I’m often an avid forecast-watcher but today I was in overdrive waiting for the wind to drop.. it never did. High winds and our longest group run in a while was one thing but combining that with a task where stuff can (and often does!) blow away adds another level.

Nevertheless, myself and two hardy GoodGymers Aimee and Damu met ready to rock and do battle with the elements in order to help our friends at FoodCycle Walker. This brilliant organisation offers a hot meal to anyone who needs it, and we’d been asked to spread the word in the area with a big 250 leaflet drop. Armed with Google Maps and little confidence of the route, with the wind stinging our eyes and faces, we headed out from Stepney Bank Stables towards Byker and across to Walker where the plan was to get leaflet dropping as soon as we could so as not to get cold. It’s an uphill route all the way!

The streets in this area are something of a maze but with some prior knowledge of where was likely to get confusing we covered a number of streets pretty quickly, only slowed down by the sheer number of gates and some disproportionately long driveways! Despite a solid effort we ended up calling it a night with a handful of leaflets left. I still think 220 between three of us in 45 minutes is pretty good going though! Thankfully the run was all downhill on the way back as we’d well and truly got our steps in tonight.

There are two community missions this weekend with Urban Green Newcastle. Kenton Park on Saturday and Hodgkin Park on Sunday hope to see you there.