Henlow Bridge Lakes is my 40th different parkrun course and is based at a campsite with fishing lakes in the Village of Henlow, to the North of Letchworth in Bedfordshire. There are surprisingly few parkruns currently in Bedfordshire so it is nice to get a new one. This parkrun is a pretty two and a half lapper trail course, with lake sections and wooded areas as well as separated start and finish area. I visited here on the inaugural event which took place on 25th of September 2021. This is a fast and flat course, and I managed a very quick time here. It's a narrow course most of the way round, but there is still room for overtakes. I suspect in winter it might get a bit muddy in places which would slow it down, but it was very runnable on the dry autumnal morning when I visited. I really enjoyed running this course, and it has a very welcoming and friendly core team. For more information on Henlow Bridge Lakes, you can visit the following website https://www.henlowbridgelakes.co.uk/
[I first visited this parkrun on 25th September 2021]
Difficulty
This is a very fast and flat course on trails. Really nothing here to worry about, maybe add half a difficulty point for the trails and make this a 1.5 out of 5, maybe rising to 2 on a very wet day, I guess it depends how the trail paths hold up in wet weather. It was a very windy day on the morning we visited but due to the very sheltered nature of this course, the wind didn't penetrate this parkrun course, so it is a good course to visit on a windy day.
Briefings
Briefings are held at the start area, including a good description of the course, the course conditions today and what to expect out on course, the main takeaways were to respect the other campsite users reminding us that parkrunners are visitors here and do not have priority, a warning about crossing the entrance to the campsite (there is a marshal here, but just a warning in case there is a car entering the site). And another warning about a barbed wire fence running down a section of the site, should be fine as long as you stick to the trail. The brief also covered all the usual parkrun reminders about the parkrun process, social distancing, token and barcode handling to reduce contact, respecting other walkers, etc.
The Course
This is a two and a half lap course around the perimeter of the campsite. It is somewhat unusual by having the finish separated about halfway around the course. In my head I split this course into approx 5 sections. Start to Finish (approx 1.2km), Finish to Start (approx 0.9km), then Start to Finish and Finish to Start again, followed by the final Start to Finish.
If you parked in the station, you effectively walk along the eastern side of the course, to reach the start of the course at the north end of Jordan's Lake. From the start you head West and then take a sweeping left turn to head South, next you turn right to head West again, next right turn takes you north, then a left to head West, and then another left to head South and then after a while another left to head East, you'll soon pass the finish area, you're now about 1.2km into the course, with approx another 900m back to the start, keep heading East, and you'll soon need to take a left (if you parked in the station car park you are now basically following the route you took earlier to the start). Head North all the way along the trail and soon you'll be back at the start. You then complete the entire course again, before finally completing the first 1.2km of the course again to reach the finish. After the finish if you keep heading East you'll find your way back to the car park. I found the following map on the course and the red line on the below map roughly follows the parkrun route.
Elevation
According to my Garmin, there are 15m of Elevation on this course, in practice it really doesn't feel like you're doing any climbing. Probably just very gentle inclines which add up over the three laps.
Parking, Facilities and Coffee
Parking was easy and the official parking is Arlesey & Henlow Station car park and was about £3 it's very convienient for the start. I didn't stay for Coffee but according to the parkrun site, the post parkrun coffee is available at the covered outside seating area. Hot and cold drinks and snacks are available from the campsite shop and toilets are available but a 10 minute walk from the start at the Henlow Bridge Lakes main entrance on Arlesey Road.
Other Points of Interest
Lots of interested fisherman were watching us run past them on this first parkrun at this location, I expect we will be much less of a novelty in the weeks that follow. Someone had also kindly provided cake for the first event. I didn't take a slice, I left it for the locals who had more right to it than me.
Summary
My first and probably only inaugural event (as it is very much frowned upon to tourist to new parkrun courses). Very enjoyable event and the laps were much more enjoyable than I expected, it worked well for me basically breaking it down into 5 sections. Nice mix of trails, grass and wooded sections, plus sections where you run past the fishers. I will definitely be going back, as it is a very scenic and chilled parkrun course, I suspect after a lot of rain hybrids might be needed but most of the time I suspect you will get away with road shoes.
Links
Link to official parkrun site for this course - https://www.parkrun.org.uk/henlowbridgelakes
My You Tube Video Review (Click Below):
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