Welcome to Abingdon, home of Oxfordshire's first, and at the time of writing at least, only, parkrun. Although if you pass the signs above in this direction, you've gone too far and you need to turn round, and you'll find Rye Meadow just across the bridge, on your left . .

Most of us can probably walk out of the car park safely . . but do remember to Pay and Display, as the parking police have latched on to the fact that there may be some tickets to issue. The organisers of parkrun do post a notice reminding you . . and today we found an official sign doing the same thing, rapidly being consumed by the overgrowth . .

Only one of these loos across the road is accessible to the general public, and it can't always be depended on, so if you're travelling some distance to take part you may like to stop off at Tesco en route (it's just off the A34) . .

Anyway . . here's Rye Meadow . . and the volunteers are already allocating responsibilities and checking equipment . . the start can't be seen in this view but the finish is just where the white stakes have been set into the ground . .

From the start the course brings you down to the bank of the River Thames . .

And initially the footpath is fairly wide and flat . . until you pass by this fence, when the path starts to wind and become quite narrow, so it's single file for a short while until you emerge in this meadow, which you run round the outside of, leaving the river behind you half way round . .

There's lots to see around the course . . and here are a few things that caught my eye . . ending with one of the two Herons I saw this morning . .