Chevin Forest parkrun
Yorkshire
As you can see from the elevation profile, this route starts uphill, and almost immediately goes more steeply uphill. It’s a little gentler than a few-inch representation of 5 kilometres makes it look, with a reasonably long initial gentle uphill before the right-turn to the big hill, but still definitely among the tougher starts I’ve done.
Let me rewind a little. The event course page suggests parking a little way away, at Surprise View car park (it is well named, more about that later), and with me being a Boy Scout in this sort of thing, I did just that. It’s about a mile, off road, from here along the top of a viewpoint to the start. I’ve followed the official advice before and found I’m the only one, and that wasn’t the case here as several of us wandered along the path. That said, there are two car parks by the start, so you won’t be turned away from both (the instructions just ask you not to park in the small car park by the finish line), or you can park in Otley and walk up.
I wasn’t sure I was going to take on The Chevin. There are enough new parkruns in the area that I can’t get to them all in my few-month stay in Yorkshire, and this is an area that the locals talk about as a challenge. But this was their 100th event and I knew a friend was going, so I joined in. On the day, the average attendance was nearly doubled, with 220 finishers making for a festive atmosphere.
With that number of people, the start was crowded, and the path gets narrower as you turn uphill, making for a little bit of congestion, but overall there’s plenty of space. Plus I thought the big hill was the right gradient to be attackable if only I was a bit fitter, but it was good for me not to have to try the first time round, and I was too tired the second. I’m going for ‘not fit enough’, but you might substitute ‘kidding yourself’ there if you prefer and I won’t disagree. It’s also a hill that gets steeper, so any effort to run the whole thing might run out of steam for the less-than-fit like me.
The route is scenic throughout, with greenery all around and good surfaces even after the rain we’ve had. It’ll change in winter, but it’s not as bad as you might imagine, and they’ve done really well to pick a challenging course in a tough area that isn’t so tough as to be overly intimidating. It could be worse and isn’t deliberately cruel, is what I’m going for here.
Despite that, after a downhill swoop, the path to the last right-turn to the finish is uphill, which made me particularly appreciate the finish line coming into sight. The finish itself is shaded, not that we needed it this time, and there’s a large open area for people to gather, recover and chat.
We wandered the short distance to the road and then along to the Chili Yard cafe (note to save time - if you’re sitting indoors, you’ll need a table number before you order), which was excellent. We sat outdoors and it was just on the edge of being cold, but it’s a very nice courtyard to sit in.
Afterwards I walked back along the path to the Surprise View car park, well prepared for the views this time. When you pull into the car park from the road, all you can see is the tarmac and some steps at the far end. Walk up those few steps, though, and you are faced with a view over the valley, which will look something like the pictures below. If you’re committed to the place living up to its name you’ll probably have to travel with someone and distract them from seeing the sign, otherwise it’s really not that much of a surprise to get a great view, but no matter how prepared you are, it’s well worth a visit.
Results from Chevin Forest parkrun #100, 12/8/23; 220 finishers
Yes! That hill. I'm glad it's not only me that thought it was Mean.
And twice. Pah
Pretty forest though