us on our efforts, and was very thankful. GG was of course well advertised to her! We ended up with 6 bags full and a much cleaner greenspace for all to enjoy. If an area is clean and tidy it is more likely to stay that way. After we were done it was like there had been a **** trash of the titans ****.

We emptied the bags into bins and got some piccies, then were on our way to run some laps around the fountains, before stretching off and patting ourselves on the back.

Until next time!!