Euro Journal, News & Events, Updates

The Morning Cuppa…The Way Ahead

Posted on August 27, 2024

…The Way Ahead

Tuesday, 27 August

It’s end of summer here in the Costa Brava. Normally the village is hatstand round here, the holiday makers sucking the marrow out of the waning days of their holiday until the first of September when they disappear like elves in the night. This year is different. It feels like it’s already over. The mornings are cooler and the village more quiet. 

We’re home from our whirlwind holiday to Folkestone and we hardly had the moment to catch out breathe. It was marvelous from beginning to end with almost flawless weather the entire time.

We had a bit of a panic on the Thursday — our scheduled Dream Hike ’24 day — it threatened rain all day resulting in  postponement to Friday the 25th. But Friday started blustery, rainy and bracing and as I looked out our hotel window I considered calling it all off. Daiana and I monitored Met Office weather and assured ourselves that by half ten the rain will have abated and the sun come out with warming temperatures. 

We took the risk. 

Putting on our hiking clobber we departed the Clifton Hotel at 10.00am. The skies were a bit frightening still as we climbed into the taxi, but it wasn’t much cold. As we drove towards Dover on the A25 we saw the clouds parting to reveal blue skies ahead. Our optimism was dampened when we joined a long tailback of lorries trying to get to the port for the ferry to France. But fortune again smiled upon us and the lorries were staged in the left lane, allowing our taxi to continue without delay in the right lane. We made the round-a-about at North Military Road and our taxi left us at the Drop Redoubt before 10.30am.

We began with a warm up tab about the moats of the redoubt. I brought my iPad mini and activated an app called Relive. It utilizes Google Maps to trace your route from start to finish. It’s not a new app. I used it previously to map our progress back in 2018. However I accidentally deleted it at the end of the route. I wasn’t about to let that happen this time. We kicked off at 10.36 in the morning and had the most gorgeous weather the entire day. Occasional clouds gave way to blazing sunshine and warm weather as the day wore on. By mid-day it was 74f and we were stripping off sweaters down to our short sleeve polos. Fine summer weather accompanied us for the remainder of the hike. 

We ascended the two steep hills after crossing under the A24. The second of the two being the most

challenging. Daiana left me in the dust. Although tiring, I was able to ascend without running out of puff since dropping weight. I had almost no foot pain either. An issue I suffered from on previous hikes. We carried on along the ridge pausing at an old pillbox and admiring the view. I took a deep breathe in that moment — feeling so alive — a thought to myself in the moment: ‘I don’t need great wealth. I just need to be well enough to continue to be able to do this.’ For me, there is no greater wealth than that. I looked back towards Dover and the way we’d come. Turning I looked towards where we were going. Towards Folkestone. It surmised my attitude. I don’t need to reflect upon where we’ve been but where we’re going. Thus the title of todays port. The Way Ahead. 

It was a flawless day. We experienced the occasional 24mph gust that was made the trail especially never wracking when there was just a meter between the fence to grasp hold of and the cliff edge. Risky. Next time I’ll be sure to stay on the other side of the fence. 

We paid a visit to our bunker. Daiana refused to enter it as it sits precariously close to the cliff edge. I entered. Found where we engraved our initials and the years we visited. I added ’24 to it. I had not been inside there since November 2022. Where do the years go?

We carried on. Pausing at the sound mirror for the traditional photo. Passing the White House of Abbot Cliff we stopped for a bathroom break at the Battle of Britain Memorial. Had a look round the gift shop but didn’t pick anything up before we moved on to the downward trail It was here my left knee began to really ache. It’s the pivoting as I stepped down the stairs where I got a sharp pain in my knee. It’s my meniscus. I have to take care with this or else I’ll blow it out and my hiking days will be behind me. 

Once we got on to more flat terrain the pain in my left knee vanished and the

walk through Folkestone, down along the Marine Parade to the Leas was pleasurable. It was a warm sunny day any everyone was out enjoying it despite the winds kicking up a very spirited tide.

Dream Hike, indeed. 

We ended our journey at 2.45pm. 4 hours and 9 minutes after it began at the Clifton Hotel.

Not near our fastest tab, but we lingered about the Drop Redoubt at the start, spent a good ten minutes in the bunker and another ten at the Battle of Britain Memorial. I reckon if we went hell for leather we could have knocked 40 minutes from the journey. 

No breakfast. No lunch. Now to the lovely hotel room for a bit of r&r before dinner tonight at Folkestone Wine Company. 

I learnt a valuable lesson during today’s hike. Good shoes are a must. I swapped my Salmon hiking/trail shoes for proper runners with good support in them. Made the difference. I didn’t have any notable foot pain as I have suffered with the last hikes. Also, and certainly all encompassing. Get the weight off. The last time I made this hike was in November of 2022. I was hovering around 240lbs then. I was 177 during this hike. So much less wear on my body and quicker recovery.

As always. The journey is everything.

x