LONDON BLUEWAYS | Camino Ultra

LONDON BLUEWAYS CHALLENGE

Welcome to the Camino London Blueways Challenge.

In 2022 Camino created a brand new London based running challenge. We designed twelve trail routes and shared these to challengers via a pdf pack that we curated and emailed. The challenge was to complete the route 'in your own time' and once completed we would send you a puzzle medal - complete all twelve routes and the puzzles pieces would beautifully fit together

First Rule of Greenways Club: You can do these Greenways whenever you like - which means that you can do an individual route anytime you like - just sign up or contact us for more info.

So now the baton has been handed over and the only rule of Camino Blueways 2023 is 'Enjoy Yourself'

We have been blown away by the way our community have taken to the Greenways. We've seen beautiful pictures shared and so we plan to create our own gallery exhibition at the beginning of 2023.

Greenways Legend Sonny Peart (Black Trail Runners) has led his own run-groups

on many of the routes - why not do the same with your run group

Once you sign up we will send you the first set of London routes for you to complete - these will be the first set of the 12.

Route One - Nelsonight Way - 10KM - Putney Bridge to Battersea Power Station

Route Two - East London Historic Canals - 11KM - Hackney Wick to Tottenham

Route Three - Bollo Brook - 11.5KM - Ealing to Barnes

Once you complete the routes you send us the evidence and we send you a medal from the awesome team at ZeroWaste

Each medal is a piece of 12 part puzzle - if you complete all 12 routes you will complete the puzzle - London Blueways Challenge complete.

We are batching the Blueways up - so sign-ups will receive an email with details of the first few routes all at once. This will allow sign-ups to better plan for which route is easiest for them to complete and maybe even head into London and complete a couple or all of them in batches. The Blueways Socials will continue to be monthly.

Average Blueway is 10Km
All Blueways inside M25
All start and finish at London public transport

We are going to be doing a whole bunch of new things inside the Blueways. These include but are far from the whole list:

- a new FastestKnownTime 'mixed team' record attempt
- collaboration with Adidas Battersea Park
- collaborations with London's most famous mudlarker and most infamous forager
- new ecology section with Anson

PRIZES: we are working with a handful of partners who are helping us curate some wonderful prizes.

Many of these are one of a kind experience led prizes.

Greenways Social squad on Wandle Trail October 2022

You will receive a pack when you sign-up and a medal for that route once you have completed it

* Please be aware that you can only be a part of the prizes if you take part during the actual launch month of the challenge

Below is a set of FAQs that we have been asked by runners from our Strava and HEYLO run group.

LONDON BLUEWAYS FAQs

QUESTION 1: Where are the 12 Routes:

Blueways Challengers will receive the routes in packs of two and threes. First three routes are based in Central, East and West London

All other routes will be based in London - covering all four areas of the city and giving the London Blueways Challenge subscribers a real opportunity to experience all the best that the city has to offer from a run/walk perspective.

Future routes have been designed to mix all the very best that London has to offer from a Blue perspective

So think rivers, lakes, ponds, canals and much more. The routes have been designed so that we take you through parks and green areas - just ones that have a water focus. As an added bonus we will be collaborating with many of London's finest water spaces - so if you are a swimmer then this is doubly the challenge for you.

QUESTION 2: How long are the routes:

The shortest route is 5 Miles (8 KMs) and the longest is 10 miles (15KM).

Importantly most routes are 10Km - so accessible for many

QUESTION 3: What do I get if I sign up to a London Blueways Challenge?

You will be sent a pack to your email address. Each pack will contain a gps of the route that you can access via your phone or you can download to a sports watch (Coros/ Apple/ Garmin etc). There will be a full description of the route including helpful information on how to get to the start (and from the finish if the route is not circular). There will be helpful ideas on where to take the best pictures and where you can stop to get refreshments if needed.

QUESTION 4: When will I get my medal?

We will aim to get your medal out to you within 3 days of you sending us your evidence of the run/walk.

QUESTION 5: How do I send you evidence of the London Blueways route.?

The easiest way to do this is to use the verification form on our website:

QUESTION 6: Will it be necessary to use a GPX file to follow the route?

Some of the routes will be fairly easy to follow just by taking the time to look at the instructions that we share with you. We will do everything that we can to make sure that the focus is on you enjoying the route and not getting stuck by awkward route choices. To help you we will be creating a video tutorial on how best to use the GPX. This will be sent out

QUESTION 7: Can I run/walk with my Dog

100% YES. The whole point about our London Blueways Challenge is that it is not always easy to run routes at the same time and when we have dogs - kids on bikes - unusual work times - we all need the flexibility. So this challenge is for you to run/walk when you want - how fast you want - with friends or solo - with dogs and any animal (no you cannot ride a horse or camel!)

QUESTION 8: How do I sign-up?

Go to Camino Homepage and see Blueways as part of the Races/Events Page

If you want to do an individual Blueways route option to the Camino Shop

QUESTION 9: What do you want to know about the Blueways - contact us below

QUESTION 10: How do I take take in one of the Camino Community versions of the Blueways

These will primarily shared to sign-ups via newsletter

Make sure that you are on our Camino Strava Group to se when these Community runs get listed

PRIZES:

One of the thing we are most excited about is to work with our long-standing partners on building very unique (ideally) experience-led prizes. Think one-off trips curated by our favourite companies - Exhale Coffee + 80NoirUltra etc. The only caveat is that you must take part in the actual month that the prize is for.

GREENWAYS:

It is still possible to take part in any of the Camino Greenways. You can order any of these as single route orders on the Camino Shop - Always contact Camino so we can help you prepare for your attempt

GREENWAYS 1: Diana Princess of Wales Memorial - this is a 7 Mile (11KM) route taking in the four London parks that Princess Diana loved to walk and run around. The actual route has 90 plaques embedded on the route.

GREENWAYS 2: Dollis Valley - 10 Mile (16 KM) hills/forest/mud trail from North West London to the tip of Hampstead Heat. Route has some beautiful trails and a real feel of nature and beyond the chaos of London.

GREENWAYS 3 : New River - 10 Mile (16 KM) from Enfield to the wonder of Sadlers Wells (Angel, Islington) - more than ever this is a great example of a route that you discover whilst always feeling like the hubbub of London and the paved streets are literally just behind you.

GREENWAYS 4 : Roding Valley - 9 Mile (15 KM) from Debden to Wanstead - this is a unique version of the Roding Valley trail and one that brings you so close to some of the major highways of London and yet is so lush and wild

GREENWAYS 5: Celandine - 10 Miles (16 KM) - this is one of the standout London trail routes that offers so much variety of trail for everyone to enjoy in West London

GREENWAYS 6: Green Trail - 15 Miles (24 KM) - one of the longest Greenways of 2022 - this is such an epic trail taking in SW London from the suburbs through iconic Richmond Park and heading all along the Thames to Hammersmith

GREENWAYS 7: Thames Path South East (9.5km) - nearing the 10th anniversary of the London Olympics, this is an exploration of the hugely regenerated area between Woolwich and Greenwich

GREENWAYS 8: Thames Estuary Path (21 KM) Tilbury to Stanford-le-hope - Taking in everything from the Windruch exhibition, to Royal Naval Forts and views of the infamous Boris Runway this wild and expansive route is like none other in the Greenways series. HIGHLY RECOMMEND doing this route with someone else as it is very remote

GREENWAYS 9: Exit from the Greenways - tongue in cheek East London Graffiti route taking in some iconic Banksy murals and much more. IMPORTANT to note that this route takes in some narrow passageways and back-streets so we do not recommend that you do this as a solo female runner or at night unless you feel comfortable to do so.

GREENWAYS 10: Wandle Trail - gorgeous river trail in South London - starts at Mitcham Junction and finishes in Wandsworth Town which has a gorgeous independent scene.

SIGN UP ANYTIME - you can do any route on any day and get a pack and medal