A 7am start saw myself, Craig Goodwin, Paul Coates and Mark Greenfield setting off from Lee on Solent’s amusements car park with both “banter” and light drizzle in the air. I’d aimed at a route that was similar in nature to the Arun River Marathon that 3 of the 4 of us are running. Craig was returning from the SDW50 and a knee injury which sadly fared up late on.

The wind off the sea was against us, as we ran along Hill Head, with views of the Isle of White to our left and the fields to our right this meant the coastal path was living up to its name. The path has a number of shingle sections which were run with relish and as Fawley refinery and big oil tankers came into view, Warsash was upon us. I could taste the salt on my forehead as we headed inland on the Hamble riverbank.

The Hamble rivers 100’s of yachts were a sight to see and by now we’d all agreed that the latest “Thomasson’s Tours” was going well. We crossed the bridge at Lower Swanwick and started the uphill run. With the weather improving Paul and Craig ran on an extra 1/2 mile and Mark and I turned for home. It’s a pleasure running in this area and we are very lucky to have it on our doorstep.

A feature of today’s run was the “banter” which is necessary when you are taking on 20 miles, even if it’s on a scenic route such as today. We passed the boatyards and yatchs from earlier and were soon back on the coast with the wind behind us. We discussed Craig’s worsening knee problem and agreed to press on as a “3” and jump in the car to pick him up. All in all 20 ish solid coastal/riverbank miles with a hill for good measure. Great company and a great run.