Fountains Abbey parkrun - event 526

On the 24th January 2025 I ran the Fountains Abbey parkrun which was the 526th event held at the venue, my 273rd parkrun and 188th different course I'd attended.

There are parkruns and then there are parkruns. The events that are 'must visit' or 'iconic', at least in the eyes of the parkrun tourist community. It's an elite list of parkrun venues which stand out as scenic, brutal or both. Whinlatter Forest for its elevation and scenery, Great Yarmouth North Beach for running on sand and Woolacombe Dunes for its location and tough as nails course.

Fountains Abbey is often spoken of and features weekly on Facebook groups as one of the most beautiful and scenic parkrun courses in the UK. Bring based near Ripon, North Yorkshire it's an event that's not exactly on the doorstep. Fortunately as a football fan and supporting Gillingham around the country there are opportunities for me to combine two things, parkrun with love of the beautiful game.

Once the football fixtures came out and the dates went into the diary I noted Harrogate away as an opportunity. Last season we combined Harrogate with Pontefract Racecourse and I did look into the feasibility of running Fountains Abbey then, but opted against it on the basis that it was too far north and too far to travel on a Friday night after work.

Having relooked at it again this season I spent some time researching possibilities. Getting to Harrogate, leaving at 4:30 was feasible. Travelling from Harrogate in the morning to Fountains Abbey again was not far at all. But the cost of accommodation at our tried and tested Premier Inn wasn't viable. The cost of the hotel was fine,.but the additional parking costs were not. £20 to park the car was far too excessive and I decided to look elsewhere.

There wasn't any other Premier Inn properties within reasonable distance of Fountains Abbey so I hit booking.com. I managed to find a really nice looking pub with rooms, all within budget and breakfast was included. 

A plan was formed.

Leaving at 4:30, with a latest check-in time of 10:30 was plenty. 6 hours was more than enough to travel up, experience the usual delays at the Dartford Crossing and stopping for tea at the Peterborough Services.

But that was a normal Friday night and this Friday was not normal. A lorry had driven through one of the tunnels that was too tall and exceeded the maximum height limit. It had managed to knock out all of the safety systems, including CCTV and smoke alarms and thus closing the whole tunnel in the aftermath.

As engineers rushed to assess the damage and put fixes into place the traffic built up to horrendous levels. When we left at 4:40, we hit traffic at the bottom of Swanscombe Cutting by Pepper Hill. We crawled out way through the traffic and head through the Blackwall Tunnell towards the A12 and picked up the start of the M11.

I called Stephanie via hands free, genuinely concerned that we'd miss our check in and we'd be sleeping in the car. I had no number for the pub we were staying in and couldn't look it up on my phone so gave her the details I could remember for her to Google and call up ahead. 

Seemed like we'd be okay until 11 and after that we'd need to call ahead of we got into anymore trouble. Eventually, after three hours of crawling through traffic we made it to Stansted Airport and from there on it was a clear and pleasurable drive.

We made it to our lodgings for the evening at 10:05. A full five and a half hours after leaving home. For context our return journey from Harrogate, we left at 17:05 and arrived back at 20:30, a mere 3 hours and 30 minutes later!

There is always risk with any travel plans, but despite the horror story of a commute we've generally had no problems. But after a well deserved beer it was straight to bed ahead of more driving in the morning.

Fountains Abbey was a short 20 minute drive in the morning from our accommodation and we were advised that the start of the course was a further 15 minutes walk from the car park so we had to factor that in accordingly.

What the parkrun event page did not warn us about was not only did we have to walk 15 minutes, we had to walk down a steep hill to the start of the course which was at the bottom of a valley. This was certainly not a problem before the event, but having run 5k it was certainly a problem after!

It's odd actually, as I didn't really recall the walk to the start. I was too distracted by the environment I was in and the area of outstanding natural beauty.

On a normal weekend that involves parkrun and football I drag Hayden around with me. But today, as we were not at a Premier Inn the timings were all different. We had to order breakfast by 10:30 and checked out by 11:00, so we hatched a plan where Hayden stayed at the start and waited for me to complete the run.

Just like last weekz Fountains Abbey was another course where the start and finish are in different locations. The course itself, again like last week consistently of laps of different lengths.

Starting by the ruins of Fountains Abbey in the north west corner the course consists of two laps. The first lap, slightly shorter at 2.25km runs in a clockwise direction. Hits the first bridge over the river and loops back around the Abbey to the start.

The second, longer lap is 2.75k and follows the route of the first lap, but instead of crossing the river, continues deeper into the grounds where another bridge is crossed. This bridge is much narrower, wooden and taken in single file as a safety measure.

The route continues on.aroind the grounds and eventually picks up the back part of the first lap with the finish on the opposite side of the ruins to the start. 

I'll be honest, I wanted to find something to dislike. Too many people had waxed lyrical about Fountains Abbey and I really wanted to find something to be critical about, but there wasn't anything. Literally nothing.

The Abbey built in 1100 and something was magnificent, even in its ruined state minus roof and windows. Hayden correctly identified it as a location featured in the Secret Garden film which he'd apparently watched at school.

Based in a valley, as stated earlier the walls around the course contained several waterfalls which contributed to the river and ornamental lake below.

The grounds, pristine and manicured, ornate stonework and formal gardens all elevated this event to another level. The course, made up of tarmac paths was not flatz but challenging particularly the start of the second lap beyond the finish line which made me feel like swearing had I had the energy.

Fountains Abbey richly deserves the accolades bestowed on it by the parkrun community. It's not every day you get to run a UNESCO world heritage site and the locals are so very incredibly lucky.

As it was, I finished in 272nd place out of a field of 485 participants in a time of 30:47.

Having finally shaken off my illness it was pleasing to get a new fastest time this year. Considering also the challenging nature of the course and the slow start. With limited space and a large gathering the event organisers have done an amazing job seeding the start with everyone listening in and playing by the rules.

Another parkrun bucket list event ticked off and we've not even reached the end of January yet. 2026 has been a great year so far, bring on more I say!