Since running at Torbay Velopark back in July, Tamar Trails parkrun has been the only event in Devon, and the only event south-west of Taunton, that we had yet to complete. And so in an attempt to rectify this, and have a family weekend away in a beautiful location at the same time, we made our very first Airbnb booking for the weekend at the end of half term.

During the week, it became clear that the weather fairies would not be in our favour, with weather warnings for wind and rain appearing across the South West. We arrived in Gunnislake on the Friday evening in less than desirable conditions, and spent the evening watching the ever-growing parkrun cancellations list. By the time we went to bed only two events in the extended area were still hoping to go ahead – Eden Project and… Tamar Trails.

After spending the night listening to rain hammering down, I was convinced that it was going to be cancelled on the day. So it was a bit of a shock at 7:50 when I refreshed my Facebook feed and saw that it was actually going ahead. Happily we were staying only a 5 minute drive (or 1 mile run if you don’t have two small children and a buggy) away. We easily found the car park, and after a slight panic on arrival realised we could pay for the parking by phone (disorganised family strikes again).

Tamar Trails parkrun is set, unsurprisingly, at Tamar Trails, which is a network of trails amongst the forest designed for cycling, running, walking and other outdoor activities. From the car park we followed the other runners towards the start – I believe we may have taken a longer route due to a fallen tree, but definitely allow a little time to get there. The run brief covered all the essentials – conditions underfoot were wet and muddy, course was mostly downhill except a kick at 2k and then 4k onwards. Everyone who ever speaks about Tamar Trails talks about the hill at the end, so that wasn’t much of a surprise.

We were all prepped for storm conditions, with KK kicking the unfamiliar rain cover and Lani wearing her splash suit over her running kit (“but how will they see my 10 top?”), but as we set off in the dry I wondered if we’d gone over the top. There were puddles right from the start, but the terrain was fairly solid as everyone worked into the correct positions. We’d decided way ahead of time that Ben would run with Lani and I’d have the buggy, and while Ben had offered to swap when we saw the conditions I decided it was a good opportunity to face some demons.

We quickly got to a short section of puddle-covered mud. The puddles were clearly the safest parts to run on, and while I slowed down both the buggy and I got through intact. I realised that running by myself I’d likely have tiptoed through that section, and so the 3 extra points of contact with the ground, along with pigheadedness, clearly did me some good. I later found out that Lani had completely lost her footing here, and if it wasn’t for Ben holding her hand she’d have faceplanted and their run would have been over near the start.

And then the storm appeared. Any thoughts of having over-dressed the kids were replaced with parental guilt, as the heavens opened and the visibility dropped. It was just a case of focus on how pretty the trees were and try to keep going – particularly as I’d forgotten my watch and so had no clue how far through I was.

The trees opened up, and the views and terrain changed to an old mine. I was surprisingly happy to see a hill (particularly given I had to walk it) as it meant we must be around 2k. There was a rare sighting of some marshals halfway up the hill, but with the rocky conditions I wasn’t even going to try to run past them. The views at the top were spectacular, if a bit hazy through the rain. As we re-entered the trees I saw some signs off to one side, which Ben later explained were markers for mountain bike routes.

The next section was back to tree-lined trail path. I was lucky as despite the small turnout I was running near a couple of guys, so didn’t feel like I was going it alone. A marshal appeared in view down the path, and a glance to the left revealed we were about to be pointed round a hairpin to a big descent.

Long-time readers of this blog will know that off-road downhills are my biggest weakness. What makes them even harder is having a buggy that is determined to get down as fast as possible. Mostly I did a lot of quad-braking to try to remain in control. At one point I got a bit concerned, so gripped on the handbrake only to realise that when the wheels are wet and muddy that achieves nothing. Happily at that moment the trees opened up, and I saw the path was straight at the bottom of the hill, so I was able to stretch out and nearly enjoy the last bit of down.

And so we carried on along the trail paths, until reaching the marshal who pointed the way to the much-foretold final kilometre. I immediately slowed to a walk, and it has to be said it wasn’t the fastest of walks. The two guys quickly overtook me, as I had to squat down to get power to push the buggy. On a tarmac path it would have been fine, but this was pretty rocky, slippy off-road and so a whole other beast. A woman went past me, hobbling slightly but very complimentary about my efforts.

Eventually the path veered to the right and flattened off, and I very much enjoyed stretching my legs to the end. Tip for parkruns everywhere – however tough your course is if you give people a good chance to sprint finish they’ll love it. The very soggy finish volunteers were super supportive. I checked my phone and had nothing from Ben, which meant they were still out on the course (as oppose to dropped out in the cafe).

Despite all the rocks, KK had fallen asleep in the buggy, so I stayed and chatted to the volunteers, cheering the next two runners in. And then a shout came out that the tail walker had been spotted. I looked down the path and saw the unmistakable pink of Lani’s splash suit, her trademark finish acceleration kicking in as soon as she spotted me.

It was a short walk down the path to barcode scanning, and then we continued across the car park to the cafe. Bacon rolls, toasted teacake, and a massive piece of victoria sponge were all very much enjoyed, before we headed back to our Airbnb to fight over the shower.

Although the weather was clearly not ideal, we all ended up having a great time visiting. The Autumn leaves, while slippy, were beautiful to see. The route was fairly straight forward to follow, but a few more signs would have been nice to confirm you’re still going the right way – particularly when running slowly it’s easy to notice every small path off to the side and wonder if you were supposed to take it.

It’s definitely a trail shoe course, and very much falls under the category of buggyable as opposed to buggy friendly. This was by far the hardest buggy run I’ve done to date, and has been a big confidence booster. Very much recommend it, just try not to go during a storm.

And so with Devon now complete, we’ve run every parkrun south-west of Taunton. And we will maintain this target for all of a week, until the next event in that direction starts this Saturday. Lots more family parkrun adventures await!