Ordnance Survey declared Sunday 30th September to be National Get Outside Day, which seems like an excellent idea to me.
I joined Zoe and Sarah for a '#GetOutside activity challenge' weekend - fitting as many outdoor activities in as possible. I was only available for the one day, but still managed to tick off quite a few thing.
Tilly and I met them at Robinswood Hill in Gloucester - very important to get 'dog walking' on the list! Here we are being unphotogenic at the toposcope - which is a bit shorter than the nearby trigpoint, and so easier to lift a slightly reluctant dog up on to!
Once we'd finished our walk, I dropped Tilly back at home and grabbed my kit for our next activity: swimming in the Lido!
I've spent a lot of time in the lido, but never for swimming - only for canoe club sessions on a Thursday evening. That's not to say I've never swum in the lido, of course 
I know the water is heated, but it definitely feels warmer in summer than at the end of September, brrrr! I forced myself to do 500m, and was happy that the sauna cabin was available for us to warm ourselves up in.
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My 2019 goal of "get the Strava 10k badge each month" hit a bit of a stumbling block in June when half way through being one of Those People who run to parkrun, run parkrun, then run home (total of 12km) I fell and sprained my left ankle. And then stupidly thought I could 'walk it off' and kept going - managing a 31min parkrun, oops. It didn't hurt that much until I took my shoe off - and then I couldn't walk for a couple of days.
So that ruled July out. I probably could have managed August but instead I was lazy and did barely 10k total all month.
And so to September, and the Highnam Court 10km run. Back on track with a race I've done twice before (in 2015 and 2016). I wasn't expecting a great time (see aforementioned laziness) but was looking forward to it anyway as it's such a lovely location.
Sadly, the course had been changed a bit and despite the addition of an extra mini-lap, when I crossed the finish line my Garmin reported 56 minutes for just under 9km. Disappointing. Lots of others had recorded a similar distance, and there was a fair bit of grumbling going on.
Other differences this year - the race was in the afternoon rather than morning, and the 5k was done completely separately. There certainly wasn't anywhere near as much of a bottleneck at the start as last time, which was an improvement.
I'd like to say I got a September 10k done later in the month but nope, still being lazy... However I've entered another race at the end of October which is UKA certified, so it had better be the correct distance!
Recently I took part in a Plastic Patrol session in Gloucester Docks. The idea is simple - after a bit of stand up paddleboard tuition, you get to float around the waterways armed with a litter grabber and a bucket.
I joined the final session of the day, and was actually quite surprised to see how (relatively) little rubbish had been collected so far - apparently last year it was much worse. I was not surprised to see the obligatory rusty old bike that someone had fished out.
We paddled around the main basin, then down to just past Sainsbury's. I spent quite a while picking at this patch of water lilies. It may look clean, but actually there was a lot of very small bits of rubbish caught up in it: polystyrene balls, bottle caps, chewing gum, and loads of corners torn off from opening chocolate bar wrappers. Yuck.
Just out of shot: a dead pigeon
This is everything I collected. It may not look impressive, but it all adds up. I know about microplastics affecting the oceans etc, but it hadn't really sunk in that not-so-micro-but-still-small rubbish would be so plentiful closer to home. Think carefully when opening your Mars bars!
This was actually the first time I'd paddled in Gloucester Docks, despite having lived literally metres from the main basin for three years with a kayak stored in my living room! I have been on the canal further down a few times though (including swimming around in the water doing safety training)
I've paddled boarded once or twice before, albeit several years ago, so it didn't take me long to decide I was going to try standing up rather than kneeling. Grabbing tiny bits of litter was a bit more difficult from higher up, but it gave me a better view and took the pressure off my knees/quads - which were complaining rather a lot the next day.
Definitely want to do more in future!
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