There were some leaflets left over after Saturday’s task for the Birmingham Walkathon around Rookery Park in Erdington, so last night we headed to the event’s other starting point in Kings Heath to deliver them.

It was another damp day so I put on the Royal Mail-red raincoat again to walk down to meet Laura, who cycled up the hill from Stirchley, and Eve, who ran from Five Ways. Laura had been isolating with Covid for the past week so it was good to have a catch-up while stretching our legs (hence the pun).

The Birmingham Walkathon (April 2nd) will begin at Kings Heath Park and continue down Vicarage Road and Cartland Road. Roughly following Brum’s iconic circular number 11 bus route, around 1,000 people are expected to take part – so it’s important to let local residents know in advance via leaflets through their letterboxes.

Our route also gave us the chance to pop into Dads Lane Community Centre, where we’ve helped out with their renovations over the past couple of years. The place is looking fab, with plenty of local people already receiving a Warm Welcome and a cuppa in the space.

Once at the bottom of the hill, we took advantage of a nearby pub to wait for the rain to ease. There are a few more leaflets left over, so Laura and I will be heading out again this week to make sure as many people in the neighbourhood know about this brilliant community event.

The Walkathon is being organised by HelpHarryHelpOthers and will raise funds for this amazing charity and many others across the West Midlands. Our very own Jonny and Rob will be helping to get the walkers warmed up on April 2nd, with more volunteers needed too – watch this space!

A group of us decided to review a Slow Way from Birmingham out to Longbridge, a lovely 10 mile walk along mostly familiar routes at what Komoot classed as an "athletic" pace.

Tom and Eve set off from the city centre and headed through China Town and across to Cannon Hill park, from there we picked up the Rea Valley route following the river until we reached Stirchley to pick up Laura (and some snacks!). We then got onto the canal and headed all the way to Longbridge with Morwenna joining us for the last section and some well earned refreshments at the far end. The 15 minute train back was a lot less scenic!

Happy to give the Slow Way route and the company five stars. Full review of the route here: https://beta.slowways.org/Route/Lonbir/8973/#reviews

Tonight, Laura organised our task, which was leafleting for Sustrans, or Lenny (more on that in a bit)

We had Jo join us from GG Exeter, swopping the Devon delights for the Brum fun!

Rob led the way to the Ostler play area, were we met our walker Miriam. Laura had a route planned, so we split into two groups to deliver the leaflets. Rob took a selfie and picture of me doing something then we headed back.

The Lenny bit, is the fact Lenny Henry was at the launch of the bench in the park last week, which prior to that we had done a litter pick to make it look all spic and span :) Please see the picture with Lenny, Miriam and Laura from the unveiling last week.

Once back at 1000 Trades we had a quick stretch and joined Miriam in the pub.

Tonight was Laura's task. Yep she was leading us to the park were Sustrans would be revealing their new bench tomorrow, with Lenny Henry, Ellie Simmonds and Jane Sixthsmith were in attendance, well sort of........their were some statues of them :)

The task was to make the area look spic and span for tomorrow. Laura led the way with myself, Tom and Rob following. We were then joined at the task by our Central team members Theresa and Nada. Also our walker Sofeen. Too our surprise their wasn't too much litter, but we sussed out what was there, before a few pics, then heading back to 1000 Trades.

This week we once again joined the City of Birmingham Striders for a 4 mile run around Birmingham. Great effort this week, especially dodging the crowds of Lewis Capaldi fans and NIA!

GoodGym at the National Running Show! And not only were the groups from Birmingham and Solihill shouting about all the great stuff they do, they also managed to sneak in a good deed.

Jog On are a charity which recycle old running shoes by donating them to children and adults who would might struggle to afford kit. They had huge collection boxes at the entrance to the show and come 5pm it was GoodGym's responsibility to empty these containers, match the odd shoes (thankfully most were tied together!) and pack them in boxes ready to redistributed.

There were a huge amount and it was great to be able to save so many from going to landfill.