Helping out at Northers Slopes Initiative (NSI) always promises a good workout and we were not disappointed this time either. A whooping 8 runners showed up on Saturday morning despite the weather being anything but nice (again!). On a first-come-first-served-basis, Julia from NSI handed out tools and allocated tasks to each runner to maximise our efforts in cunting down the overgrowth of brambles along the slopes. Scythes and slashers were going like hot buns as experienced GoodGymers know that working your way through the brambles with a scythe is highly statisfying. Of course, like any other GoodGym task, safety comes first. To stay COVID-safe and keep all limbs attached (especially those of people passing by), we made sure to shout from the top of our lungs "coming through" whenever someone appeared on the horizon thereby giving scythers a heads-up warning (and excuse for a break). However, Russ seemed to have mistaken the shouting as a command to scythe his way through the massive bramble field as he created an impressive clearcut through the middle of the bramble patch in less than an hour. Meanwhile, Jason and Dave were slashing and cutting their way through the thorns from the other end. Further up the slopes, Matt and newest GoodGym recruit Anna tackled the outer edges of the hedge at an equally impressive speed.

Julie and Nathalie missed out on the scything fun and busied themselves with the important task of picking up all the rubbish the scythers excavated from the brambles.

You all absolutely smashed it!