Our weekend away in the Peak District had it all: camping, running, kayaking, paddle boarding, pub food, composting toilet facilities and some extremely important scientific debate.

We kicked things off on Friday with the traditional BBQ. It was a but chilly so we (Michael) tried to extend the bbq time but were politely asked to put it out!

The campsite was basic but with beautiful views and came with joys of compost toilets — because nothing says GoodGym weekend quite like doing your bit for the environment before breakfast.

Then it was trainers on for a run to Ashbourne parkrun, where we joined the Saturday morning parkrun crowd. Becca got a pb! Great running! Following this was s pit stop for breakfast in f'coffee.

Next came a run or walk down to Carsington Water, where we swapped running shoes for paddles and took to the water for some kayaking and paddle boarding. There was plenty of splashing, wobbling and the occasional dip. There was of course an alternative pub crew who were enjoying liquid of a different sort.

After all that activity, there was only one sensible option: pub food at the Red Lion. Food was consumed, conversations flowed and the weekend’s most pressing question was eventually raised:

Which animal could Steve Rice take with his bare hands?

Naturally, this became the subject of serious discussion, with various increasingly ambitious wildlife contenders considered. I'm not sure we got to the bottom of it as the discussion carried on well into the night, with a short break to play 21 and test out knowledge of prime numbers.

A brilliant weekend of running, camping, paddling, eating and laughing with an excellent bunch of GoodGymers.

Peak District? Peak performance? Probably not. Peak GoodGym? Absolutely. ⛰️❤️

Come rain or shine, Rachel can always be relied on to help at this gardening task! She has the gardening bug and despite knowing she would be the only one able to attend this task this week, she still showed up, did some much needed weeding and got very excited about all the beans popping up!

6.30pm on Ladies Race Day was an interesting time to start a task in South Bank! We soon lost the staggering crowds and posted our leaflets around Terry's Chocolate Works ( - its a modern housing estate these days.) Unfortunately we couldn't get into the flats to post another 100 or so. We then leafletted the houses on the terraced streets of South Bank. Job done ahead of schedule! We hope it does the trick and more people come to support Planet Food Cafe. We couldn't help posing by this local sculpture to finish! Thanks guys!

We had a strong team of five today so we made light work of packing away all the tables and chairs into their resting places. After a hoover and sweep we were done and were offered bread, fruit or herbs from the sessions leftovers as a reward

Myself, Jenna and Claire gathered in Rawcliffe to deliver leaflets for St Leonard's Hospice. After a quick look at the map we headed off together to tackle the maze of cul-de-sacs, trying not to get lost! After just an hour, we'd completed a good section of the map and delivered around 200 leaflets. There are many more leaflets and areas to cover so look out for another session soon!
I forgot to take a photo so here are the maps and leaflets instead!

2 🚴‍♀️ got off their bikes to set up the chairs & tables ready for the games to begin. whilst multi tasking (does chatting count?) this much appreciated task was speedily completed.