A strong start to the year with a good turnout despite the weather turning colder and even having a few drops of snow in the air last night!

We had a new runner along last night who was welcomed and put a good effort in at the task and also increase (neh doubling) our French contingenet within the group!

A massive bienvenu to Joseph

Please give Josepha a cheer and a follow and we hope to see you again soon!

We met Sustrans Simon on site at the entrance to Lynwood Gardens who had already laid out tools, ready for us to get cracking, after a quick brief we got straight to it:

• Path clearing
• Litter picking
• Scraping mud off the path
• Sweeping leaves of the path
• Flagstone inspectioning

This section of path is a key link for a lot of walkers and cyclists, which takes you through a beautiful little wooded stretch. Unfortunately with the beauty of trees, there is also a lot of fallen leaves and mud that gets clumped together, encroaching on the path, making it slippery, narrower and less appealing and safe for users.

Once we were done, despite it being dark you could see how much wider and clearer the path was after our efforts.

Well done team!

It was the last official GG SHF run for 2024!

What a year it's been with plenty of tasks and good being done.

For our last group run of the year we were helping Sustrans with some very much needed leaf clearing of the path up at Manor way.

The path is a really good quality one and very wide compared to most active travel infrastructure, however the first chunk of the path is under trees which whilst beautiful does present leaf issues at this time of the year.

Never fear, GG are here!

We met with Sustrans Simon who already had tools neatly laid out ready for us to get stuck straight in with brooms, snow shovels and spades to move the soggy leaves from the path to make it safe and more appealing for all users.

We had some cyclists whilst there and if they weren't so stunned by our lights on the path and the sterling clearance we had provided I am sure they would have thanked us unreservedly.

Well folks, that's a wrap, hope you all have a fantastic Xmas and New Year and see you in 2024!

Happy running :)

Unfortunately tonights scheduled task to help our good friends at SUSTRANS had to be canceled last minute due to family matters of task owner. Family must come first and we wish them all well.

We managed to source a back up task however and headed to Park Hills secret bunker to get tooled up with litter pickers, bags and hoops for a litter pick of the area.

As it was the day after bonfire night there were plenty of used fireworks to collect and bin as well as a lot of No2 dispensers which weigh a lot!

We did a good complete circuit of Park Hill flats all collecting a decent hall before calling it a night.

We passed a lovely authentic Indian street food spot on route called 5TARA and decided to follow our run up with some delicious food which went down a treat and left us wanting to come back for more in the future!

Until next time, happy running :)

Tonight, we welcomed two new GoodGymers, Alexi and Christina, who joined us for a slightly longer run than normal, almost 6.7km altogehter. The run was glorious, even if it was raining!

We headed west to meet the Super Simon of SUSTRANS who was ready with litter pickers and shearing gear to tidy up the newest permanent section of closed road to link up the cycle routes. The majority of the team brought in the 5 bags of litter with Katie snagging and umbrella, and Celine grabbed some shears and a spade to tidy up some of the over-hanging and out-stretching foliage.

Overall, a great session all round!

It's suddenly starting to feel a bit autumnal in Sheffield! The debate was on this evening - jacket or no jacket. 6 of us set out through the station (always a fun cut through) and took the stairs up the side of the amphitheatre right to the top. We paused at the top for some incline press ups to take in the view as the sun went down across Sheffield. We popped into the Pearl at Park Hill on our way past for a nosy. Then we carried on to meet Simon at the Durham Ox. The pub has been closed for many years and right next to it is a section of cycle path that GoodGym Sheffield has been looking after for years. A developer has bought the building and it seems like Simon's plan to swap the cycle path over to the road side may be executed after all! This would mean a much more accessible section of cycle route but alas much less for us to do!

Did you know that the 'Durham Ox' was a giant Ox from Durham that did the rounds at a touring fair. There are many pubs named after this famous beast across the country.

Stage 1 of our task was litter picking - the biggest haul being a two seater sofa. Stage 2 was lopping and sweeping. After a decent stint, with the light fading, we thanked Simon and headed over to Park Hill, much to Tarj's delight. At the foot of the hill was split into pairs to do a hill sprint / circuit / relay that had us all breathing hard and (hopefully) smiling. All warmed up we ran back down the hill and to the Showroom. The evenings are getting darker which means headtorch season is coming. Thanks for a great evening team!

It was a hot evening down at the Showroom I'm Sheffield! 8 people gathered to run down to Lynwood Gardens where we met up with our friends at Sustrans.

****Big shout out to Linda for being our backmarker and photographer.

Simon and John from sustrans gave us an introduction to the fantastic things they do maintaining active travel routes across the country.

****NB my fact about sustrans including bridleways may be fake news.

Thanks to all the rain (and a the odd sunshine) Lynwood Gardens was looking magnificent and a little overgrown! Our task: to clear the path - lopping, trimming and sweeping. Once we'd started a cyclist arrived on the route - but it was no regular cyclist - it was Annie on a bike coming to join us. That made us 9! Lynwood Gardens is a beautiful space that is partly canopied by greenery and has a lovely little pond.

Tools were handed out and we got to work. After a solid 45 mins of clearing Simon and John were more than satisfied - we did a stellar job clearing the path and making it a safer space to cycle and walk. We even cleared the cycle network signpost that was a little lost in the greenery.

We thanked Simon and headed off up the path we'd just cleared to admire our work.

****We wiggled our way back to Showroom but not before a musical stop outside the Light Cinema - if you've not been yet it's a must!

Great work everyone, looking forward to seeing you all soon!