Bexley parkrun (#131)

After a short break, I returned to walk my path towards LonDone and visited Bexley parkrun for the first time. This visit comes from a two-weeks break due to a trip to parkrunless wastelands. We really are spoilt in the UK (and most of Europe), with so many venues to choose from every week. Being on an island without parkrun felt a bit odd. 🙂

Ok, jokes aside, I had a wonderful holiday and well some well overdue relaxation to recharge, but I did indeed miss my weekly fix on Parkrunday… which also meant I missed the parkrun special events on Christmas and NY days. The visit to Bexley parkrun came after an international escapade, with my second visit to Milano Nord parkrun the weekend before Christmas. I would have never thought I would wake up at the crack of dawn to drive more than 100Km to reach the closest parkrun, but I did! And it was worth it, it is a great venue with an incredible team! Try it!

Well, back home in London before parkrunday now and one weekend was standing between me and the return to grey, real life. Had to make the most of it and for the first time in a while I reached Saturday morning without a clear plan on where to go. I had a number of ideas, including long distance trips since jet lag was still there helping with early starts. Eventually, I decided to go for one of the only two venues left South of the river and picked Bexley parkrun.

I don’t think I had ever gone to Bexley for leisure or personal reasons before, so it was also a nice opportunity to discover a new part of town. I have to admit, my LonDone journey has really changed my perspective on the Capital: there are so many gorgeous areas and little gems in areas we would not normally visit!

Let’s dive into some more info about Bexley parkrun, then!

Trip to Bexley parkrun and parking

Bexley is pretty far from me, at least as far as distances in London are when you try crossing it West to East or South to North. At least, it is still not one of the events that will need to bring me to the unknown, exotic North-Eastern quadrants. I only have two left before having no option other than venturing in those far away, unknown lands. Wonder if I will need to bring my passport with me to reach them…

Anyway, back to Bexley parkrun. If going using public transport, you have the common issue with South East London: the tube network kind of sucks over there. Which means that you often need to take mainline trains or busses. It’s not usually a big problem, but mainline trains tend to mean a trip to a central station to change and busses can be cumbersome and slow. You can check on an app like CityMapper. It is very good, by the way… and this is not a sponsored message, who would sponsor my tiny blog? 🙂

According to the official course page, Welling and Bexleyheath are the closest stations, both around 1.5 miles away from Danson Park. Buses are available if you don’t fancy a walk or a warm-up run. For me, starting from Wimbledon, a public transport trip would have taken just shy of 2 hours, using the tube and mainline trains.

Unsurprisingly, I was lazy and drove. The 20Km drive took me about 50 minutes to get there crossing South London through town. Limited traffic and easy navigation with a fast final section via the A2. Return is usually a different story and my trusted Waze companion suggested avoiding central London and going all the way around the M25, which turned the return into 60km but still materially faster than crossing town at 11am on a parkrunday.

If you are coming by car, there is plenty of space available to park at Danson Stables, which will also be the cafe to go to after the run. Once you reach the park, just drive from the entrance until you reach the Stables past the English Gardens. Parking here was free in January 2024.

The public toilets are by the car parking, but they were closed when I visited and it seems to be a permanent thing. The cafe is also closed before 10am so… keep it in.

Bexley parkrun: start and briefings

There are no signs at or around the car park to show you which way to go to reach the event. A sparse trickle of runners might be going in the right direction, but it is a popular green space, so you never know. As it often does, the 5K app comes to the rescue with their navigation tool. It is not difficult and it is about 500m away: you need to cross the road South of the car park and follow the path to reach the Southern side of the lake.

About a 100m away from the main meeting point, the path reaches a gate you have to cross to enter the fields South of the lake. After you do that, you get on a tree-lined path and will start seeing people congregating at the meeting point. This is a fairly busy venue, so you will see a large(ish) crowd.

The meeting point is strategically positioned where the trees stop lining the path and the view opens up onto the lake. It was beautiful even on a miserably grey day, with a cute little isle in the middle.

I was late to listen to the New Runners briefing, but they have a nice printed map of the course planted where the briefing is taken. Handy idea which I have seen at few other venues. I remember Mile End had it.

The main briefing started on time, with a reminder that parkrun is not a race. Otherwise it would be called parkrace… as some naughty people do 🙂 I love that Facebook group. After the briefing, it was time to walk about 100m onwards on the path to reach the actual start line.

Here they ring a bell to unleash the heard.

Bexley parkrun course review – star ratings

Bexley parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 356 parkrunners on the day I visited. Looking at historical results, it looks like this an average day for Bexley parkrun. Many people arrived very close to 9am so, while it looked well attended when I got there, I was surprised by how many people actually completed the run. That said, I could have guessed it by how long the bunched-up line along the path was before the start.

This route can feel cramped. It has fairly narrow paths in some sections and several bottlenecks where barriers are placed along the path. The start path is narrow and when the field hasn’t thinned out yet, many people chose (or have to) run on the grass either side. At the end of the first straight, there is the first zig-zag with barriers to negotiate and two more will pop up after you leave the lake wall (dam?). Finally, two more will be found just before the woodland section towards the end. They can be annoying if you are approaching any of them with a large group, so be careful.

Surface is pretty good, even in the middle of January. Most of the course is tarmac, with two short exception. The former is a downhill bit of woodland trails. It is fun and it was not muddy on the day I visited. Immediately after you leave the woods, you need to cross a field on grass. A bit more squishy here, but it is only 40/50 metres. I ran in road shoes and it was totally fine.

Elevation-wise, according to Strava Bexley parkrun nets 37m of elevation gain over two laps, so less than 20 per lap. It is mildly undulating, with one steeper incline and a mild one after the lake. It is not hard..

In terms of course design, it is pretty simple: 2 laps along the Southern bit of Danston Park, The course page says it is going along the best bits of the park, which is probably true. Essentially you run around the lake twice with a bit going by the Manor House and a bit through woods. It is easy, scenic and fun. Not sure why, but it reminded me Reigate Priory parkrun a bit.

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

The start line is on the path going alongside the South side of the lake. Everyone is on a path that can take two, maybe three runners next to each other, so once everyone gets going it can be a bit congested. Luckily, the grass on both sides of the path is in good condition and it was not terribly muddy, so people tend to spread out a bit for a few 100 metres until everyone is a little less bunched up.

At the end of this straight, there is a hard left turn and if you are a mid-packer, people will still be pretty close to each other. This turn is not obvious. First you need to get through some little barriers, turn left, right again, climb a little slope and then turn left to cross the lake from its Eastern side. By no mean dangerous, but you will have to slow down a bit during the first lap.

Once you get past this little Z-shaped zig-zag, you are on top of the wall enclosing the lake from this side. A dam, I suppose? Great surface and a nice view of the lake to your left, with a road to the right. Once you have finished the crossing, you re-enter the park and soon have to negotiate two more speed barriers, before starting a mild climb. Here you are running up a beautiful mature tree-lined path until you reach the top of the hill and turn left.

From the top of the hill, you are again going alongside the lake, but you only see it in the distance and below you. It makes for a nice view. And another nice view will be shortly in front you of. After a few 100s metres, you reach the Manor House and run alongside its back.

Once you are past the Manor House, it is time for a quick pleasant downhill, before a sharp right turn that puts you at the bottom of Oh-Oh Hill. This is the main incline of this course and it is called Oh-Oh Hill because of the recurring Marshall encouraging runners with this shout. She was fun to hear! 🙂 The hill itself is not long and it is noticeable but not terribly steep.

Once you reach the top, there is a nice shaded straight, then a gentle descent on a wide tarmac road. At the bottom you turn sharp left and soon left again to enter the woodland section. This is actually pretty fun, with a real trail feeling with roots and mature vegetation for about 300 metres. It starts flat and then you go down on a steep descent to reach the end of this section.

When you exit the woodland, you cross a field on grass. As said above, it is was not wet or muddy when I visited… and it was January. On the other side of the field there is another named corner (sorry, cannot remember… if anyone wants to comment with the name of the Marshall, I will edit). The friendly Marshall gifts everyone a wonderful smile and high-5s and send you off to the left.

Here you start again running straight until you reach the gates that had originally welcomed to the meeting point. Run through them and a couple 100 metres more and you are at the start line again, ready to run it all once more!

Once you are done with the second go, turn right to reach the funnel on grass. Everything works great and efficiently, with no hick ups. Full marks to the team!

Congratulations on completing Bexley parkrun!

Facilities at Bexley parkrun

Facilities are a sore point at Bexley parkrun, compared to most London venues.

The car park is great, spacious and convenient. In used to offer toilets as well, but it seems like that’s a thing of the past. So if you are driving from afar, find a rest stop or a cafe en route or suffer. Tough. 🙂

The cafe is not really a cafe. It is a gorgeous gastropub in a grand building, but it only opens at 10am and it does not seem to offer any typical ‘breakfast’ food. Either you go for a full restaurant order or some light cooked fare or you are left to drinks only. On the positives, it offers plenty of seating outdoor, which I am sure is great in summer.

As a competitor to the McDonald’s index, I am continuing to collect data for the parkbreakfast index: how much is breakfast at each location?

At Bexley parkrun, I ordered a single espresso and a diet coke. No food, but this still cost £6.5, which is absurdly overpriced.

Bexley parkrun: Video Highlights

As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

I enjoyed this course a lot. The park is really beautiful and I am curious to see it in good weather. Also, the team is a lot of fun, which special mentions for two very friendly marshals who have their own named corners along the path.

The course is interesting and fun, with good surface, a lot of different settings and some undulation to make it more of a challenge. It can be a fast course I think. It is a bit further than I like, but I am sure I will be back with better weather, I want to try again!

And obviously, thank you, Bexley parkrun team for your hospitality!