Car parking: lots of spaces. £1.80 up to 1 hour, £3.00 up to 2 hours, free to volunteers. Pay as you leave. Barriers and vehicle reg recognition system.
Number who ran: course record is 353
Course: Forestry Commission site. Hilly forest trail. First loop is one mile, half-repeated then a larger loop. Can be a little muddy and puddly in places.
Shoes: trail
Café: lovely café, serving a variety of hot and cold drinks, cooked breakfasts, sandwiches, cakes and biscuits. A new larger café is being built, due for opening November 2016.
Toilets: in the Visitor centre by the start/finish.
Dogs: yes
Buggies: yes, if rugged.
Peculiarities and specialities: ‘Dragon Hill’ in the second loop. Gruffalo statue and ‘Gruffalo’s child’ to spot on the way round.
How easy to find: follow signs for Alice Holt, sat nav GU10 4LS
Public Transport: train to Bentley from Waterloo, then 30 mins walk along The Shipwright’s Way path to Alice Holt Forest Visitor Centre.
Where we stayed: Hotel Mercure de Bordeaux Gare de St Jean
Also worth visiting: Cité du Vin, Bordeaux city centre
Mansfield
Morden Hall
Newbury
Old Deer Park
Pendle
Penrith
Pomphrey Hill
Date visited: 13th August 2016 – event #130
Car parking: free and plenty of spaces
Number who ran: 364
Course: three-and-a-bit loops of ‘dedicated’ hard-packed running trail exactly one mile long, mostly flat, around grassed areas and cricket pitches. One steep hill, views along the top, then short downhill close to the 1 mile mark.
Shoes: road or trail
Café: refreshment hatch in Pavilion, serving teas, coffees, bacon sandwiches and their famous flapjack
Toilets: in the Pavilion by the start/finish
Dogs: yes
Buggies: yes
Peculiarities and specialities: the short, sharp hill known as ‘Up Pomphrey!’ which everyone shouts out during the briefing (love a mantra!)
Where we stayed: Ryhall near Stamford (20 mins away)
Which Treasure Trail?: didn’t do any but there’s a Rutland Water (South Shore) driving/cycling Trail which starts at nearby Hambleton, and also look at Oakham, a short distance away.
Sheffield Castle
Skipton
Stewart
Upton Court
Worcester