Side topic of TGR - Skamper fun

Skamper app The 22nd of September is World Car-free Day, this is an annual celebration of cities and public life - free from the noise stress and pollution of cars. It’s a fantastic chance to discuss the importance of exercise and sustainable transport, as well as - highlighting the negative impacts of cars on the environment. A message was sent out to myself and all the community of; the green runners, saying that this year for world car free day they (we) were forming a collaboration with a new APP called – Skamper; for every run done over that weekend on this app, they would plant a tree via trees not tees, who is Skamper? Here is how they describe themselves – Skamper has been formed to share the joy of running and the physical and mental health benefits it brings. Many runners find personal challenge and friendly competition both motivating and rewarding. We respect runners who want to limit their impact on the environment and choose to stay local or experience race routes in a lower carbon way Sustainably

These runs were to be done by getting to the start point, using public transport (car free), I had taken the train down to Warrington for the weekend, to participate in Warringtons running festival that Sunday, the car free day was the Friday, I found a route near where I was staying, this route was really good except - it had to be started at a specific point, sometimes even circular routes have a set start/finish point, this place wasn’t near local public transport, OH; and - I got caught in a downpour, using a phone to navigate while its raining is difficult especially if your hands are cold, the next days run Was through Moore Nature Reserve, this was what is called on the app a lollipop route meaning - you started at the entrance to the nature reserve (in this case) then ran a mile or so into the route, then; done a big loop back to this point, I liked this but yet again the start point was not easily accessible by public transport, the navigation arrow on the app was still not working I was to find that it wasn’t working at all over the next week anywhere (it works now) this meant on route and others that I did not know, I got into a habit of getting slightly lost! The next day was a Sunday - I was running the Warrington Half Marathon there was no sections along this marathon route that tied in with any scamper root, the day following day this was my train back home to Scotland Day. Once at home it was Tuesday, I was pleased to receive an email from the green runners saying that the tree planting with trees not T`s was going to be continued for the following week on the Skamper app, (see below) damn; I had missed a day due to travelling Skampering for trees! Happy to say that Skamper and Trees Not Tees have extended their collab until Sunday October 1st. So there's still time for you to download the app and get green Skampering! The team at Skamper are on hand to add your routes and help you run local or find routes accessible by public transport, just send an email to info@skamper.app. We look forward to seeing more Green Runners on the leaderboard and don’t forget to share your run on socials to help spread the word. The more Skampering we do the more trees get planted!

From my home I could see a few routes on the app near where I live, the first of which I done started in the town of Grangemouth, I ran four kilometres to get to the start it seemed a strange place to start! out of all the routes that could have been chosen from this spot, it seemed strange for this to be an out and back route to the kelpies, this start point would make a good loop round Lauriston and back, but it went into the helix park where there is unlimited options for looped runs even Lollipop runs and circular runs I fed this feedback into the Skamper app as; - I had been doing with all the runs,

The following days run I opted to walk up to my local train station which is on the main Glasgow to Edinburgh Line, I bought a £3 return train ticket - polmont to Falkirk High Station as the chosen route started close to there, on the canal but yet again I was disappointed that it started very close to the iconic Falkirk tunnel and stop short of the amazing Falkirk wheel, It was also a perfect start point for a good loop around town or a short loop around the stunning Canada Wood, again I fed this information into the app on completion of the run, The good people at Scamper emailed and replied to my Instagram posts that they had received and liked my feedback, this pleased me greatly.

the next day’s run was from my hometown, running from my house to the start point again I was disappointed with the start point, it was a section near the canal that you had to cross a very busy road unnecessarily! This was yet again a straight out and back route, falling short or visiting Muiravonside Country Park and the incredible Avon aqueduct I have many routes around that area that I could help develop and do something Traffic free sustainable trail runs, (Rome wasn’t built in a day)

The following day I went back to the run near Falkirk High train station, because; the people at Scamper had listened to my feedback and; - changed the whole route to suit my recommendations! this pleased me greatly, I was very proud of the route they made on my recommendation the short one that I did this day, went through Canada wood which was a fantastic circular route along traffic free countryside, including areas of historic battles And memorials, The following day I was heading into Edinburgh city centre to attend an art gallery exhibition, I had been looking forward to visiting, peter Howson is my favourite (painting) artist - I got a film screening ticket of his amazing film called prophecy at the Q&A I got the opportunity to ask him if he identified himself as Scottish and also if he had control over who he sold his paintings to, he does identify himself as Scottish, but; has little control over who buys his work

Green runner Claire was with me for the art exhibition, we were then doing that days running together before an evening out in Edinburgh, we chose to do two runs which were basically a 5 kilometre circular of Arthur’s seat, one clockwise then the same route anticlockwise, we had both ran this route earlier in the year as part of a half marathon - which was 4 loops off this run, sadly this time it was in the rain! there is a massive difference in the time it takes to do this route clockwise or anticlockwise? This is due to the fact clockwise has a very steep ascent then a very long decent, this makes things much faster green runner Claire previously managed her fastest ever half marathon time using this route in a clockwise direction, it wasn’t raining that day but it was on this day, worth it to get four trees planted, we are well practised at changing out of a running clothes in city centre gastropubs after running events, before long we were enjoying a beer and vegie haggis shirts and trousers on, all in all it was a great day out.

The next run was on Sunday the first of October the last day of do a run plant a tree, a new run had appeared on the Skamper app in the local (to me)calendar park this is the scene of Falkirk’s weekly park run - and its annual 10 kilometre so called epic trail run both of which I have done on occasion, it’s a great park for a runner there is lots of trail route options, skampers chosen five kilometre steady big long loop round park I enjoyed greatly, it’s a better route than the park run route, I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this tree planting collab event, I felt - I had done some good in the world not only by planting trees and helping with route feedback & design, but; also helping I hope, to develop this new running app into building a new community of happy healthy people encouraging sustainable transport physical exercise, Who - also still want to limit their impact on the environment being considerate of their carbon footprint, I had planted 9 trees by having fun, the app called this the treeder (not leader) board which I thought was puntastic

Only on this final day did I discover that this was also the end of Scotland’s climate week! Scotland’s climate week is run by the government, the Scottish Government let’s do net zero campaign, is tackling climate change governmental wise via sustainable transport and other carbon negative initiatives to keep on track the 2035 net zero targets - set at the Paris agreement the Scottish Government is way ahead of the British government in achieving this, with Scotrail for example being something the English people should be asking the British government to copy into English society a nationalised train network using electricity to power, I hadn’t been in a car or took a bus all week, but had great adventures! being the changes we need to see in this world does not have to end the fun,

After a rest day from running, I went out and ran a 21-mile loop around Falkirk from home, taking in the skamper kelpies route and; the new - canal tunnel and wheel loop. No trees planted but; it pleased me I had helped develop these routes