My tour of parkruns in the area of North London continued with my 65th different course at Hoddesdon and the lovely Barclay park. Not knowing a huge amount about this parkrun only having decided to visit on the previous evening. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself at a very pretty park, but not entirely prepared for the undulating nature of the course. It is a compact course, so it's a 4 lapper, with an additional loop of the pond on the final lap (I'll go into a bit more detail on my course notes). Also worth mentioning is the historic pub 'The Star' which dates back to the early 1500s and hosts the post parkrun coffee location for this run (it even has some genuine Tudor Wall Paintings) so is well worth a visit if you get chance. Hoddesdon is a about 20 miles north of the centre of London, on the A10 Cambridge road and has free parking.
[I first visited this parkrun on 16th March 2024]
Bit of History
Hoddesdon dates back to at least the Doomsday Book, and historically was an important town to people travelling between London and Cambridge, and had a number of inns along the high street to serve all the travellers. The land that forms the modern Barclay park was originally part of the High Wyches estate, part of the grounds were gifted to the public by the Barclay family in 1935 as part of the silver Jubilee celebrations for King George V. Today the park is 18 acres, has a Green Flag award and is home to an ornamental lake, several walking routes, a children's play area, picnicking areas as well as a woodland and a meadow.
Briefings
Both briefings gave a good description of the course and they both used a printed map which is always useful. The first timer and visitor briefing gave a brief summary of parkrun ethos and guidance for first timers, then gave a description of the course, before moving onto questions (which mainly centred on how many times to go around the ornamental pond on lap 4). On the main brief there was an acknowledgement of the first timers, a call out to the tourists and to one of the run directors who was running his 100th parkrun. The run director advised they were currently on the winter course, which is why it is four laps at the time of my visit. There was a reminder to keep left on this course and overtake on the right. She also mentioned two post parkrun coffee/breakfast options, the Wetherspoons, or the Deer Cafe across the road if you don't mind paying double the price.
Winter Course
Four anti-clockwise laps of the park, on laps 1-3 you simply pass on the south side of the ornamental pond before starting another lap. On lap 4 when you reach the East or far side of the ornamental pond, you need to complete two further anti-clockwise laps of the ornamental pond before completing the lap and heading back to the start/finish area. The first part of each lap is uphill, the hill peaks at the top left hand corner (North West end) of the course, and the low point is the East side of the ornamental lake. Due to the four lap nature of this course it ends up being an undulating course where you climb the same hill each lap.
Difficulty
Just due to the elevation alone of 102m ascent across the entire course, I would have to rate this as a 4 out of 5. The course is fully tarmac and I still managed a parkrun time of under 25 minutes, compared to my quickest times on other courses of around 21-23 minutes, so it's not a really slow course by any means, but the elevation will slow you up a fair bit.
Elevation
The lapped nature of this course make it undulating, there is only really one hill but you get to do it 4 times, total elevation of 102m, at least the extra laps of the Ornamental pond on the final lap are flat.
Parking, Facilities and Coffee
I parked for free at the recommended car park at Broxbourne Spotlight, Cock Lane, Hoddesdon, EN11 8JY. From here it is only a short jog into the park. No dedicated toilets, the nearest are at a local branch of Sainsbury's. There is a decent childrens playground at the park as well.
I should also mention that it is worth the walk to the recommended coffee/breakfast venue which is in a Wetherspoons Pub called 'The Star' which is a historic pub and even has genuine Tudor Wall Paintings, so if you like your history then that is worth the trip alone. I had a Wetherspoons breakfast so I was more than happy. There is a second venue mentioned on the Barclay parkrun website, which is the Deer Café on the opposite side of the road from 'The Star' but the price for breakfast is about double, and they don't have Tudor wall paintings.
Other Points of Interest
I've mentioned it already but the Tudor Wall Paintings (plus lots of other original features in the pub), photograph below:
Summary
A very pretty park and pond, with free parking, great volunteers and a historic pub and high street to explore after parkrun. This parkrun is highly recommended and makes a great morning out.
Links
Link to official parkrun site for this course: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/barclay/
My YouTube Video Review of this parkrun:
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