Berries radiate joy.
A burst of colour poking through a hedgerow, twitching in the wind. Their shades of red, blue and violet, dancing in the sun.
This week’s Joy Run is an invitation to swap grey pavements for the trails. To rewild your runs and re-engage and delight in the natural world.
Berries may seem a niche theme, but Joy Runs is about celebrating the small things in life, and they don’t get much smaller than berries. And it’s only when we slow down to appreciate tiny details does the world seem bigger and better.
How to run this theme: berries
Different berries grow in different seasons and there’s berry-bearing trees and bushes all around us in the UK. Late Summer is particularly plentiful, lovingly known as free food season.
Your Joy Run might be:
- the hedgerows of city parks and fields
- brambles when running in the woods
- cowberries and cloudberries on coastal paths
- a trek on heaths and moors
- the gift of street and garden trees
- rich pickings on the trails
Or simply head out for a free range run and see what berry thrills find you.
Remember to post your runs and on Instagram and/or TikTok, tagging in Joy Runs. You can also share how you found this Joy Run theme and how it made you feel in the comments box below.
Hopefully you stumble upon a juicy mouthful on your run!
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Where a joy of berries took me
The Cleveland Way National Trail.
The Cleveland Way National Trail is a 109 mile (175km) walking/running route through beautiful and ever-changing landscapes and scenery of the North York Moors National Park. It starts at Helmsley and ends on Filey Brigg. The Trail is one of two halves, with approximately 50 miles of dramatic coastline and 50 miles of heather moorland.
The Trail covers ruined abbeys and castles, old fishing villages and seal colonies, plus an abundance of berries!
My run by the sea was on a bite-sized section of the path, near Ravenscar and Robin Hoods Bay.
Here’s what I found…
Dog Rose Hips (Rosa Canina)
Appearance: clusters of orange-red oval shaped hips
Where: hedgerows, woodland edges and on scrubland
When: September to December
Eating: traditionally used to make syrups to boost Vitamin C levels
Blackthorn Sloes (Prunus Spinose)
Appearance: very round blue-black fruits
Where: scrub, woodland and hedges
When: September to December
Eating: sloe gin anyone?
Blackberries (Rubus Fruticosus)
Appearance: green to red to black as they ripen
Where: woodlands, hedges, heaths
Season: August to October
Eating: Freshly picked or make into jam, smoothies, cakes or breakfast toppings
Making a concerted effort to look for berries reminded me of playing and running in woodland as a child. Emblems of my youth, I would play out far too long between meals in the summer holidays and pick them to keep my energy levels up. There’s still a simple joy in finding untouched hedgerows full of wild blackberries and enjoying mouthfuls of freshly-picked fruit under the sun.
“Life takes you down many paths, but my favourite ones lead to the beach.”
This Joy Run theme is also about renewal. In botanical terms, a berry is a fruit made from the seeds and fleshy pulp of a single flower. An indigestible coating protects the seed inside as it travels through the digestive system of birds, who will disperse them far from the parent plant. Taking a moment to appreciate the ecology of the area in which you’re running can only be a good thing.
One final thought on berries...
Needless to say, if you’re tempted to forage for wild berries on your run then do your own research first.
→ Other ‘Running in Nature‘ themes
