Have Passport will run!

After a cross country flight and a plane change in Dulles I touched down at Heathrow, a quick train ride into and across London and I am at my friend’s house. They live in Blackheath, a beautiful part of a London which enjoys being adjacent to both Blackheath’s heath, where they start the Flora London Marathon, and to Greenwich Park.

Greenwich Park is the home of the Prime Median Line and of course “Greenwich Mean Time; GMT” and is steeped in history, Henry the VIII (1491) was born here as was Elizabeth I (1533) and it is the home of the Royal Observatory designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The park is the oldest enclosed Royal Park dating back to the early 1600’s.

After a cup of tea; quintessentially English! I don my running kit and head out. Greenwich Park is in full bloom, the sun is out, it’s a little hazy and a little humid but it’s great running weather. The park is built on the side of a hill and slopes down towards the Thames there are great views from the patio of the Royal Observatory across the London skyline which is a real mix of old; The National Maritime Museum dating the 17th Century to Canary Wharf dating back to 1988.

An hour later and seven miles of meandering and photo taking (follow this link for the photos) I had managed a haphazard lap of both the Park and Blackheath, had been down to see the restoration of the Cutty Sark and along the Thames Path. There really is no city like London. Tomorrow I head off to my home county, known as the garden of England; Kent so we’ll see what’s out there?

Oh yes and as for yesterday's cross training, well dragging my cases half a mile uphill was what I will imaginatively qualified for that!