Leamington parkrun & MTB Trails: Mud, Sweat & Gears!

Feb 3, 2025

February first, a chilly dawn start to parkrun day, our destination Leamington Spa.

Watch the Leamington parkrun and MTB trails video on YouTube

Our plan for the day was simple: take our bikes on the train to Leamington, run Leamington parkrun, enjoy some breakfast, and then hit the mountain bike trails at Newbold Comyn.

Although Leamington is one of our local parkruns, it had been over five years since our last visit, and we’d never filmed here before. With Iona taking a rest day, repeating a previous run wasn’t an issue, making it the perfect opportunity for Ewan and me to return—and get in some mountain biking practice while we were at it.

Running the parkrun in muddy conditions brought back memories of cross-country races at Newbold Comyn. Thankfully, today there was no climbing Beacon Hill or face-planting in the infamous, smelly mud of “The Ditch”! The course is a single lap with a short but sharp climb early on, followed by a steady downhill stretch that rewards you with great views over Leamington.

One of the best parts of Leamington parkrun is the charity donation café at the club building. Luckily, they accept card payments (since I’d forgotten to bring cash!), so Ewan and I enjoyed some delicious ginger cake before heading up to the Newbold Comyn Arms for breakfast. With the fire burning, it was the perfect place to warm up before heading back out for some mountain biking.

We also had the chance to get our bikes registered as Warwickshire Active Travel were there, sharing with parkrunnners the benefits of using their bikes to get to parkrun (something we’re big fans of!) and doing free bike register registrations (to help with recovery if it gets stolen) and giving freebies away to those who’d arrived by bike, so we claimed a free mobile phone holder each. They will be at Warwick parkrun on 1 March.

The MTB trails at Newbold Comyn Country park are a recent addition, opening in 2023, and are fantastic for those new to mountain biking or riding purpose-built trails. A far cry from my teenage years in the Lake District—where mountain biking meant tackling bridleways with no crafted berms or jumps—this park has everything from a beginner-friendly learning zone to red routes with jumps and winding singletrack through the trees. It was a great place for me to test whether I still had what it takes to handle the rough stuff!

We managed to ride every trail in the park before heading back to the station with just enough time to grab a coffee and cake at Leamington Station before catching the train back to Coventry—a fabulous little adventure.

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