Midweek: Windmill Hills and Dunston Staiths

Today was an "open your eyes to the sunshine and greenery; close your eyes to the fly-tipping, graffiti and arson" kind of run. Welcome to Gateshead! 😉

But then, being from the North side of the Tyne, I would say that. And it's not fair. Gateshead covers a surprisingly big area and it's bound to have its good and bad bits. Saltwell Park, the home of the Gateshead parkrun, is a properly lovely place, for example. But Dunston... less so.

Anyway, enough apologising for a cheap jibe, today's run was actually pretty nice. After feeling pretty flat about the prospect of heading out to familiar territory again, I quickly looked on both Google Maps and onthegomap.com for inspiration before leaving the office. Gateshead remains my least explored area, so I looked there first. Onthegomap actually showed more green on the far side of the High Level Bridge than Google did, and accessing it would mean a bit of useful uphill, so that was it pretty much decided. A quick bit of planning and memorising the return and I was off.

It was lovely weather outside today — actually a bit too warm for running — and it turned out that the breadth of Windmill Hills park meant that I got in a good chunk of running through green areas. And in the sun, which was pleasant, but meant I got a proper sweat on. I could even feel the heat radiating from the tarmac. 🥵 Much like milk, long sleeves were a bad choice.

By the time I started heading down the hill towards the Redheugh Bridge, I'd got to the bit of the run I'd memorized least well. It probably also should've been my turning point. However, wanting to stay in the green as much as possible, I made a conscious decision to deviate from the plan. First, I cut across some wasteland rather than follow a winding road (which actually shortened my route a bit) and then when I really should have turned back eastward, I did the exact opposite and took a path that went directly away from the office. I hoped I'd soon be able to get down to the riverside path — Keelman's Way — regardless.

I was wrong. 😂

The old Dunston Coal Staiths, at the furthest point on today's run

Eventually, I emerged in the middle of the fancy-pants Staiths South Bank housing estate; a place I'd once considered getting my first home and considerably further upstream than I'd meant to go. Good job I had no pressing meetings to attend.

From here though, I knew exactly what I had left to do and where to go. Down to the riverside and straight back along to the Swing Bridge. Another 2K and I'd be done. After stopping for a quick photo (see above), I set off. And instantly discovered the break had ruined me! My calves had started to tighten up while I was snapping my pic and my body had just begun to wind down. Picking it all back up again was really hard and I never truly got comfortable in those last 2 kilometres.

I'd also accidentally stopped Google Fit's run tracking while taking my photo and had to start a fresh run for the last bit. Even just getting the phone back in my armband thing was a mare and I ended up walking for a bit while faffing on, all the while ruining the pace that was being tracked. Hey ho. Putting the two recorded runs together now, and with a bit of number crunching, it looks like my average pace was 5:21/km, which is ok, especially given the hill into Gateshead.

Next up is Daughter the First's 3K practice on Friday and then another parkrun on the Saturday morning. There's also orienteering in Killngworth on Saturday morning, but like a chump, I failed to register in time. And I can't even do it with the daughter, as she's got her maths tutoring then. Gutted. I might just turn up anyway and see whether anyone's failed to turn up, leaving a map free. 🤞