Coed Cefn-cwll-du parkrun
Machen, Wales
Look again at the map above if it isn’t immediately obvious - contour lines all over the place. This is a hilly route. My watch sets me a target of walking up the equivalent of 10 storeys per day, and buzzed for completion at around 8:45, as I got close to the start on the wander up from the car park.
There’s free parking in the village (plus the toilets and a pop-up cafe after the event are there), and the walk is very definitely up, but gently so. On this cold day there was ice on one part of the road, but nothing that threatened the event. We were warned about ice on the descent to the finish, but it was of the ‘break the ice and you’ll be in wet mud’ kind, rather than ‘step on this and see the sky’.
I wore my trail shoes, which were fine, and let me plough through some mud on the descent to the finish, but the surface is pretty good - if stony - throughout, and trainers ought to be fine. Just perhaps not your racing flats with minimal cushioning.
I was there early enough to chat to the team, and we commiserated on the state of our respective higher education institutions, which took my mind off the hill very obviously ahead of me. It’s a lovely spot to stand and wait, but soon enough we were into a briefing. There were a lot more people there than had looked likely from the sparse crowd at 8:50, and we ended up with the highest number of finishers (55) since mid January.
We were told at the start that the first mile is uphill. That’s rounding up a bit, given my watch reckoned we were at 1.4km when it finally levelled off, but the principle is bang on. You’re going up, and up. I was also told that the views got better once I’d gone up, so you can look forward to a reward - just remember to turn around while on the hill.
There was more to the course description. Almost apologetically after the first-mile description, the run director said the second mile is “…up - and down”, and the third is mostly down.
I agreed with all of that - a long way in, it felt like there was more up than down, then all that work was redeemed at the end with a long gallop towards the finish. That last bit is slightly uphill, but you might need that to help you brake in any case, and this isn’t the cruelest finish.
The tree cover used to be much greater, but was cut back extensively fairly recently. Although this wasn’t universally praised at the time, it has really cleared the way for great views (and presumably for future growth).
I had done something bad to my already dodgy knee the week before, so was glad to be able to run round the course and enjoy the views, even if I couldn’t make as much of the downhill as I’d have liked. It is a glorious place to take your mind off most of society - as you can see, other than other people ahead of you, the views are trees, grass, sky and hills.
Results from Coed Cefn-pwll-du parkrun #174, 1/3/25; 55 finishers
Great tip about Zip. I didn't know that hotel chain. I love your reviews, by the way!
This is a great review. I've been meaning to do that parkrun for quite some time. Two things have stopped me,. The five hours drive there, and living in Lincolnshire, I'm not used to hilly courses!