Today was hot! Really very hot. But it was a good day.
I love the Kent LDWA events. I did another of their events, the Andredsweald Circuit, a few weeks ago and had the best time, so I was excited to be doing another one. I wasn't quite so excited at 05.30 this morning, when my alarm went off and I thought I had to go to work, but when I realised I didn't (which took a while, for my brain to kick in at that time of day), I was excited again!
In very exciting and unusual news, and everyone will be happy that I'm not going to have another rant, I made it all the way there on public transport, on time, and was even an hour early. Which left lots of time for chatting to everyone, which was nice, as there were lots of familiar faces to catch up with.
The route was lovely, starting at Margaret at Cliffe, and heading west along the cliffs towards Dover and the first checkpoint....
Then it carried on out to Folkstone to another checkpoint. This part included climbing a lot of steps, 65 at one point, which had been helpfully numbered...
And some good sitting opportunities...
It went above Samphire Hoe, scene of many a race!
It was so beautiful up on the cliffs, running along the North Downs Way...
...after arriving in Folkstone, the route headed back towards Dover. And there was a Spitfire (I think) circling above...
Some of this was the same as the Cinque Ports Hundred route (which I didn't do, but I'm just mentioning it to make it sound like I did, although I did reccee 70 miles of it, so I'm not completely lying, only a bit). It includes some parts through The Warren, which is notorious for being a place to get lost in, but some helpful arrows on the ground made made it much easier, and soon it was out to the sea wall for a mile or two...
Of course, I couldn't do a whole event without getting lost, as that would be most out of character. I missed a turn and ended up the wrong side of the railway, which was a bit of a problem, especially as it is the big high speed line with massive fences all around it, but happily I could spot the bridge I was meant to have gone over in the distance, and headed back.
Back on track, it was time to climb the massive cliffs, which is a real lung buster. And everything else buster too, for that matter. But being up high means good views, and the views were amazing today!
Then it was more inland, and east back past St Margaret at Cliffe for a loop in the eastwards direction towards Deal, but not quite that far, and then back to St Margaret at Cliffe.
It was really scorching today, I think 30 degrees, and there wasn't too much shade, but it was such a treat to be down by the sea on a day like today! There was also a heap of climbing, I think I heard someone said 7000 feet. They may, or may not, have been talking about this event, or something else entirely, but I'm going to call it about that anyway, because it felt like it. So all in all, it was a tough run, but absolutely first class, I really loved it. Thank you Kent LDWA for another splendid event! And the beetroot and cream cheese sandwiches at the end (inspired)!
I remembered about an hour before I finished that there was only one train every hour back to London. I had a quick check on the times, and of course, based on my current pace, I was just going to miss one. So I pushed on, and managed to finish, get changed, have some beetroot and cream cheese sandwiches, and then leg it 1.5 miles back to the station, with 8 minutes to spare.....and guess what's coming....yes! Ha! The train was delayed! Much like getting lost, there also couldn't be a whole days public transport without some problem for me to moan about!
So all in all, 32 miles of event, plus 5 miles of walking and a 3 mile cycle to get there and back. I'm so glad I can rest in the sun tomorrow.....and not need to run the Woldingham Marathon in 30 degrees.....
Looking forward to that 5:30 feeling again!
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