The Wildcats that got the cream

Saturdays in Lewisham don't get much better than this! Five runners bounced through Catford, to help clear paths and prune trees at the wonderful Wildcat Wilderness, covering 2km of running and a good, strength-building fitness session to add to the incredible upper body workout at the task!

For this starter session, we met outside Catford Bridge station for a change (our usual Monday evening start point is Glass Mill in Lewisham), with Holly very kindly popping over to check that nobody was hanging out at the wrong entrance. It was great to see new faces joining us today. Show some Lewisham love to Emma, Jacqui and Samuel and a hi-five to Holly, a regular runner, who wanted a bit more goodness at the weekend. Before heading off, we talked briefly about coach running, one-off missions and what we normally get up to on a Monday (not that there is a 'typical' group run!).

Whatever the weather!

If you had looked out of the window at about 9.30, you would have seen heavy, grey skies and a sprinkling of rain, but anyone who comes along to GoodGym regularly, knows we run whatever the weather. As it turned out, the clouds moved swiftly away and we were treated to a gorgeously sunny and mild session!

We ran through one of the less beautiful spots of Catford, skirting around the Halfords/Wickes car park, before pausing along the Waterlink Way to do some drills, to really warm up our bodies. We were already quite close to our task, so chatted as we ran and were met by Maria, who let us in to the wilderness. As we walked along the path, Maria told everyone about the space and how it is now used every week by a couple of hundred people (really!), with local schools and nurseries running forest schools here - it's great to hear that the space is being used all year round and giving pleasure to so many visitors!

Today Maria was opening the Wildcat Wilderness to volunteers and families, with lots of jobs to get stuck into, fun activities, such as making a little pond from a left-over sweet or biscuit tin and a stew bubbling away on the campfire (the smell was amazing!) for everyone to tuck into for lunch. We were led around to the shed and given gloves to wear and various tools to wield (see photos!). We heard that one of the apple trees had a fallen branch, which needed sawing off and then chopping into smaller lengths for the fire. Samuel liked the look of the saw and Emma grabbed herself a smaller saw and off they went. Meanwhile, Holly and Jacqui formed a super-slasher team, using the ever-popular, stress-busting device, otherwise known as 'the blunt machete'. With this, you can swing back and forth, clearing the brambles from the edges of paths - the whole area was cleared in this way and, of course, needs regular hacking to keep on top of the growth.

Running between areas, I could see the progress both pairs were making, with paths feeling wider and neater and the tree branch being very neatly chopped into perfect fire-size pieces. Eventually these were carried to the wood pile and Samuel and Emma had a go at path clearance too. Around us, the wilderness was filling up with children and adults, exploring, helping, making mini-ponds and generally getting away from it all - you really feel like you're in the countryside here.

Pretty soon it was time to pack away the tools and return the gloves before heading off. It's been a while since we came here, with it being too dark in the evenings, but what a treat to come along in the daylight!

Fitness!

As we left, we bumped into Phillipe from the Rushey Green Timebank, who was on gate duty. The Timebank is currently based at Place Ladywell and well worth a visit, even if you're just popping in to the Good Hope cafe for a hot drink! Our runner/volunteers had already had a pretty intense upper body workout - there's nothing like swinging a machete to work those shoulders! Our fitness session then, focused more on lower limbs, with pairs taking it in turns to run a loop, while their partner did a series of squats, lunges, knee lifts and, to finish off, bench press-ups. Great work everyone! We kept warm by running back over to the station, where we stretched and talked about Monday's task, where we will return to Crofton Books to finish off that paint job.

See you soon!