Two runners set out from the low floodplain of the river Ouse up four chalk brows — a single lane road to Telscombe Tye reservoir, tracks skirting the fields of Saltdean dip and up to Pickers Hill, windswept grassland to the smock mill at Beacon Hill, and finally past a decidedly orderly Ovingdean Hall Farm through East Brighton Golf course, dropping into (currently sheep-free) Sheepcote valley and to The George where foaming pints awaited.

History was found in the middle — a bomb crater, the knapped flint- faced obelisks of Kipling’s walled gardens, a local croquet lawn, and two dear ancient volunteers opened the doors of the Grange museum for us - just across from where Kipling quilled his imaginative tales of Lamarckian adaptation in the Just So Stories.

Stimulated good chats of travels, spreading the English language and noble endeavours on a bright if chilly Sunday.

This Tuesday, 10+ of the GoodGym Brighton crew ran, cycled and walked over to Lavender House for a full perimeter clear-up. Headtorches on, we weeded, detangled and plucked our way through the edges of the building, filling up multiple wheelbarrows for compost and giving the outside a noteworthy November glow-up.

Jane had a moment of magic finding a red admiral butterfly and having it stay still on her hand long enough for a photo and a video. A flash of summer in a little bit of a November drizzle!

Also on this week's GoodGym Brighton’s wildlife watch: an honourable shout out to the many ‘bench bugs’ we had to yank coats and jackets away from, and a healthy, stocked-for-winter looking worm. Christophe’s ‘bright’ idea to light our group photo with headtorches gave us a more sinister, ghostly energy than our normal group shots, but it’s not been too long since Halloween so I think we got away with it.

Weeds tackled and all equipment returned, a few of us ran over the road to the Sidewinder for some burritos and much-needed trail run chat.