Quest for a Parkrun Z Day 4 - Wroclaw

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It’s Saturday, AKA parkrun day, and today’s parkrun is Pieschener Allee. It’s only a 10 minute walk from the hotel so we don’t even have to get up too early. In the UK, going to a different parkrun involves knowing roughly where to go then following the crowds. Parkrun hasn’t really taken off in Germany; last week there were only 23 runners at Pieschener Allee, so I have carefully studied the map to ensure we know where to go.

We manage to find the start without problem. There are a total of 26 runners, mostly ex pats. Everyone is really friendly. The course is a pleasant out and back run on a footpath along the River Elbe. It’s also very flat, so I run my 3rd fastest ever 5k time. And coming 24th sounds quite good too although, in reality, I came last apart from the tail walkers.

Once suitably cleansed, we check out and depart for Poland. The trip does not start well: we are going to Wroclaw and I set the satnav for Poznan. Luckily, I realise before we’ve gone too far and after 2 rather complicated figure of 8 junction changes, we are back on track. The old man is not impressed. Luckily, we stopped at Lidl on the way out of town, so I am able to placate him with a sausage croissant.

An hour later, we reach the Polish border. It’s not manned – we don’t even need to reduce speed, let alone stop. The only differences, apart from being €53 out of pocket, are that the road signs have changed languages and I finally have 4G.

By 3 pm we are in Wroclaw. The hotel room isn’t great. It stinks of cigarettes and two women are busy spraying it with a sickly air freshener which, frankly makes it worse.

Arriving in Wroclaw mid Saturday afternoon is a bit like coming late to a party, when everyone else is already drunk and you have to decide whether to drink lots in an attempt to catch up.

We take a wander round the old town. There are 300 gnome statues spread around the city - this could keep me amused for some time. They’re actually quite hard to spot because they’re very small and it’s mega crowded.

After we are all gnomed our, we stop at a burger joint called Pasibus where I have a mango and chilli burger – an inspired combination. Then it’s back to the hotel for the less tasteful combination of stale tobacco and air freshener.

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