MartianTom
Guest
It didn't start well.
I live in Noisy Neighbourhood Central - on the seafront at Herne Bay - and usually go off in the van on Friday and Saturday nights to escape the worst of it. On Fridays, my regular spot had been Marine Crescent in Tankerton, so I'm ready for the Park Run that takes place there every Saturday morning. Now, though, the council have put the block on motorhome parking there because 'a resident' complained. I could have defied the ban - but I decided to stay put at home this Friday.
Big mistake! Noisy pub to my left, nightclub to my right, all-night fast-food place downstairs, boy racers revving and skidding around over the road at the car park, drunk people wandering along shouting as only drunk people and mobile phone users do. At 2 am I gave in, grabbed my pillow and running kit and drove off to a local side road, where I at least got a few hours relatively undisturbed. Drove from there to the run, which - despite the heat - I managed to come 6th in, and in my second best time! Feeling slightly better for that, I showered and breakfasted in the van, then came home for the day.
Packed up and set off again at 6 last night and headed to Canterbury for the evening 'Light up the City' event - a 5 k run for a local hospice. I've never raced twice in one day in all my years of running, but I liked the sound of this event - all around the walls and streets of the old city at night, with each runner wearing glo-sticks. I thought I'd take it easy - but in the end I did my best-ever time (may have been a slightly short course!), carried along by the crowds and the general festive sense to the whole thing. It was great... and there were no hills, which is always a bonus! I came 6th again, too, which I was doubly chuffed about. After helping to cheer the other runners home, I went back to the van for a hot shower and dinner. Then it was over to Bishopstone Lane (in Beltinge, just outside Herne Bay) for the night. It's a quiet cul-de-sac leading to a small car park near the cliff tops, about a mile up from Reculver (I've mentioned it in a 'locations' thread).
Surprise surprise... I was the only one there! En route I'd stopped off for a bottle of ale and a nice fat cigar, and I sat at one of the picnic tables with them for the next half-hour - full dark, except for the dim skyglow from the town down the hill and the pinpricks of a billion stars. Just before I turned in at 11, I stood on the van step and looked down across the fields to the floodlit ruins of Reculver church, like a fairground spook rearing up in the night. Half an hour's reading in bed and I was as gone as Christmas... waking only at 5 am as a cock began crowing somewhere nearby. It was still dark, but - peering over the edge of the bunk - I could see the day-glo colours of the glo-sticks still brightly lit where I'd left them on the table. I left before the dog-walkers arrived at 6 - usually half a dozen or so cars packed with chattering people and over-excited animals - and finished off the night on the seafront. Another shower, breakfast, home again by 8.30.
And now I'm off again. Taking the van up to the downs, where I can park free all day, wind down the awning and sit out on the grass... with just a short walk to the sea for a swim. I'll have the laptop, so it won't be an entirely work-free day.... but as close as you can get!
So... maybe not such a good start to the weekend... but no complaints since, and mainly because of the van and the freedom and flexibility it's given me.
And the peaceful nights... :wave:
I live in Noisy Neighbourhood Central - on the seafront at Herne Bay - and usually go off in the van on Friday and Saturday nights to escape the worst of it. On Fridays, my regular spot had been Marine Crescent in Tankerton, so I'm ready for the Park Run that takes place there every Saturday morning. Now, though, the council have put the block on motorhome parking there because 'a resident' complained. I could have defied the ban - but I decided to stay put at home this Friday.
Big mistake! Noisy pub to my left, nightclub to my right, all-night fast-food place downstairs, boy racers revving and skidding around over the road at the car park, drunk people wandering along shouting as only drunk people and mobile phone users do. At 2 am I gave in, grabbed my pillow and running kit and drove off to a local side road, where I at least got a few hours relatively undisturbed. Drove from there to the run, which - despite the heat - I managed to come 6th in, and in my second best time! Feeling slightly better for that, I showered and breakfasted in the van, then came home for the day.
Packed up and set off again at 6 last night and headed to Canterbury for the evening 'Light up the City' event - a 5 k run for a local hospice. I've never raced twice in one day in all my years of running, but I liked the sound of this event - all around the walls and streets of the old city at night, with each runner wearing glo-sticks. I thought I'd take it easy - but in the end I did my best-ever time (may have been a slightly short course!), carried along by the crowds and the general festive sense to the whole thing. It was great... and there were no hills, which is always a bonus! I came 6th again, too, which I was doubly chuffed about. After helping to cheer the other runners home, I went back to the van for a hot shower and dinner. Then it was over to Bishopstone Lane (in Beltinge, just outside Herne Bay) for the night. It's a quiet cul-de-sac leading to a small car park near the cliff tops, about a mile up from Reculver (I've mentioned it in a 'locations' thread).
Surprise surprise... I was the only one there! En route I'd stopped off for a bottle of ale and a nice fat cigar, and I sat at one of the picnic tables with them for the next half-hour - full dark, except for the dim skyglow from the town down the hill and the pinpricks of a billion stars. Just before I turned in at 11, I stood on the van step and looked down across the fields to the floodlit ruins of Reculver church, like a fairground spook rearing up in the night. Half an hour's reading in bed and I was as gone as Christmas... waking only at 5 am as a cock began crowing somewhere nearby. It was still dark, but - peering over the edge of the bunk - I could see the day-glo colours of the glo-sticks still brightly lit where I'd left them on the table. I left before the dog-walkers arrived at 6 - usually half a dozen or so cars packed with chattering people and over-excited animals - and finished off the night on the seafront. Another shower, breakfast, home again by 8.30.
And now I'm off again. Taking the van up to the downs, where I can park free all day, wind down the awning and sit out on the grass... with just a short walk to the sea for a swim. I'll have the laptop, so it won't be an entirely work-free day.... but as close as you can get!
So... maybe not such a good start to the weekend... but no complaints since, and mainly because of the van and the freedom and flexibility it's given me.
And the peaceful nights... :wave: