Abbot’s Wood parkrun

Last parkrunday, I came back to Sussex and visited Abbot’s Wood parkrun, the latest addition in the country. It was their 21st event: a relatively new venue that is still oozing enthusiasm from its team and volunteers.

Sticking to our beautiful Southern coastline for the third week in a row, moving Eastward. But the only seaside one of the three was the first one: Highcliffe Beach parkrun. And what a beautiful coastline! Last week at Downs Link parkrun it was a path heading away from the sea and this week I moved even further inland, enjoying beautiful woodlands.

This visit was planned to it event 21: I have now bagged a new Wilson Index event number and I am only missing one to increase my streak from 17 to 23. This parkrun challenge can be quite difficult, because it relies on covering long distances or on new events opening up, but it is also an excellent way to discover a lot of new interesting events.

This visit also progresses my coverage of East Sussex further. I am only at 5/12, so it will still be a while before this county can join the Regionnaire Hub. One step at a time.

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Abbot’s Wood parkrun.

Trip to Abbot’s Wood parkrun and parking

Abbot’s Wood is a beautiful woodland area near Polegate, in East Sussex. It is a fairly rural location, which adds to its charm, but then it probably isn’t the easiest one to reach without a car.

According to the official event site, the closest station is Polegate station. The station is managed by Southern and it offers frequent connections to Eastbourne, Brighton and London Victoria. The whole trip to London takes about 90 minutes, so if you want to go to the event from the Capital, you will have an early morning. On top of it, when you get there you will be a whole parkrun walk away from Abbot’s Wood meeting point. Either you have a long warm up jog, or be ready to walk for about an hour. Using a local bus will save you 1km, so still 4km to walk from the closest bus stop.

Unsurprisingly, I drove to Abbot’s Wood parkrun, using the postcode provided above and Waze. To a large extent, it’s a drive on fast, flowing motorways, with a final section on the Brighton to Eastbourne high capacity road. The final few minutes are on local roads, with a sudden, but very easily visible turn into Abbot’s Wood. As you enter the grounds, after one minute you will reach the car park.

The team mentions that the local dedicated car park is not very big and it recommends to arrive fairly early. I arrived around 8:40 and there was plenty of room still. It looked fairly sizeable to me and I doubt it will fill up often. You will need to pay for your stay. The car park offers the option to pay with RingGo, however, I had zero mobile phone network connection the whole morning. I could pay at the machine with contactless card though, so not much of an inconvenience.

Abbot’s Wood parkrun: start and briefings

As you leave the car park, you pass by a toilet block that is open before the event. Get past it and you will immediately reach a large clearing. That is where Abbot’s Wood parkrun meeting point is.

When it is time for the First Timers Briefing, tourists are called by a very large course map and the very enthusiastic volunteer did their best to explain the slightly unusual course. It was not too busy, so I could hear everything perfectly even if they did not use any sound system.

And then it was soon time for the Main Briefing. It was held in the same place, at the centre of the clearing and it was slightly harder to follow without a loudspeaker. Then everyone turn around and walked towards the start line, at the beginning of the path heading deeper down into the forest.

Here it was. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Abbot’s Wood parkrun parkrun course review – star ratings

Abbot’s Wood parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 133 parkrunners on the day of my visit to Abbot’s Wood parkrun. At its 21st event, Abbot’s Wood parkrun seems to have stabilised at sub-200 average field sizes. The day of my visit was below the recent usual range, that has been hovering around 150-200. I wonder if the decrease was due to fewer tourists along the coast or if it is an indication of longer term lower levels. Nonetheless, the course can accomodate these numbers easily and I am sure it could also host larger fields without negatively impacting the experience.

There are no obvious bottlenecks around this course. The path is usually more than wide enough and even the 180-degrees turnaround point is wider than it could be. There is a segment where you will see parkrunners going in both directions, but even here there is enough room to run comfortably.

Surface harder than I expected. While there are relatively clean trail segments, most of the course is run on fairly loose gravel, with a lot of little pebbles and stones that significantly affect grip. Terrain was completely dry on the day of my visit, but even then I would have probably benefited from wearing trail shoes. This is probably an event where those are recommended all year around.

Elevation-wise, at 67m elevation gain over one lap, this course is probably somewhere in between undulating and hilly. I think it tends a bit more towards the latter, because there is virtually no flat segment and some real gradient will surprise you as you plod along. It starts downhill, which is awesome for your morale…. at least until you remember that the final approach to the finish funnel will be that same slope, but the other way around. They have not been as magnanimous as at Highcliffe Beach here. This is not a fast event and you will definitely feel the hills.

In terms of scenic value, Abbot’s Wood parkrun is hosted by a very very nice location. But its beauty is in the atmosphere of the woods, rather than because of any specific panoramic view. For a similar woodland experience, Bedgebury Pinetum wins in terms of views, but not by a wide margin.

This course is easier to understand while you are in it than from a description. You run a downhill segment leading you to a central loop and run 2 sides of it. Then you enter an out and back segment and, on the way back, turn left when you reach the loop again and complete it from the other side. Then end it all again re-running the first segment, uphill this time.

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

As you start, the route begins with a pleasant, shaded woodland path. Initially it is only a mild downhill, then it will fairly quickly become steeper. Towards the end of the downhill, the left side of the path becomes a bit more open and the path will lose tree cover.

At the bottom of the hill, turn right and run a short segment with a scary, imposing hill in front of you. As you reach it and start climbing towards it, you will notice a volunteer at the bottom of the main climb. A nice surprise awaits, the marshall will indicate left and you will turn avoiding that scary climb. You will, in about 4k, come back down it.

You have now traded a very steep, but short, climb for a long, milder, but relentless climb. Most of the next segment is on a false flat with denser woodland on your right and a slightly more open aspect on your left. Eventually, you will meet another marshall guarding a right turn. Not time to go there yet, keep going straight! A wide, uphill right turn will get you into the straight out and back climbing segment. You will now run on a mild uphill in open terrain. On the day of my visit, a log of cut logs were piled up on the sides of this segment, an interesting feature.

At the end of this straight, a marshall wearing a cone cap was literally the turnaround point. A comfortable 180 turn around her and it was the same way, but downhill. At the bottom, turn left and you will soon meet the other marshall I mentioned before. This time, turn left, to enter the remaining section of the central loop.

This is again properly within the forest, with mature trees on both sides, tree cover above most of the path and a less gravelly, more traily surface. Soon you will reach the lake, which is barely visible on your left, but you won’t be able to catch much of a view unless you stop. Keep going until you reach the big hill I mentioned before and fly down it. Or try to, without falling, because this is the point where terrain becomes gravelly and moderately unstable again.

Now it is time to tackle the first segment the other way around. Uphill. Endure the pain and climb up and, when gradient starts becoming less painful, you will see the finish funnel in the distance.

Congratulations on completing Abbot’s Wood parkrun!

Facilities at Abbot’s Wood parkrun

Facilities available for parkrunners are fairly limited at Abbot’s Wood parkrun. It’s a gorgeous woodland experience, but it looks like conservators tried to limit modern additions to the area.

Abbot’s Wood 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

Abbot’s Wood hosts a very nice parkrun, once that will be great across the year, but become very popular in summer for its consistent tree cover. The woodlands are gorgeous and the vibe is friendly and fun throughout. It’s very well worth a visit if you are in the area, you will enjoy it.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Abbot’s Wood parkrun team for your hospitality!