No-one missed the train, which was a good start. Most of us began at St Pancras, three Tower Hamlet-ers got on at Stratford International, then Geraldine and JC, having almost done a ParkRun, joined us at Ramsgate. We had to wait for Kat to arrive on a later train, which was a good thing as there was a long wait for the toilet.

The first five paragraphs of the walk instructions only took us as far as Ramsgate Old Harbour, but Lucinda had arrived early to do a recce, so we followed her along the attractive old High Street, down to the sea.

Because of the low tide, we were initially able to walk along the beach. We hadn’t done a warm-up routine, but instead performed repetitions: leaping away from a series of mountainous waves crashing over the promenade.

Eventually we came across some steps and continued along the cliff top, finding beautiful views of Kingsgate Bay, with its accompanying castle, and Botany Bay, at Broadstairs.

As we approached Margate, we thought we spotted a swimmer, actually a statue in the water, which we correctly speculated must be an Antony Gormley effort.

Amazingly, we hadn’t lost anyone, so there were too many of us to get in the first pub we tried in the old town, the situation not helped by rugby internationals on telly. However, we managed to squeeze into a second hostelry, which had plenty of room upstairs, for those who wanted a thai meal – others went off to the chippy. Which indeed is what you’re supposed to do, at the seaside.

Thanks everyone for coming, there wasn’t much persuasion needed this time! A special welcome to Vidur – it was his first GoodGym experience, so we hope to see him at an upcoming task. And let’s do another walk soon!

Wednesday nights in GoodGym Camden are always a chance for celebration, but this week we had the joy of a very special celebration!

Jackie and John gift our community so much, and they've been doing so for 10 whole years!

With that in mind, our wonderful group of Auriela, Caitlin, Emily, Gosia, Jackie, John, Natalia (back from France - welcome back!), and Steve had 3 tasks this week:

• Make a meaningful difference at the American International Church (as always) ✅
• Enjoy each other's company + make sure you laugh at least 5 times (as always) ✅
• Surreptitiously sign a card for Jackie and John (we don't do this every week) ✅

Over 40 minutes, our brilliant group achieved it all!

Having prepared the dining room and assembled (and dressed) the beds, we congregated in the Church's back room to celebrate Jackie and John - and - thanks to Gosia's generosity (thank you!), a couple of happy sparklers added some fizz to the moment ☺️

Here's to next time!

John, Jackie and Gosia proudly represented GoodGym Camden at Cressfield Sheltered Housing this evening lucky to be accompanied by - first of the year - proper spring vibes ☀️🌡.

We all met somewhere on our way there with John proudly riding his bike (wearing his super duper hi-vis space 👨‍🚀 jacket).

Just before entering we were welcomed by a local cat 🐈 who was very keen to get some cuddles from the newcomers. It was definitely cute enough to - hereby - get this special mention 🌟 in today's report 😎.

We buzzed in at exactly 18:30 and were welcomed by Cathi who briefed us on the task and also showed us available equipment and gardening accessories (incl. brand new and extremely cool - gloves with claws 🧤😼).

We were tasked to de-weed two garden plots that were covered by quite a tick carpet of weeds, with few plants 🌱 bravely sticking out, likely looking around 🔍 to find more space for themselves.

We started off with one of the plots, supporting ourselves with gardening tools as well as chairs 🪑 and pillows to keep ourselves comfortable while deweeding 🦥. While progressing we had a lovely and cozy chat about plants, parkruns, GoodGym and serious life matters 😄. We continued like that as we moved around to sort out the second plot.

We finished off the work at 19:30, which gave us just enough time to finish both plots. Luckily we took before and after which made us feel even just a tiny bit prouder from today's work ☺️!

This week, we turned over the soil in two planters, to improve drainage and aeration. The process of turning over the soil helps to loosen compacted soil, allowing air and water to penetrate more effectively. We removed a few weeds while we were at it