Meon Valley Trail parkrun, Wickham

Last parkrunday I visited Meon Valley Trail parkrun, Wickham for the first time. It is a bit of a track for me, coming from Wimbledon, but it is not much worse than several other events I’ve visited in the last few months. Further out, but many locations on the other side of London end up being harder to reach than the ones near the cost where I can get on a motorway and just go.

Usually, I tend to screen for potential parkrun tourism ideas mid week, using parkrun challenges as inspiration to pick from the many options available. This week Meon Valley Trail parkrun looked like a worthy destination: it gave me a Wilson Index tick and it was celebrating it’s 50th event, so I could also join a happy event and tick a box on the Decades challenge. Bingo!

While I have visited a few Hampshire events, I had not come this far before. But I did visit a nearby event, so that my Voronoi map actually bordered with Meon Valley Trail parkrun: Queen Elizabeth parkrun. Yes, the all important Q event I needed to complete my first parkrun alphabets. I remember it was a rainy summer day, which made a tough event even tougher!

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Meon Valley Trail parkrun!

Trip to Meon Valley Trail parkrun and parking

The Meon Valley Trail runs 11 miles over a former railway transporting livestock and farming products from Farnham to Alton. Looking into it now, I think it could make for a fun full day out hiking one day, but this time I was here for Meon Valley Trail parkrun. The event start at the end of the trail, in Wickham, not far from the old station.

According to the official event site, there are no train stations in Wickham. The easiest options seems to be catching bus 69 in Fareham or Winchester. The bus will then leave you in Wickham Square, which is less than 10 minutes walk away from Meon Valley Trail parkrun meeting point. Fareham Train Station is the closest one available, about 4 miles away from the meeting point. I guess it could be a long warm up, but more likely to be a bus ride away. The station is managed by Southwestern and it offers connections to both Southampton and London Waterloo, among others.

If you are driving, Wickham is not far away from several motorways, including the A3 that would get you comfortably all the way into South West London. Driving from Wimbledon, I was there in about 1h 15 minutes early in the morning. And surprisingly, the way back was not delayed by traffic either.

If you set the Station Car park in your GPS, you will arrive at the free car park at the end of the Meon Valley trail. It starts with an opening on right with several parking spaces. Then, if full, drive 100m further and there is another square with a few more parking spaces. It is free and less than 5 minutes walk from the meeting point, but it is not huge. I am sure it will fill up fairly early on a busy day. I was there at 8:20 and it was probably 2/3 full already.

If it is, the Town Square car park is much bigger and it is less than 10 minutes walk away. It is not free, but you can easily pay using the RingGo app. And after the event, you will be close to a few parkbreakfast options.

Meon Valley Trail parkrun: start and briefings

As you leave the car park, walk towards the second parking square if you have found a spot in the first one. At the other end, you will see the gate into the Meon Valley Trail. Get through the gate and walk about 100m to reach the meeting point with the pop up sign. On the day of my visit, there was a massive puddle with deep mud that needed planks to cross. I got scared this would be indicative of the overall course, but luckily it was not the case.

The meeting point is nestled before another muddy cluster, on a trail with a small, steep grassy opening.

Both briefing happened here, with the First Timers briefing given by a volunteer standing in the middle of the trail and the Main Briefing given by the RD from the grassy incline.

Both briefings were welcoming and friendly, mostly focusing on local announcements and required reminders, since there is not much to explain about the course here. Just make sure you don’t monopolise the trail since it is quite popular and pay attention to horse manure. Yes, horse manure is meaningful enough to be included in the briefings.

After the initial announcements are over, cross the mud island and everybody starts walking about 100m further into the path to reach the signposted start line. It is on a reasonably wide path, heading away from the meeting point.

After a short countdown, the time came. Parkrun.

Meon Valley Trail parkrun course review – star ratings

Meon Valley Trail parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 152 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Meon Valley Trail parkrun. Roughly in line with recent attendance levels, since weather has starting becoming slightly less miserable. I assume mud can be fun if it rains a lot and January and February have been non stop rain in the South. That’s reflected by one parkrunday seeing fewer than 100 runners in February. Attendance during the first 50 events was quite volatile, but it kind of settled in a 150-200 range. A healthy showing for a local event and a very manageable attendance for a straight, flat out and back course. There is one section where the path narrows enough to require some attention when runners go both ways, but in general it is a fairly comfortable route.

Congestion was never really a problem on the course. At the start, the path is wide enough for the group to get going fairly comfortably. It then keeps going on similarly wide paths, with only one little ditch to be careful about. It’s signalled by cones and marshalled by a volunteer. After that, keep going until fairly close to the turnaround point before the next spot worth noting. The path narrows and some of the fastest runners will be coming back in the opposite direction. Keep left and everything will be fine.

Surface-wise, the concerning mud baths leading to the meeting point were not an omen of things to come. The path is nearly all compacted gravel and it had neither puddles nor mud. It clearly drains very well and it is pretty even too. Good surface for a good time.

Elevation-wise, at 18m elevation gain over 1 out and back lap, Meon Valley Trail parkrun is definitely flat. Similarly to what I experienced at at Malling Rec parkrun, it did not feel flat to me though. They are both straight out and backs on former railway lines, with trees on both sides of the path. I think it is perspective playing tricks on my eyes, because I thought both directions were mild downhills. Clearly not the case watching the chart below and, effort wise, it did feel flat. Funny observation.

In terms of course layout, it is as simple as it gets. Run straight in one direction for a touch more than 2.5k, turn around and come back for slightly less than 2.5K.

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

When everyone reached the start line and time keepers got ready, the RD started a short count down. The path is wide enough, trees on both sides providing shade and good hard compacted gravel under foot. Good conditions for a nice and pleasant start and there was very limited congestion, if any. And once everyone gets going, they start what will be 2.5 in a flat, straight line. Yes, this will be a easy course write up.

After about 100m, you will reach a further point with a lot of volunteers. This is where the finish funnel has been set up, so on the way back you will save a little distance. Bonus and little morale booster.

As you get going, the first spot worth noting is a deep but small ditch crossing the path. Since you know it is there, you can just run over it and the team made sure it was very very easy to spot. As you go, you also need to go up and down a few small bumps. Barely noticeable, but they provide some variety and a bit of challenge. Sometimes there are also little fences to the sides, where you get closer to the two small rivers running on each sides of the course.

Over the next 2k, you will reach and pass under 3 substantial bridges. At the briefing, one of the volunteers called them tunnels, which might also work I guess. I do go slightly down to pass under them. But you are under them for less than 10m each it, so debatable I guess. As you approach the end of the ‘out’ section, the path will get slightly narrower. And in this section it is where I started meeting the fastest runners coming back in the opposite direction. Everyone was keeping on their side (left), so no issues and the usual ‘happy-busy’ feeling I usually experience in busy two-way sections.

After bridge 3, you run a little while more and you approach a fourth bridge from afar. But you will not pass underneath it, just before you reach, you will reach the pins marking the 180-degrees turnaround point. As you navigate that, maybe slowing down slightly, you start going in the opposite direction. Time to run it all again in the opposite direction to go home. And this time, you will be one of those ‘faster runners’ to someone else. All is relative!

After you get past the last of the 3 bridges once again, you will be roughly 300m away from the finish funnel. Keep pushing and when you get there lean slightly left off path and you will finally be able to rest.

Congratulations on completing Meon Valley Trail parkrun!

Facilities at Meon Valley Trail parkrun

There are no facilities around Meon Valley Trail parkrun, Wickham. The event takes place on a rural hiking trail starting outside of Wickham and it does not cross anything that could host refreshments or other traditional facilities you find around parkrun courses.

The car main car park is free and convenient, but it also does have a toilet block available for visitors. If you are looking for any meaningful facilities, you will have to drive or walk to the main Town Square. I did and stopped for a nice breakfast at one of the two gastropubs at the opposite end of the square. It was a beautiful cafe offering warm dishes that looked very appealing and a good spread of homemade cakes.

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 Meon Valley Trail parkrun, I ordered a diet coke, a lemon muffin and a single espresso. This cost me around £7.8.

Meon Valley Trail 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

On the day of my visit I set out for a drive that ended up being shorter than I feared. And when I arrived I was met by a beautiful rural trail with cute streams and mature trees on its sides. Meon Valley Trail, Wickham parkrun is a beautiful and welcoming event. And terrain is much better than I hoped, it can be fast!

It was a fun event, I am glad I came all the way to experience it.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Meon Valley Trail parkrun team for your hospitality!