Scything with Jose

24 hard boiled heroes braved the summer sun for our hottest Goodgym this year. We met in the vaguely cool courtyard of the Folk House where Pru made sure that everyone had tried to 'pre-hydrate' - sip water throughout the day before heading off on their run! Better to pre-hyrate than re-hydrate 'cos then it could be too late (mate!).

We had not one but three tasks - head up the cycle path to Easton Community Allotments, head over to St Pauls to help the St Paul Allotment group, and then a tiny group were sent on a mission to help an older gentleman move some kitchen equipment.

The group that headed off to St Pauls were following up on a run that had occurred a few months ago - the group had cleared loads and loads of vegetation and stacked it in to a corner to await a skip. The skip had arrived and so now it was time to load it up. Jose, the local king of volunteering was there to greet us!

A system quickly developed of filling wheel barrows and lugging leaf litter then chucking it in to the skip. Once there, a few brave souls used the 'jumping up and down on a big wooden board' technique to squash it all down so that more detritus could be packed in. It took just over 30 minutes but with usual Goodgym panache, it got sorted! There's now two plots of land waiting to be planted on.

Others in the group were tasked with pulling our old friend bindweed, and a couple handed a small scythe (ok, ok, it's a sickle, like from Asterix comic books but the pun doesn't work otherwise!) and asked to trim weeds.

Our numbers were bolstered when the small group who'd been moving kitchen equipment for an older chap joined us - the time flew by, the wheelbarrows sped up and down the path, spades dug, forks pitched, and all was GoodGym amazing.

In the meantime, Chris and his group headed off up the cycle track to Easton Community Gardens - a beautiful garden full of lush greenery and always a lot for us to do!

Even though we spent a few more minutes at the allotment site in St Pauls than planned, we still made it back to the Folk House with a few minutes to spare. As it was so hot, intervals were out so a few tricep dips and walking lunges were the way forward. An especial well done to new guy Neil who is a champion lunger.

Once the St Pauls group had finished stretching, the Easton group rocked up and had a great stretch as well!