I cycled along NCR8 this morning and had to duck under some trees and push though thick undergrowth past one that blocked the path entirely, having been blown over by storm Isha. Tracey and I set out to fix them. The first tree just needed a little lop, but the fallen one was a major undertaking and took us a couple of hours and kept us warm in the cold wind!

Gwyn was running on NCR8 on 4th January when he noticed that a storm had blown a tree over the route, leaving branches dangerously at neck height. Tracey joined him in a session to saw and chop the wood away. We also cleared a Buddleia that was obstructing a pavement, which forced walkers (including school children) onto the road, on the way.

Lewis, Ashley, Mandy, Tracey, Rachel, Grantand I got together at Field Lane Community Association to help clear Route 66, the National Cycle Route that circles Derby. It was great to see Lewis here, on his first good deed, and we enjoyed having a chat with him as we set off to motor west (well, to walk...) along the route, which goes all the way around Derby. We walked more that two thousand ...metres... all the way. Our first job was clearing the route of litter, and then to find the signage of Route 66 and make sure that it was clean and clear. Grant, Lewis and Ashley travelled my way up the ladder to clean the signs, and Grant even managed to turn some signs to point the right way! We got several bags of litter picked. We left it looking the highway that's the best.

The NCN goes near my house, and there were a few places where it was almost obscured by plants, so I attacked them with saw and loppers. Can you match the before and after pictures?

GoodGym volunteer and TaskForce member Tracey joined Rachel for a session to help maintain part of route 6 of the National Cycle Network. Between them they brought along; secateurs to trim back some low hanging foliage, a litter picker with hoop and bin bag and some old cloths with cleaning spray to clean up any signs.

Luckily, the sun was shining and the pair did an out and back route to an area just on the outskirts of Pride Park parallel to the train station. They didn't need to clean up any signage as this was all looking good so it was mostly litter picking a bit of pruning.

The duo were grateful for all the cyclists thanking them for their efforts, it's great that this route was being so well used by cyclists, runners and people out for a walk.

Two bags of rubbish were collected including a toothbrush and playing card as some of the more interesting finds amongst the huge amount of cans and plastic bottles the pair collected. Tracey has a collection of toothbrushes from litter picking which she uses for some cleaning and maintenance jobs and finds them handy to keep a stash of.

A very close encounter was made with a little hedgehog, the pair made sure it got back in the undergrowth and off the path safely before continuing to collect litter on the way back to the start location.

Thanks to Tracey for coming along and celebrating a GoodGym milestone with Rachel and for the seriously thoughtful, handmade goodies.

Keep an eye on the GoodGym Derby calendar for the next session where we're helping to maintain the National Cycle Network.

DOING GOOD

This week we headed out to cycle route 6 (joining near Bass Recreation ground) & litter picked our way towards Pride Park with our bags, grabbers & gardening gloves (they're multi-purpose!) in tow. We appeared like good-deed-doing specters as we moved along the cycle route, head torches shining & clearing the pathway of debris. The high quality photos from this weeks run capture it perfectly... Firework Helen is my favourite snap!

The cycle route at first seemed surprisingly clear of litter, causing panic that we'd be fighting over a singular, empty can. But alas, (unfortunately) litter prevails & we did manage to fill six bags of rubbish along roughly one mile of pathway, GO TEAM! We hope that our cycling buddies enjoy the clearer section of Cycle Route 6 & that we've inspired others to move rubbish to a bin, or not to litter at all!

The Treasure stats:

• Six 35L bags of treasure collected
• Quirky finds incl. a license agreement, a high-viz jacket & a lorry buckle
• Best find was an apparently 'almost' unopened can of Stella (no one tried it to check)

WHILST GETTING FIT

With a 2km run out to the start of our a litter pick, another 2 km covered litter picking (more for the group that looped back!) & the 2km run back to base, you'd think we'd have been done on the running front. Nope. I had planned for the group a litter-leg burner of a paarlouf session up my red sleeve. Evil giggles

What is Paarlouf? Not the most common term; it literally means "pair run" & is a great way to work on speed in an interval setting, but with the fun of a relay! In pairs, one runner completes the set lap at a fast pace & once back, their partner runs the lap. Catch your breath & once your partner is back, it's your turn again!

Thanks to Nathan & Mark for sourcing the location of our paarlouf work, finding us a neat little triangle with a sneaky incline - perfect! Three laps clockwise & three laps anti-clockwise per runner & the GG Derby tribe was sweaty & out of breath!

MENTIONS

Thanks to Nathan for being a great front runner this week & guiding us safely to the cycle route & back again. As always, thank you to ALL of you for getting stuck in & for trying bloomin' hard on that speed work session - you smashed it!

A warm welcome to Mike who completed his first GoodGym run with last night - we hope to see you again soon!

And finally a shout-out to Alice who wins coolest gear of the evening with her woolly hat with a built in light. Brilliant.

NEXT UP

Next week we're back in the Wildlife garden on Darley Park for a bark-moving spook spectacular! Who remembers our launch run there? It'll be a shorter run, with lots of shoveling, wheel-barrowing & if there's time... some sneaky speed work again. Come on, it's good for us! :) As it'll be Halloween, if you're partial to fancy dress, go for it! BadGym will be going as a devil :)