Peckham Rye parkrun (#132)

This week I dithered with several options until second before leaving home, when I decided I would visit Peckham Rye parkrun. Last time I went to Peckham Rye parkrun was in July 2022 and I remember it as a fun and quirky event. Summer definitely made it shine and I want to go back with good weather again. One thing that changed since my last visit is the average attendance level: it has definitely graduated from busy to very busy now, but more on this later.

I’ve again been abroad most of the week, landing back in London late on Friday, so the energy for a longer tourist trip just wasn’t there. Ironically, I’m spending most of my business time abroad in Germany and this week I was really tempted to stay longer in Munich and tick the box of my first German parkrun. Soon, Westpark, I will get you.

Moreover, one loose rule I am following at the moment is to alternate new LonDone events and LonDone events I’ve already visited but only before I started this blog and my YouTube Channel. This has brought me to new venues recently, such as Canons Park or Bexley and to old favourites like Fulham Palace or Kingston.

Peckham Rye parkrun sits in a lucky corner of South London, with a lot of great venues within a very short distance from each other. I think that’s going to be the cluster of re-runs I will focus on over the next few months, since they all are great in sunny weathers. Also, Peckham Rye is a great park in its own merit: it can make a nice location for a morning with family or friends if you have not ventured to this part of the capital before.

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

Trip to Peckham Rye parkrun and parking

Peckham sits roughly half way on a diagonal line connecting Dulwich and the Isle of Dogs or, from North to South, just South of Tower Hill. Which means, it is a fairly Central location for potential tourists who are in Central London and might not want to visit more traditional weekend locations, such as Mile End, Highbury Fields or Hampstead Heath. There is life South of the river!

Unfortunately, as it sometimes happens in South London, there isn’t any tube station in the immediate area of the park. This surprised me for Peckham, to be honest, since it is a busy inner city location which is getting more and more popular recently. Anyway, the closets stations are Honor Oak Park (London Overground), Nunhead (Southeastern and Thameslink) and Queens Road Peckham (London Overground). None of them seems to be within very close walking distance from the starting point of Peckham Rye parkrun.

Looking at trusted Citymapper, a trip by public transport would have taken me 70 minutes from Wimbledon.

If you are driving, Peckham Rye park is roughly alongside the A3, so reaching it from London locations should not be too painful early in the morning. And you are guaranteed to get stuck in traffic when you decide to leave.

If you put the postcode above on your GPS app, it will lead you to the car entrance to the park and, after driving carefully for a short distance, the car park that sits conveniently close to the cafe and a nice looking children play area. You have to pay to park here and can do that using PayByPhone. 2 hours cost £5.2 when I visited in Feb 2024.

Peckham Rye parkrun: start and briefings

If you used the car park, leave it walking towards the cafe, turn left and then left again when you see a small gate to enter the park proper. If unclear, fire app the 5K app and use the ‘navigation’ feature within the event card: it is well centred for this event and it will show you clearly how to get there. 

Once you got into the park, it is (nearly) a straight line walk to reach the meeting point. This sits just out of the arboretum, at the edge of open playing fields. No real protection from rain or wind if it is rough day, nice wide open views if that strange yellow ball in the sky has decided to show up for once.

I arrived with about 10/15 minutes to spare and there were very few people: I thought this would be a cute, small intimate event this week for some reason. How wrong I was! With seconds to spare, a horde of people arrived, making for a very busy pre-run environment.

The New Runners briefing usually takes place on the fields, but we did it on the path this week because the fields were extremely muddy this week. Apparently, the park was built on top of covered river and they do tend to get overly muddy: I stepped on them to take a picture and I was lucky not to be swallowed to never be seen again. Lucky for me at least, need to ask my partner if she shares the feeling. The volunteer holding the pre-briefing was great and she was able to pass her enthusiasm to everyone involved, including a large contingent of genuine new joiners. Welcome to you all, I guess you are probably addicted and your weekend routine is now doomed. Accept it.

Everyone lines up (or bunches up) on the path where the start line is and the Main Briefing then takes place. I was 5-6 rows back from the actual start, but I have to admit I did not hear anything that was said. I am sure it was cool.

Then, with very little wait, I heard a countdown… and people started shuffling forward! Slowly.

Peckham Rye parkrun course review – star ratings

Peckham Rye parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 430 parkrunners on the day I visited. Looking at historical results, attendance has been above 400 for all regular events of 2024, with one getting all the way to 496. I wonder if it is a temporary blip, but those usually fade away by the time it is February, who knows. In 2023, it seems the usual attendance hovered between 250 and 350, which is probably the sweet spot for this specific course. As hinted at above, anything more than current numbers and the run could risk becoming too busy to fully enjoy.

Along the route there a couple of bridges where the path gets narrower on the crossing but in general there aren’t many obvious bottlenecks. However, the route is very twisty and turny and most of the path in the tree-covered section is relatively narrow. This creates a traffic jam effect for the middle of the pack that lasts for at least 2/3 of the first lap. Beyond that, a 3 lapper will see a lot of lapping and being lapped, having to consider people at different paces meeting once if not twice during the event. It is still enjoyable, but I did experience some frustration during the first lap when I could not overtake and benefit from early enthusiasm and energy. Since I am terrible at pacing myself, that probably lost me 20/30 seconds in terms of finish time.

The whole 5K is on tarmac, when it comes to surface. There might be a few uneven areas here and there, but it was never a problem. It is a perfect refuge from mud as long as you stay away from the playing fields. If you do, you might be swallowed and never found again, but you have been warned in advance. 🙂

Elevation-wise, according to Strava Peckham Rye parkrun nets 34m of elevation gain over three laps. It’s one of those events that never feel fully flat, but also never surprise you with climbs that make you reconsider your life choices. There is a small climb at the beginning of the wood area and then a longer but gentle one just before the end of the lap. All very manageable and I am not a great elevation runner.

In terms of course design, I would describe it as messy fun. It is rarely a straight line. Scenery changes quickly. And even then, where you have to go is always clear and intuitive. It is a fun, quirky course.

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

As said above, everyone lines up on the path facing North to listen to the main briefing. Then suddenly as signal is given and the horde is unleashed. The first short section is going in a straight direction towards the car park on the same path you walked to get to the start. Here the path is great and relatively flat, with a tiny descending slope. You won’t feel it, since you will need to negotiate your pace to find the sweet spot that allows you not to bump into someone else and, at the same time, not be run over by a couple 100 other parkrunners.

It is soon time to turn right and coast alone the side of the open fields on their Northern edge. Here you continue going ‘down’ slightly. After a left turn and a relatively scenic half moon turn, you will reach a couple of unmarked buildings. As you run by them, the scenery starts changing, with small trees and bushes appearing on the right side of the path as well. This marks the end of the playing fields area and you will soon have to turn left and face a steep(ish) but very short little climb. At the top, you have reached the North-Eastern corner of the route. This is also where one of the Park gates are, so one Marshall might be there in case someone is involuntarily pushed out by the mindless herd.

If you managed not to be pushed out and take the sharp left turn here, a fun segment is now starting. This is a longer straight section with a noticeable descent that goes through green and lush woods. It is a lot of fun on laps 2 and 3 when you can kind of let go. Pretty frustrating traffic jam during lap 1.

Towards the end of this segment, you start having a beautiful little lake on your left. At the end of the lake you turn left to take in another one of its corners until you find yourself on a little bridge, cross it and turn right again. From this corner, if you look South you can see the playing field section of the course you just came from.

After the bridge, it is time to start another very twisty-turny section still mostly going through woods and, eventually, another little bridge. After the bridge, the scenery will soon open up until you need to take on a roundabout that would feel comfortable in Milton Keynes. Run around it for 3/4 before taking the right exit heading South.

There is a very short flat section here before you turn left slightly and find yourself at the bottom of the main ‘hill’. The visual impact here is beautiful, especially during lap 1. If you are mid-pack, you will see an L-shaped climb in front of you with woods to its left and open fields to its right. And being mid-pack means you will probably see an uninterrupted snake of parkrunners from where you are all up to the top. I tried capturing it on one of the shots at the bottom… it looks better than it seems.

The hill is not painful and not too long either. Once you have reached the top, it is time to turn left and you will soon see a lot of volunteers in a couple 100 metres ahead. That’s roughly where this all started. Once you reach that point, turn left for one more lap. Then do it all again and turn left one last time to start lap 3.

At the end of lap 3, you will turn right to enter the final straight. I guess you have 60m for a final sprint before reaching the finish funnel. And the funnel here really is at its capacity limit, but when I got there it was still enough and volunteers were great in managing it efficiently and effectively.

Congratulations on completing Peckham Rye parkrun!

Facilities at Peckham Rye parkrun

Peckham Rye park is not terribly large for London standards, but it does include quite a few different areas to explore. By the gate you enter from the car park there is a building with signs for toilets, but I don’t think it has been open to the public for a long time. Toilets are available in the Colicci’s cafe after the run. I did not check if it was open before 9am.

After the run, if you walk back to the car park, you will be within a few steps from the local cafe, which is managed under the Colicci’s brand. I’ve now found this operator in several of the London parkrun venues, it seems to be a frequent presence in many parks of the capital. It is also fairly consistent: beautiful facilities, good food, obscene prices. Truly obscene, even for London.

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 Peckham Rye parkrun, I ordered a single espresso and a blood orange soda and a slice of lemon drizzle cake. This cost £9.85, which is impossible to justify rationally.

Peckham Rye 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 really liked this course the first time I visited with good weather and I really liked it this time as well. Usually I find anything with more than 2 laps rather boring, but Peckham Rye Park offers so many different views and environments that boredom is never a risk. Twists and turns, changes in elevation, good surface: it’s all there. Unfortunately, attendance numbers are currently at the upper limit to make congestion ok(ish)… much more and it risks becoming a parkjam. On this visit, it was solid for 2/3 of the first lap, then things got more spread out.

Facilities are good and the park offers enough to spend a couple of hours after parkrun if you so wish. Try this venue, it is great and it deserves more attention for London parkrunners. I will be back again, I am sure.

And obviously, thank you, Peckham Rye parkrun team for your hospitality!