Stink Or Swim

15 runners ran 8k to tidy up the Avon Gorge

It's fair to say that my Saturday morning did not get off to the best of starts. As I walked towards our meeting point at Roll For The Soul for today's group run, I discovered that not only had I forgotten to pick up bin bags for today's task, I had also forgotten my wallet, meaning that not only was the task in jeopardy but also that I was going to have to go without lunch after the run!

I should have known that I could count on my fellow GoodGymmers to dig me out of this particular hole, with big thanks to David for trotting off to buy bin bags, whilst I sorted out the sign in and to Paul for buying me a lovely piece of flapjack on our return from the task - you guys are the business!

They say these come in threes and so it should be no surprise that having warmed up and welcomed Linlu to her first GoodGym run and setting off for the riverbank that I then realised that I had left the sign in sheet back at base. So, handing over the leading reins to Paul, I headed back to the cafe and then tried to chase down the group who had reached The Pumphouse by the time I caught up with them for the relatively short distance left to the task.

Here we met up with Mark from Surfers Against Sewage who, despite being somewhat under the weather, had turned up to show us the areas of the riverbank that were in most need of litter picking. The area is directly under the Clifton Suspension Bridge and so is what people tend to see as they look down over the bridge and it was our job to make this a rather nicer sight.

Mark also pointed out that the tide was high (leading to a later debate about Blondie and Sugababes versions of the song) and rising and so it was clear that we needed to be careful, although said that if we did fall in then the rising tide would help us to shore!

As it turned out, despite the odd slip, we stayed dry and managed to collect a very impressive haul of litter, whilst ogling a rather expensive-looking catamaran heading out of the harbour and waving in The Matthew on it's way back into town.

My morning was clearly not getting any better as I managed to trip over some railings, right after I had told those collecting litter by the roadside under the tunnel to keep safe - I felt a proper charlie!

Our work done, it was goodbye to Mark who was chuffed with our efforts and back to Roll For The Soul with a little detour through Queen Square as we had a bit of time on our hands.

Thanks to Alice for leading us through some stretches including a demonstration of some alternative versions - always good to know.

We congratulated David for hitting the hundred good deed mark in the week, whilst touring in Bath, with Paul presenting him with a replacement black "50" shirt after David had so kindly given his to Alicia who had got so close to the mark before her return home to Madrid - he really is a lovely chap and all round top bloke!

We also chatted about the upcoming group runs on Tuesday (flyering for Above and Beyond in Redland) and Saturday ( a new task with the Malago Valley Conservation Group - exciting!) and the new Missions Selector which I urge everyone who is mission verified to use - we are hoping that our mission referrals are going to increase and it is much easier for the missions team to arrange these when they know willing help is available.

Great fun today gang, thanks for all your support and for bearing with me on my off day!

See you all again soon!