Being the festive season, I decided to pause my exploration of the East of England in favour of visiting events closer to family in Liverpool. While there are a number of events closer to Liverpool, I decided to visit Delamere parkrun, being somewhere I hadn't explored when living in the area previously.
The area
Delamere forest is all that remains of a much larger forest in the area. The forest spent some time as a Royal hunting forest, before being handed to Forestry England.
The course
The course follows a single lap of a lollipop route, through forests, and around the Blakemere Moss lake, starting and finishing near the visitor centre.
The visitor centre includes paid parking, toilets, and a cafe, while free parking is also available in some of the other forest car parks, though they are further from the start line providing a great opportunity for a warm up! The route is all on a mixture of gravel and trail, and is mostly flat except for one short but steep incline near the start/finish area as you cross the railway.
The run
With many people visiting friends and families around the country this week, Delamere's attendance swelled from its usual ~250 participants to 449 this week, and it definitely felt like a busy day from the moment I arrived, which was made all the more special with how many people had decided to wear fancy dress (or were at least sporting a santa hat)!
The course was very reminiscent of Rendlesham Forest parkrun as well as Brandon Country Park parkrun and Salcey Forest parkrun in that each event takes place in relatively undulating forests; unlike events such as Highwoods parkrun, Hockley Woods parkrun, or Wendover Woods parkrun which are much more lumpy.
Thank you to all of the volunteers for a great event!
After the run
From one of the viewpoints in the forest at Ole Pale hill, 8 English counties, and 5 Welsh counties can be seen on a clear day.
