Another night, another midge death squad. This time it was the turn of Bootham Stray allotments to experience a midge swarm of biblical proportions. Note to self, if it's been raining then bring bug spray!

As tonight was well over 6k in total we met for promptly at 6.15 to set the party pace group off, joined by a small GG bike gang. Ed led the remaining GGers after welcoming newcomer Dan and numbering off by naming our favourite flat things in honour of Earth Day. I'm informed that Hydrostatic Bearings are the best flat things ever!

We arrived at Bootham Stray allotments and soon got to work turning over a disused patch that really needed a lot of work. And then the midges came...

I feel ticklish all over - Ben

On one side, Mitch's tool of choice was a 4-pronged spinny thing that he used to twist the weeds together, as if he were eating a bowl of spaghetti. Whilst the rest of the crew, armed with forks and spades, soon made light work of the turf, weeds and roots before tackling bigger things like old guttering and ground sheets.

It was an entirely different vibe over on the other side with Bec spending the night on the tiles whilst Dan got hammered, as the two of them uncovered some old tiling and the head of a hammer respectively.

As the night wore on the midges got the better of us and we called it a day, but not before a group photo and some jaffa cakes kindly provided by the task owner. We then set off back to the Priory Street Centre where Bec learnt that spinning around helps you to touch your toes, and that if you touch a wall with your armed stretched out, then put your arm down, you'll fall just short of touching the wall when you bring your arm back up. Who knew!?!?

This week we started by presenting our GoodGymer of the month award marvelous Max, who has been active behind the scenes on the whatsapp community as well as being a more active and engaged taskforcer. Well done Max 🍾

We also awarded the Cape of Good Deeds to our fab co-area Activator Vicky, who was completing her 400th(!) Good Deed. Amazing effort. Give Max and Vicky a big cheer.

We then set off to York Cemetery with a nice run along the river, with some obligatory wall squats along the wall. Upon arrival we were greeted by superstar Clive who was well prepared for us as always. We soon got to work with loppers, rakes, spades and shears clearing an area that was previously part of a sensory garden but was in need a bit of TLC.

It took a little while for some of the GG crew to get to grips with the difference between a rose and a bramble, but we soon found our rhythm and started making some excellent progress in what seemed like a pretty straightforward task.

However things quickly took a turn for the worse when the midges decided they didn't like being disturbed and soon started feasting on any exposed GoodGym flesh that they could get their teeth (do they have teeth?) into.

With morale dipping and the midges biting, Ed put an early end to the task and started the fitness sesh - our GG York version of Paper, Rock, Scissors featuring Squats, Pencil jumps and Star Jumps. Fortunately everyone knows that Squats blunt star jumps, pencil jumps wraps squats, and star jumps cut pencil jumps, of course!

23 gorgeous GoodGymers gathered at the Poppleton Community Centre for Springtime Shenanigans.

Big Pete set off first with the 15kish fast pace group (actually nearer 13k) followed by Little Babs leading the 7kish not so fast pace group (actually nearer 6k) and Old Nick with the 10kish sexy pace group (OK this was actually over 11k)

Heading across the fields towards Moor Monkton we enjoyed the post solstice lighter night even if the weather wasn't exactly springlike.

There was mud

There were riverside paths

There was slipping

There was a barky dog

And a small horse

There was rain

There was sliding

There was more mud

but then there was Beer and Pizza back at the Poppleton Social!

If you missed this edition no worries we are going to be having a social trail run on a regular basis through the Summer so keep your eyes peeled for next time