A gang of Bodacious Burdock Bashers met today in Hanwell, a new, trending location for young* thrill seekers. They were blessed by the unexpectedly warm weather and an abundance of burdock in a nearby park. For a bunch of cool kids like Madhan, Sevan, Steph Ducat, Harvey and Kash, there's nothing better than hanging out in a park after dusk and bashing some dried burdock.

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*under 60

They ran from the Hanwell Clock Tower to Elthorne Park through the woods by River Brent and along the towpath. No one fell into the canal but it was still fun. In the park, they opened the container where Ranger Jon held his treasures and found a wheelbarrow. It was one of the models that never got a flat tyre, and the crowd instantly fell in love with it. Only Divya, who just arrived on his bike, had a ride that could compete with the barrow. The gang loaded the barrow with loppers and headed uphill to engage with some burdock spotting.

They couldn't find any burdock in the area GoodGymers had cleared at the beginning of August. They must have done a great job back then! Or it was too dark already to spot burdock...

They fired up the head torches and portable lights and moved further down the path. They found giant burdock plants that hadn't been cut down by anyone since GoodGym's last visit. The gang ruthlessly chopped the burdock into small pieces to fit it into tonne bags they had found in the container. The stems made squeaky noises when cracking. A series of kicks and stomps put the protesting burdock in its place. Soon, two big bags were full of burdock and hauled to the container.

The GoodGymers checked if there were no remaining naughty plants in the nearest area but all of the burdock was on their gloves, shoes and running kit. It turned out that the people with the most exposed skin tonight were at an advantage. Paradoxically, they were less attractive to burs that had nothing fluffy to hold on to. No one escaped the itchiness of the skin - a farewell gift from nature's velcro, which god knows how got under GoodGymers' t-shirts.

Next week Ealing GoodGymers are running back to civilisation - to help St Mary's church in the heart of South Ealing. Sign up now!

The end of the season means less planting, more harvesting, and guess what...? More weeds! The battle against the weeds at Bixley Community Allotment needed more GoodGymers today. Five answered the call to arms!

Steph, Sevan and Kash jogged from Ealing Broadway to Hanwell after cheering their friends at the Ealing Half Marathon and met Harvey who ran the half this morning! He just recovered from the run and was ready for more action at Bixley! All four got coffees to power themselves up and walked along the canal to Southall. It was a lovely trek with plenty of nature to marvel at (check out the wildflower meadow photo!). After overcoming the challenge of sending the right co-ordinates to Divya, the Ealing folks eventually met their Hammersmith friend, who cycled all the way West to meet them.

Now, that's a committment! said Mani when he met Divya

Mani introduced us to his fellow cheerful allotment holder who fell in love with the idea of GoodGym at first sight. She had gardening advice and some saplings for Mani to plant in the community allotment. When she bravely cruised through the narrow path into the community allotment in her wheelchair, we knew who would be our boss today.

We couldn't complain about the lack of variety today. Here is what we've been doing:

• weeding beetroot & chard patch with hoes
• removing grass from under the blackcurrant bushes
• digging the soil to prepare a future garlic patch
• preparing the soil for the herb garden
• planting fennel
• rearranging a compost pile
• transferring grass into the compost stack

Mani was low on volunteers, that's why we turned out to be a blessing for the community allotment. From the regulars, Mala joined us and took care of the harvesting.

Today's spoils of war against weeds:

• big marrow
• giant marrow
• spinach
• kale
• chard
• grapes
• lots of potatoes

Mani let us take home whatever we wanted!

We are back to Bixley on the last Sunday of October - save the date and sign up here!