A Night Cycle to Chasewater parkrun | Bikepacking + Wild Camp

What if parkrun wasn’t just about the 5K?

In this video, I set off on a Friday night bikepacking trip across Birmingham, travelling by quiet greenways and canal towpaths under cover of darkness to head to Chasewater parkrun.

With a bivvy bag, a headtorch, and no car in sight, I wild camped in a hidden woodland near the park before waking up to join friends for the morning run around the reservoir.

Post parkrun breakfast enjoyed at The Station Cafe it was time to cycle home again!

Featuring:
🚴‍♂️ Night cycling through Birmingham
🏕️ Wild camping in a bivvy bag
🏃‍♂️ parkrun at Chasewater Country Park

Timestamps (Optional):
00:00 – Intro
00:30 – Night ride begins
03:45 – Setting up bivvy camp
06:10 – Morning at Chasewater
08:00 – parkrun start
10:30 – Reflections on the journey

Hope you enjoy the film of our adventure, please like and subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/alittleadventuretime?sub_confirmation=1

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Useful Links
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parkrun
https://www.parkrun.org.uk/chasewater/

Breakfast at Station Cafe
https://www.facebook.com/StationCafeBurntwood/

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About Ian, Iona and Family
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Each week on this channel Ian (Dad) and Iona share our little adventure experiences, often joined by Ewan (Iona’s older brother) and Ruth (Mum) too.

Our weekends often start with parkrun. Iona is on a non-repeat parkrun tourism streak having now visited over 100 different places since she started parkrunning. But we don’t just do parkun and dash home, we love exploring the area and often use bikes and trains for our travels to keep our carbon footprint low and because it adds to the adventure too. When school holidays arrive, longer adventures are possible with Ewan and Iona both being keen cycle tourists and mountain climbers!

So if you like heading outdoors and your idea of a perfect weekend includes parkrun, climbing a mountain or exploring new places on two wheels then we would love to have you join us on our adventures.

We’d love it if you subscribed so you can follow our journey and hopefully be inspired to get out the door and have your own little adventures. Do like and leave comments on our videos too on questions you might have or ideas for places to explore or adventures to go on.

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Standard Filming Kit
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Fujifilm X-S20 with 18-55mm kit lens: https://amzn.to/45nb4NR
DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro: https://amzn.to/4hPE05Q
DJI Mic Mini: https://amzn.to/4c1SQVw
RØDE VideoMicro Directional Mic: https://amzn.to/45nb4NR
DJI Neo Fly More Combo: https://amzn.to/42cSmIV

Music from Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referral/o3mkb1

Park Run is just the excuse, the catalyst if you like for exploration and adventure. Sure, the car might be the easy option, but trains, bikes, buses, all add to the adventure. This weekend, I was child-free. Euan and Iona had other plans. So, I took the chance to begin the park adventure on Friday night. Quiet miles pedled through the dark along hidden greenways and canal tow paths threading through Birmingham’s urban sprawl carried me to Chasewater Country Park where the lights danced on the dark water. A tucked away patch of woodland became my bed for the night. Vivid under the stars, ready for the morning’s park run. [Music] Good morning. Good night’s sleep in my little bey bag, hidden away in a bit of woodland. Woke up a couple of times hearing the bird song at the dawn chorus and the sun starting to filter its way through the leaves as it rose. And now down by the lake at Chase Water, beautifully peaceful and quiet at the moment. The runners have yet to arrive for quite a while yet for park run, but I’ve got time for a little brew. [Music] I’m enjoying my cuper with a view like this. Can’t beat that way to start a Saturday morning. See her flying over. There’s divers out on the lake. and one two runners already started to head past now whether they’re here for park run or just enjoying a run around the park. What a beautiful morning. [Music] Chasewater Reservoir was created as a canal feeder reservoir in 1797 to maintain canal levels in Birmingham’s 160 m canal network. As canal usage declined and less gibland was placed on the water, it has become a water sport venue and country park with a heritage railway running around the perimeter and of course home to a park run. Right, time to get back on the bike and ride probably few hundred yards over to the start of the park run. [Music] Just continuing to enjoy my morning brew. Watching the swans swimming by on the lake and the park run volunteer team getting ready to set up. My friends should be here any moment, the vidders. So looking forward to running the park run with them for my birthday weekend. I was last here when the New Year’s Day doubles were still a thing and we done Sully Hole first. I discovered Nicola Ford’s there and lo and behold, she turned up here as well and Euan had basically a mobile picnic wandering round with Poppy, Nicholas’s daughter, ran this park run while Iona and I ran it cuz Iona hadn’t done the one at Sully Hole. So Euan has crowing rights. He’s managed to do the New Year’s Day door. Of course, that was the last year of it happening, but it’s a beautiful morning this morning. I’m looking forward to repeating the experience of the park run here. Can we have a little bit of quiet, please? If you’d like to gather around or turn around. Welcome to Chase Water Park Run. We have quite a few first timers I understand today. I think we have uh a few milestones. One of which is Charlie. Where’s Charlie? Charlie is getting married next week. Uh have a good run. We’re going to start over there and make your way. [Music] 3 2 1 go. [Music] You always [Music] We’re off on Chase Water Park Run. Hopefully she get PB cuz last time I was running this with Iona. So it should be definitely a bit quicker than that and enjoying the sunshine and flat elevation. [Music] just gone past the trains heading out around the lake. This park run course is a one lapper. Basically, you run all the way around the lake. If you do two laps to the lake, you’ve done a bit too much. So, not too difficult to navigate. Just keep the water on your right and you’re going in the right direction. [Music] The views over the lake as you run are fabulous. And we have seen some open water swimmers out there starting their morning with a swim as we start our morning with a run. I must admit quite fancy to swim after this if you’re still going cool down a bit. It’s definitely a bit toasty again today. Another plus point of this part run pylons. Love a good pylon view. [Music] The sun just glinting on the water back over to the dam that you can see in the distance and running right by the train tracks on the other side of us. So lake on one side, train tracks on the other. I see people taking their lives in their hand walking on the train tracks. I think they’re safe at the moment. No trains really. [Music] [Applause] [Music] And leaving the trucks behind us and the lake a little bit. Head over some fields. [Music] Cows up ahead. Been warned about the cow field in the briefing. So, make sure we don’t stand in a big round smelly patch. Thank you, Marshall. So, just about to go over the level crossing. Last time I was here, I had to wait for the trains here. Thank you, Marshall. Because it was much later in the day, beginning of New Year’s Day, and the trains were actually running. Thank you, Marshall. [Music] We are back to the lake running over the dam. So the dam wall on our right water still on our right. You know you dig the course when the water’s on your right. And wow, what a view over there. Over [Music] there we’ve got the rig for the toe wake boarding that they do here. And in the distance now we can see the finish and the playground. [Music] Well done. Fantastic.
Thank you. Well, bit of playground fast time enjoyed by the children and now I’m on my way to the cafe and the vas join me there in the car. See who gets there first. [Music] So just enjoyed a very tasty breakfast and a nice bit of post park run chat and faf with the vidas. But the breakfast here if you come around not one by the actual finish of the park run but sort of basically halfway around you pass this on the park run at the station. It is a fabulous breakfast. Highly recommend it. As I own this not here, I’m going to give it a rating. A definite five out of five. Right, it’s time to get back on the bike and head off back home. I’m retracing the entire route of the park run in reverse so I can appreciate it from the saddle as well. Just having an explore of the station at the other end of the line from where we enjoyed our breakfast. And there’s a cafe here as well. So basically spend the day shuttling backwards and forwards from the trains and enjoying cake, coffee, breakfast, whatever you want at either end. But it’s a gorgeous day. The skies are blue. It’s going to be a warm but hopefully very pleasant cycle ride. Back to commentary. Well, I’m retracing the ride I did last night, but in daylight, so I can actually see what I was cycling through. I was conscious that actually quite a lot of the route was off road and seemed to be cycled through some nice parkland and things like that. And today I’m finding out whether that’s right or not. Certainly so far that seems to be the case with a lovely start along a section of canal and now on a nice cycle path with parkland on either side of me. Univided moose in circles trapped like a wave in a tidal pool. Waves upon waves. The horizon and view but out of reach. I’ve been saying that something needs to change. Cycling on a fabulous cycle path at the moment. Freshly tarmaced and it’s us route. So I’m guessing I have Martin to thank for this as part of the area that he looks after and makes sure we have some great cycling to enjoy. But this is really lovely. But I don’t remember this at all from last night. So I’m wondering whether my commute and going back the way I’ve come is actually given me a slightly different route to enjoy. Who knows? But I’m certainly enjoying it. [Music] I’ll change. Well, the good news is I’m not losing my mind. I was thinking I really don’t remember this. I know it was dark when I cycled before, but if Kimut’s supposed to be retrace my route, I should recognize some of it. And I definitely didn’t remember coming into Warsaw. So, I’ve just checked on the map from last night compared to today. And we are going a different way. It has taken me a different way home, which is good. Get to experience something a bit different. What’s amazing me is therefore on the way out and on the way back today, how much greenways and so on I’ve been able to enjoy rather than cycle on the roads. It’s fabulous. Who knew in this industrial area of Birmingham there’d be so much enjoyable cycling? Stopped off at Warsaw Market hoping to get an apple. One of the nice stall holders said, “Ah, just have one. You look like you need it.” Said, “You want a nice fresh apple to pound me on my way.” Just ridden through the middle of Warsaw. Been a while since I’ve been here. Well, after a rather busy section on some rather busy roads, all of a sudden pushed me back off the busy roads and onto the canals. So, I’m about to experience some of Birmingham’s canals. If you haven’t told already, we have more canals than Dennis. Right, let’s see where it takes us. I think we’re going to be under the M6 at points and under Spaghetti Junction. cycling underneath the M6 at the moment. Quite weird. [Music] Passing underneath Spaghetti Junction at the moment. It’s a lot easier cycling through it than it is trying to navigate around it. So on the top on the M6, on the bottom of the canal, great. In between, nightmare. [Music] Well, I’m now ignoring the commute route and as it was starting to take me back through um sort of part of Birmingham, I decided to cut off and continue following the canal out towards Kingsbury. See if I can work my way route back from there. Just fancy following the canal for a bit longer. [Music] [Music] Well, as we left the urban sprawl of Birmingham behind, we also left behind nice smooth tarmac to top paths. It’s got a lot more bumpy all of a sudden. The views have perhaps got a lot more beautiful. Just coming into Kurdworth Tunnel. I think calling tunnel is a bit of a stretch. It’s more of a a big bridge, but there we go. But it seems very bumpy, so I’m going to walk. [Music] Well, off the canal towass onto a bit of road and now at Kingsby Water Park. But I think there’s a tap here that I can refill my bottles. They’re getting a little on the empty side. Warm today. It’s keeping me making sure I keep well hydrated. Might see if they got an ice cream here as well. [Music] That is good. Just what the doctor ordered. Should get me going home now. out of Kingsley Water Park now and it’s roads all the way home now back through Meridan and back to Coventry. What a fabulous day. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s little adventure. If you have, why not check out our great Denim Park run adventure where Iona and I camped out the night before. See you on another little adventure soon. Bye. [Music]