I finally made it down to Thames Path parkrun in Woolwich last week, an event that started out in 2023.
People meet up before the start by the statues in James Clavell Square by the Woolwich waterfront, where the old Woolwich Arsenal buildings nestle alongside new build flats.
The actual start is a few hundred metres east along the Thames Path and from there it sets out on a nice flat stretch along the river. What could be better on a clear, fresh day?
But wait, because in the middle section the route diverts inland to Gallions Reach Park and the challenging Gallions Hill - a landscaped mound built up of building rubble from nearby housing development. It's not particularly high or steep but it's quite a long and winding path to the top with fully 600m of ascent followed by a much more pleasant run back down.
Back out on the Thames path it's a straight path back to the finish near to the James Clavell Square meeting point.
Several generations of my ancestors worked at Woolwich Arsenal in the nineteenth century*, it's a slightly odd feeling running by buildings they would have been familiar with and indeed worked within. Not sure what they would have made of a few hundred runners charging up and down the riverfront, but I know some of that side of the family were quite sporty so I hope that they would have approved.
*My great great grandfather, Thomas William Cook (1835-1901) worked there and his father Thomas Cook (1812-1879) and grandfather John Cook (1777-1850) before him. In the 1851 Census, Thomas junior is listed as a 'laboratory boy' and his father as 'labourer, Royal Arsenal'. Later his sister Jane worked there as a teenage 'cartridge maker' while another brother, John, worked as a 'metal turner' in the Royal Laboratory. Thomas William Cook and family later moved to Oare, by Faversham in Kent - on the 1881 Census he is described as an 'artist in fireworks' working at the Cotton Powder Factory.
