Keeping us Picking Over

Tonight we ran to meet a couple of people associated with Twiggs ground maintenance for a joint litterpick. Our run started off going down a steep hill (Fitzwilliam St); one which I had plans for running a Strava segment up later in the evening!

We met up with the Twiggs team at the far end of Stock's Lane, after a short and sweet uphill run from the Glasshouse roundabout. I had brought along a couple of pickers for us to use, and Scott kindly issued us with some hoops. Geared up, we hit the road as a team... well, the paths and bushes anyway. We picked our way through the dark paths past Royston Lead, venturing into the undergrowth to search for treasure or trash. There was quite a bit to be found in the woodland, trash that is not treasure! That didn't bother us though, we knew we were going to have a rubbish time tonight, so we weren't disappointed. Once we had picked our way through the wooded area, we headed onto the streets, clearing up the paths and between parked cars as we progressed along West Rd... Go West! as the Village People sang. As we were filling up our purple bags, we discussed what the most difficult things are to pick up with a litterpicker and the best techniques for doing so. I think everyone can agree that the car-flattened-can which is almost part of the road is the most difficult item to pick up! Techniques involved squashing the cans up with feet in order to be able to grab them with a picker, and the controversial method of bending down to pick it up with hands! Effort!

When we arrived at the playground equipment, Kirsty was quickly up on the monkey bars like a monkey, getting some practice in for our ongoing GoodGym bouldering sessions. Good effort Kirsty!

After a solid hour's picking we had each filled a bag. All that was left to do was to tie up the bags, put them next to a bin on the road and get some group selfies done! With this in the bag, we said our goodbyes to the Twiggs team and headed off down the road for a steep Strava segmenting sprint activity, before stretching off. Another good job done folks!