Mid-week run

Hasn't the weather just been amazing this week? Blue skies, lashings of sun and ever so warm in a real "we're just waking up from winter" kind of way. I just love it and today I couldn't wait to get out at lunchtime and start synthesising some vitamin D. With that in mind I planned to head over to Kensington Palace and take in the full glory of Hyde Park; a route that pretty much maximises what I can do if I stick to the central London parks. The first thing that I noticed, of course, was the large number of tourists with foreign school-children being particularly hard to miss in their swarms. Right behind though came the glory of Spring and the sense of horse chestnut trees preparing for conker season:

To be honest I was quite glad to stop at this point, to take a few pictures, as I'd developed a really terrible stitch. For some reason the usual tricks of breathing deeply or swinging my arms about weren't working so I was rather resigned to struggling on. Still the outdoors is always uplifting even if Kensington Palace is undergoing a massive refurbishment and thus surrounded by hoardings. Heading back the trees are loaded with blossom and rather pretty:

Hyde Park in the Spring

So even though I wasn't feeling on top form I was glad to be out - and it's fair to say that by the time I returned back through Green Park I was starting to feel a bit more myself. Of course my usual route is a bit obstructed these days as they construct stands for the Royal Wedding (which can't help the view from the Palace) but that's all part of living in an evolving metropolis I guess.

Distance: 8.8 miles

Time: 1h 4m 43s