It was a horribly drizzly night in Brent and little did we know it was only going to get worse despite all the forecasts!

Six awesome people joined me as we headed off towards the canal at Harlesden to do some major litter picking for the Canal & River Trust.

With everyone gathered we had a super fast intro - it's all about the GoodGym Olympics, I'll be drilling this home to everyone on a regular basis - we had a year off last year but we need to represent this time!

Long and winding road

With that all done we headed off in to the night for our 4.3km run towards Harlesden - we took a route littered with traffic lights and it was our turn for all the reds - did they not know we had good to do?

After about 35 minutes and one particularly annoying light that wouldn't give us the green man (did we decide to report that or not?) we met fellow goodgym-er and top Canal & River Trust person Jack in the car park of a pub with his van full of goodies! The task tonight to do some hardcore litter picking!

You've got to pick a litter or two

After Jack's health and safety briefing we kitted ourselves in high-viz, got our litter pickers, gloves and bin bag holders and we headed down the canal. Yes it was very littered but taking in the smells of the McVities factory and the beauty of the swans, well it was quite nice down there... the rain might've been too much.

We didn't have that much time down on the canal but we worked extra hard and bagged loads of litter! With all the industrial estates and whatnot in the area it seems the canal is the local dumping ground. It's sad but we're hoping our regualr work down there is gonna make a big difference!

Rich Tea Biscuits!

With the light fading we made our way back to Jack, got a group pic, handed back our equipment and making sure to sterilise our hands then helped ourselves to some Rich Tea biscuits - thanks for the biccies Jack and thanks for the inspiration you provided to Tabitha for our awesome pun!

We then ran back to base keeping up a good pace to beat the horrible rain! Awesome effort tonight, it was a long run and we had horrible conditions but your efforts make a big difference - big thank you.

Cheers, Pritesh