Nice Weather; Easy Running; Olive, and her Didicar

With the sides off of Olive's bed now, we are starting to get used to the early morning wake up call.  We don't mind to some extent, as she's quite good at getting into our room about 5-10 minutes before the alarm makes its noise.  Yet, on the weekend, we kind of got used to getting up when we were ready, and fetching her at our convenience.  This is, and forever shall be, no more.

It was the usual drill of taking Olive swimming first thing in the morning; have a play with her friends for 30 minutes after; meet her Mum; go shopping (Olive stayed awake on this occasion, so I had to endure 'the supermarket').  It was at this point, once home, I thought we could let Olive have her sleep, and I could go out for a 16.5km run.  As it happened, Olive didn't have her sleep, and I had a very slow 17.5km in 1:43:22.  I must confess I did spend a lot of time enjoying the run, so not caring about pace, as well as get reacquainted with some old friends of ours who used to live next door to the Woodlands Farm on Shooters Hill.

The route is one of my favourites, as it predominantly follows the Green Chain Walk, through  woodland, parks, and beside paddocks.  All in all, on a beautiful day, it's nice to get off the road, and see the greener side to London.

I started off running up to the top of Shooters Hill, which is marked by a water tower on the top.  From here, I always run into the park surrounding Oxleas Wood, and head through into Eltham Wood, and Eltham Park North, then Eltham Park South.

Oxleas Cafe at the entrance to Oxleas Meadows

Looking back towards the cafe; water tower; and Oxleas woods

Pond in Eltham Park North

From here, it's a case of following the Green Chain Walk, along towards Eltham Palace.  Unfortunately, I failed to get a good picture of the place as I was running alongside the moat that surrounds it.

I did run past the original water supply system to the palace.  It's an interesting structure, and sits with its pride of place.  I am surprised it doesn't show too many signs of vagrancy.

Some of the nice housing around Eltham Palace

Once past Eltham Palace, there are tons of paddocks.  I wasn't able to get too close to any of the horses.  I did come across some old friends of Olives.  These donkey's are used to do rides at Blackheath, outside the entrance to Greenwich Park.  They used to live in a paddock next door to Woodlands Farm, but have since been moved due to a project for the Olympic legacy.

The plans are to build an equestrian centre in its place.  There has been little support for this project, as it will be an elitist sport introduced to a non-elitist area.  It will also impact upon the farm no doubt as construction goes underway, and it has already impacted on the lives of these Donkey's who used to live there.  I was glad to read in a local newspaper they were re-housed here, and to see them again was nice to get some photo's to show Olive when I get home.



Just as inquisitive as ever





They get a lot of space, and a long view of the city

After this, it was a case of getting past half way, running through Avery Park, back into Eltham Woods, up Shooters Hill, and home, where I had a nice surprise waiting for me.

Avery Hill Park

Oxleas Wood

Eltham Woods, not far to go

I found these two on my door step

After this, I decided to take Olive out for a walk, and for her to use her Didicar.  This was a Christmas present.  If you haven't come across one, it's a car where you can make it move, just by turning the steering wheel.  It does work, but when you live on a hill, gravity comes to effect, it's not easy to go up hill, unless you invest a lot of leg effort, but coming down, well, that's well worth the going up.  I took her to Shrewsbury Hill Park and Woods, at the top of our road.  There we had a nice walk and run around, then the great ride home.

Olive was enjoying playing on her Didicar

I wasn't able to take a picture, but if we do this again soon as a family, I want to get videos of this.  The Didicar is designed to be used by adults, at the same time if need be.  I couldn't resist, but push the boundaries.  Just how far could I take the poor girl?  The truth was, there is a nice little slope at the top of our road with a footpath that kind of slaloms down.  She was screaming to "go faster Daddy," so I was in luck that I didn't scare her. 

I will wear shoes that I don't mind ruining next time.



All in the name of play.