Another legen-dairy evening

Well done to the 9 GoodGymers who joined me on this beautifully sunny evening for our group run and walk to the SSSI on grazing land near Bray Lake. It was particularly great to see Marli and Lena return for their second good deeds and to welcome back Georgeta from her travels. Kudos to Anita for walking nearly 4km to the start location and three cheers for Anna, who came for the first time in a few weeks despite tired legs following running an epic 35 miles at Endure24 on the weekend.

We had the full range of GoodGym's 'run, walk, cycle' mantra represented on our 2km route out this evening. Thanks to Anita and Rachel, who led the walkers. I led the runners and enjoyed chatting to Lena, Gillian, Anna and Georgeta along the way. Meanwhile Diya and Kanika were on their bikes doing an awesome job as a cross between cheerleaders and sheep dogs, cycling back and forth along the route to make sure we were all going the right way and still smiling.

On arrival at the the task location, we took in the minty aroma of the rare Pennyroyal plant we had come to help conserve, greeted the very vocal 'bouncer' cow and nearly persuaded Anita to climb over the gate before it was opened by super strong Kanika. Then we met task owner Kristina, who was very pleased to have some company having worked hard on the task solo for much of the afternoon.

We had two tasks to tackle this evening, so we divided roughly into two teams. Anna, Rachel, Diya, and Georgeta tackled mulch removal (our fourth session on this task), piling previously cut brambles into a hippo bag and ferrying them to a bigger mulch heap in the adjacent field. Lena, Marli, Gillian and I focused on pulling up Ragwort, which threatens to crowd out the Pennyroyal if left to spread. Kanika and Anita helped on both tasks.

Both jobs gave us a decent work out and a good sense of job satisfaction. After an hour we had significantly reduced the mulch heap, significantly increased the Ragwort heap, enjoyed more chatting, and soaked up lots of fresh air and vitamin D - great work team!

Kanika and Diya then headed for home on their bikes, while Anita, Rachel, Marli and Lena walked the same route back to Bray. The runners took a slightly longer route back via the Thames path, which was looking gorgeous in the midsummer evening light. Thanks to Gillian for showing us a new route so we didn't need to re-trace our steps.

Next week we are off to Cookham Dean to dismantle a shed. Can't wait! Click here to sign up...