What a glorious evening - at last no cold wind nor driving rain nor dark and miserable conditions - just warm with blue skies and high wispy cloud.

And there was no better place to go than Saffron Acres Community Heathland.

We welcomed back Rhea, who came to our very first run way back last August but has not been able to make it again until now. And first timer Amber who has recently moved back to Leicestershire after a time away in Notts.

Jim and Lindsay led the way with Rhea showing good early pace to keep up and chat.

Amber and Nicola seemed to hit it off straight away and spend most of the trip chattering away while Jen, Frank and Lee had a good old chat in front of me at the back.

Mel was coming off the back of the 26 mile Moonwalk in London and Stu nursing an injury so both travelled by car to the task and opened up the gates for when we arrived.

Arriving at 6:35 our task was to spend the next half hour in the Heritage Orchard trimming the grass around the base of each of the fruit trees then making a mulch "doughnut" as JIm decribed it to keep the weeds down and the roots moist.

The team got stuck in and by the close of play we had completed nearly sixty and made a significant dent in the huge pile of mulch. I strongly suspect that we would have been happy to stay there in the sunshine all night but, cars to pick up, homes to go to etc so we locked away the tools, locked up the site and headed back.

4 x 60 second fast bursts were the mainstay of the fitness task followed by a couple of further short fartleks then a mile warm down jog back to base.

I walked the last 400 with Amber who was suffering the effect of a recurring ITB niggle but hopefully some rest and ice will sort that out. When we arrived at base Lindsay had taken the initiative to get on with the stretches.

And the sun shone throughout - great job everyone - see you next time

A Lovely summers evening on the riverbank at Goodgym BATH for a sweet 16 who weedy enjoyed themselves at on a 5k run involving some hill climbing with bags of mulch and weeds for The Canal and River trust.

A few announcements to kick off this evening:

Well done Pascale and Alison who ran the Salisbury 54321 on Sunday 42 & 33 k

New Taskforce - Lucy, Emma and Alison .. WHOOP!!

Welcome to Holly and Ben

Nicola and Dora were chatting away in spanish (i think so anyway) something about Mexico i think and the possibility of a night out on the plus side..keep you posted team!!

As promised a nice flat run along the canal or at least until we arrived at our destination when 7 merry men were required to head up that hill and carry bags of mulch back down to the riverbank.

The remaining members were already hard at work chopping back ash and weeding an overgrown area, Ben was in fact working so hard he broke his garden trowel...Ooops!! lot's of banter and laughter along the way.

30 minutes later

Time to spread the bags of mulch over the cleared area before filling the now empty bags with cuttings and weeds before a group effort to carry everything back up the hill where its transport was waiting to carry it off to the compost heap in the sky.

A touch of fitness stuff and looping thrown into the mix for good measure and because they enjoy it so much, although you would never guess it from their little faces...HA!!

A suitably short run back down the hill and along the river back to the leisure centre for a nice stretch and chat, perfect end to a beautiful day.

Smashing job achieved yet again team,

fabulous...fabulous...fabulous!!

GOOD LUCK to everyone racing the TWO TUNNELS this weekend especially Rhiannon on her first 10k ...GO GIRL!!

GOOD LUCK to everyone racing the train from Goodgym this weekend, can't wait to read all about that one.

Until next time, keep running and stay safe