Thursday, June 19, 2014

Running in the British country side: Wokefield, UK

Last time I visited England I did cover how to follow the bike paths/routes to get a long run while in London. This time, I was attending a conference an hour West of London, at a beautiful resort in the minuscule village of Wokefield so I don't expect this post to be so helpful unless you are staying yourself at this luxurious and spacious Wokefield Park venue.
Being in the country side, I assumed and was looking forward to a rural and quiet run. Well, maybe we weren't far enough from the capital. While the roads were narrow and winding across fields and farms, there was still quite some car traffic which was scaring in blind curves in particular, and no shoulder at all. I've run in many challenging urban places, I was certainly not expecting a similar (bad) thrill in such a rural area.

Anyway, and only for those "stuck" at this resort and not incited to play golf, here is the route I used twice at the end of our meeting days.

PS: While the green area in the center of the loop is the golf course of the resort, on which joggers are not welcome if you wonder, Google is quite discreet about the grey area on the North side of this map. It is one of the sites of the British Atomic Weapons Establishment company (AWE), all bordered by very impressive fences (very high, electrified, multiple cameras, dog patrols, ...). Another thing I was not expecting in the country side, made me think of a James Bond movie... ;-)

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