Well, I never. On the first day of May, we had *58 GoodGymers *come out to play! Breaking Bristol GoodGym (and - TBC - GoodGym) history, this massive group of helpful and fit peeps got dug in around Bristol tonight. A big welcome to all of the new runners who joined us tonight, and it was great to see the Bristol Uni Medical Students back again.

Fifty-great

The group split up to do two tasks. Charlie and Sally did a wonderful job taking 18 runners up to join forces with Bristol Waste and Streetscene. The group were handing out information to student accommodation in the area on how to recycle and properly dispose of their things before moving out at the end of the month. They did not stop there: while the group ran the streets of Redland and Cheltenham Road doing this, they got stuck in de-tagging lamposts and wheelie bins around the area.

Fifty- 'wait, how many?'

Meanwhile, the other 40 of us went to Emmaus for Round Three of the great tale of *GoodGym v. Prickly Bush. * Big thanks to Tom, Mel and Matt for their skillful run-leading and back-marking to get us all over there and back safely.

Xanne from Emmaus met us to greet the many new runners and tell us about the wonderful work they do at Emmaus to help homeless people rebuild their lives through their holistic approach. We then set to work - while some of the group did an exceptional litter picking job round the area, a group gave the two Emmaus vans a quick clean up and the rest of the team got down to the bushy business.

The prickly bush put up a very good fight, but with a 30-strong group working on it with all manner of tools, it finally gave way just as the clock struck the time to fit in our run home (strangely enough, it seemed to take just enough time for no-one to have to do a burpee this evening at all...).

Fifty-ate

Following all of this running around it was time for our monthly GoodGym Eats. We descended on Las Iguanas for burritos and cocktails ahoy. Thank you for organising a great night Liam!

Word has obviously got round about the lovely hidden orchard at Manor Woods Valley as a massive 30 people joined us today - in spite of the prospect of an 8k round trip in hot sunny weather. This included 7 new faces (welcome!) and the return of a few of a couple of our favourite Bristol Uni Med students from Tuesday - welcome back chaps, great to see you again!

With Jack back marking we managed to navigate our way along the Malago Greenway to meet our amazing MVCG host Martin on site at the orchard.

Martin explained that we were to prepare some areas of the orchard for wildflower seed planting by using shears and rakes to remove any nettles and bramble 'risings' (new sprouting brambles) before digging out 2m diameter circular beds for the seeds.

With so many people we were also able to deploy a team to clear an additional space of somewhat more (risen?) brambles by the path entrance and a special shout out too to Art, David and Rosalyn who selflessly took on the less glamorous role of litter picking around the meadow.

Great work everyone and kudos to Jack for not cutting any human limbs with his rather menacing looking slasher implement - although he did manage to break a rake!

Lovely to have Caroline back on a visit from Sheffield today and all the best to Fi who joined us today at the task in spite of a dodgy ankle - hope you're back running with us soon, Fi.

If you enjoyed today you should definitely join us next week when you can choose between the equally idyllic Haven or a shorter run to Windmill Hill City Farm.

A double task Saturday today both involving some good wheelbarrow action, amongst other things.

Paul got us nicely warmed up, before taking a crack team of 4 over to St George to the Wellspring Healthy Living Centre community allotment with a tidy up.

This appeared to involve clearing out a bath full of mud and lots of other mucky stuff over into a big pile and the treat of meeting a big bird en route to the task.

Big thanks to Paul, Julie, Paddy and Alex for taking on the longer run and mucky task!

Meanwhile the rest of us headed over to the Malago Berry Maze, the scene of many a GoodGym task over the past year or so and unfortunately, the most recent of these seem to have involved helping to repair damage done by vandals who seem to be doing their utmost to destroy the brilliant work done by Raluca and her team of volunteers (including our good selves) - very sad.

So we had two teams weeding the Berry Maze plot who managed to get the area looking fabulous in no time at all. And a trip to the Berry Maze wouldn't be the same without ferrying lots of mulch in barrows over to the maze and spreading this along the paths. And there was the small matter of replacing the damaged and not-too-sturdy stakes with bigger, thicker models - some very enthusiastic and energetic pile driving going on there! With the new, more solid feeling stakes in place, it was then time to reattach the wires, marking out the route of the maze.

It was a warm morning so we were very grateful for the fruit and water that Raluca had provided that not only kept us going on the task but also sustained us on the route home.

Lovely morning, two tasks well done, nice one!

Our joint Avon Gorge clear ups with Mark from SAS (Surfers Against Sewage) have become a regular tradition at Bristol Goodgym. Its always a mucky job, but working in the shadow of the iconic Avon Suspension bridge has a certain romantic appeal - you just have to try and focus on looking up more than down (admittedly not altogether straight-forward when you're litter picking).

Its also a very worthwhile activity. This is the heart of Bristol and generally the first place visitors head for, so its a shame when their view is largely made up of styrofoam takeaway containers, bottles and cans.

And last but not least its an opportunity to run along one side of the Harbourside loop. This is a popular location for lunchtime runs in Bristol, taking in the views across the water of the SS Great Britain and the various other boats moored around - enjoyable even on a drizzly day like today.

On arrival, Mark greeted us with a quick health and safety recap - mostly concerned with not going too close to the water - and reassured us that he had his rope if things did get tricky. We then climbed down onto the banks, which was unusually straight forward today; apparently either the banks are rising or the road is sinking.

Everyone got stuck in collecting litter - taking care to avoid becoming isolated by sticking to pairs and larger teams. Todays finds included a boot, a spare rope (handy if two people fell in), a bath mat and an entire bicycle. Quite a haul!

There were plenty of us today so we managed to clear the bank fairly quickly and we were able to fit in a few lamppost intervals on the way back (maintaining good running form of course). We also had time for a quick game of Squatopia, a highly plausible vision of the future in which fanatical Squat Teams attempt to catch members of the Rearsistance and impose a 10 squat punishment.

Nice work today everyone - great work in very muddy and drizzly conditions and nice to see everyone working hard at the intervals, although I think I may have spotted a cereal-loving celebrity from Dreamforce 2016 who may not have been taking his form entirely seriously.

Thanks to Mel and Maria for additional photos!