I'd like to pick your brains.......

[Beads]

........those that live in SW London anyway. I want to run the Tamsin trail in Richmond Park. Lots of questions coming up.......

Where can I park? Preferably somewhere with loos for before I start and when I finish. A coffee when I finish would be lovely as well, but I will be sweaty and generally blergh so a takeaway is probably preferred. And I'll be coming from the Croydon direction.

Is the trail well signposted? Am I likely to get lost going round? I don't know the area and if I do get lost I could be 3 or 4 miles (or more) away from the car without realising it.

What's it like underfoot? Am I better off waiting and running my new trail shoes in or will I be fine in my normal shoes?

Is there anything going on over there on Sunday that's best avoided? (all assuming I manage to drag myself out of bed and it's not totally weeing with rain).

Thanks in advance.

[TurboTortoise Graduate]

OK, this is my manor! I love running this route.

Parking: Pembroke Lodge (inside the park itself and right on the Tamsin Trail) between Richmond and Ham Gate - it has a cafe, loos etc. The car park can get heavingly busy on a Sunday after about 10am. There's parking at most of the other gates too (though not Richmond or Ham) and loos, but only the occasional ice cream/burger van.

The trail is well signposted and easy to follow - it just goes round the inside perimeter of the park so you can't really go wrong, though you have to turn right and downhill at Ham Cross/right and uphill at Ham Gate, depending on which direction you are going.

It's mostly gravelly sandy stuff underfoot, ordinary shoes are fine unless it's been raining a lot (I ran in the park this morning on other trails and it wasn't too muddy).

Some say it is easier to do the trail anti-clockwise (because of the nature of the hills) - personally I don't prefer one way over the other. What goes up must come down.

You'll love it!

[Beads Graduate in reply to TurboTortoise]

Thank you! Will let you know when/if I make it!

[Beads Graduate in reply to TurboTortoise]

And I went! This morning, left at silly o'clock, got there spot on half past 8, just as it started raining; no worries, I had my little jacket with me; a couple of k in and it wasn't raining any more, my buff came off, followed a couple of k later by my jacket, followed a few k later by my sleeves being rolled up! A nice run (anti clockwise, so I did most of the hills (only little ones) towards the beginning of the run), I managed to get over halfway round before I looked at the Garmin and was surprised that I was over halfway round! Was tired at 9k but pushed on faster for a sub 60 10k, then felt fine at the end; I could have gone further but a nice frothy coffee was calling me!

I've done it now, but I will be back, maybe for a walk with the dog, maybe for a ride on my bike, maybe even to run in the other direction!

[TurboTortoise Graduate in reply to Beads]

Excellent! I too was in RIchmond Park this morning at 8.30. It was strange weather, wasn't it - I went out in my rain jacket and was sweltering within about 10 mins. I did about 6k in the park then ran up to Kew Bridge and back down to Mortlake along the river - 14k in all which was a bit further than I'd planned but felt good.

It's a nice trail, isn't it?