Over the first weekend in September 2012 Dave, Claire and I decided to the run the (alleged) 55 miles of the North Downs Way that comprises the loop between Dover and Canterbury. This route would take in an overnight stay at my University and a trip down memory lane as well as some superb coastal trails along the famous White Cliffs of Dover, Concrete Listening Ears, A Flying Texan and a new concept we dubbed ‘sports shisha’
Dave and I drove to Folkestone on the Saturday morning, planning to meet Claire in Canterbury in the evening and stay over, and then run back down the other side of the loop with her on the Sunday back to the car.
Dave and I started our run Saturday morning at the crack of 10.30am. The plan was to park the car in a housing estate I had spotted on the O/S map and use a small footpath to get up onto the Creteway Down overlooking Folkestone and then head West/ Clockwise along the North Downs Way towards Wye.
We started well. It took us a while to even find the little path and park, and then we had run for about 10 metres before the path was so overgrown that we could hardly get through the brambles. I bent over to get under a particularly dense patch and felt my full camelback leak into my rucksack and tip water all over my clothes for the evening.
So far so bad.
 |
| Dave at the footpath leading up to Creteway Down. |
When we go to the top of the very steep Creteway Down the views were amazing. We could see the sea and all of Folkestone laid out before us. We could also see the other steep hills in the distance and realised quickly that this run would not be a ‘get up on the downs and then stay up there’ kind of run but more of a ‘ get up one bastard steep hill and then go down and then go up the next bastard steep hill’ kind of run.
 |
| Dave looking out from the Creteway Down on the North Downs Way overlooking Folkestone. |
I was pleased to find a Type 22 pillbox nice and early so I instantly felt at home. At the top of the second steep hill of the day (castle hill) we found a nice trig point at the site of an old Ring and Bailey castle and so we got some obligatory Trig Point Planking done. I faced towards ‘Magnetic Godalming’. Dave planked facing towards ‘Magnetic Portsmouth’
 |
| Lee Trig Point Planking on Castle Hill on the North Downs Way in Folkestone |
 |
| Dave trig point planking on the North Downs Way on Castle Hill in Folkestone |
We quickly turned inland and started heading north on a path shared with the Saxon Shore Way ( we have run part of that before in the stretch it shares with the greensand way). It was a hot day and around 28 Celcius and the clear skies gave us great views far into the distance.
 |
| North Downs Way Kent Panorama – pic by Lee-Stuart Evans |
 |
| North Downs Way Panorama – Kent – Pic by Lee-Stuart Evans |
 |
| dave at one of the type 22 pill boxes on the North Downs Way near Etchinghill |
All morning I had heard a very familiar drone of an aircraft. Where I fly at Goodwood they have a Harvard WW2 fighter trainer and it has a very distinct engine noise at low altitude. As we ran along the ridge near Postling I finally spotted a T6 Harvard (although it was in American warpaint so technically it was a Texan as the Americans named it differently). I was utterly delighted when he turned in towards us and gave us a very low, fast and tight turning flyby past our position on the ridge. I just managed to get my camera out in time. We watched in do an obvious circuit ( positioning to land) and I was very surprised to see it land in an unmarked airstrip on private land below us. It put a massive smile on my face.
 |
| Texan WW2 aircraft flyby on the North Downs Way near Postling |
As we got to the viewpoint near Stowting we came across an old vintage Austin car parked with a bemused couple who got to watch me Trig Point Plank with glee while dave took a picture.
 |
| Lee Trig Point Planking on the North Downs Way in Kent |
 |
| Vintage Car on the North Downs Way in Kent |
We then took a break somewhere near Brabourne Downs. We had been running for 3 hours and wanted some time to drink and eat and rest. We were sitting in the shade on a path a few feet wide with a fence on one side and dense woods on the other drinking red bull when we heard the distant sound of cars…..driving along the footpath.
We watched four or five off road vehicles full of people ‘squeeze’ along the path ( a right of way) . we had to push ourselves deep into the undergrowth for them to get past. We asked what they were doing so deep n the middle of nowhere and they showed us laminated cards they were following. Effectively they were doing a ‘off road vehicle hash’ and were following a set of clues. I thought it was hilarious.
Even funnier we bumped into them again. An hour later. They still look just as lost and we realised we could have got a lift.
It was about here that I did the one thing you should never do on long runs…..zoom out on my ‘science’ ( phone with GPS and OS map) and see where Wye and Canterbury were relative to our position. I had a minor panic. We were less than a third of the way through the days running. based on what I could see and the progress we had made up and down all the steep hills in the heat it looked like the 28 miles were going to significantly more.
As we ran along the Devils Kneading Trough in the Wye Downs 9 a popular scenic spot for topless sunbathers as we found out) I saw a stone North Downs Way sign that pointed towards Canterbury. Worryingly it said we had another 20 miles to run. This was a worry. A big worry. If this sign was correct we were only half way through the days running and had a total of 40 miles to run that day. Also it pointed in the opposite direction to the way we were going.
We ran on through Wye and waited patiently at the crossing as a train went through. For the second time that day someone told us we were running in the wrong direction for Canterbury which only raised my stress levels more.
We passed Boughton Aluph where the ‘loop’ of the North Downs Way meets the ‘ long bit’ that leads eventually to Farnham. We would soon be returning here another day for another long run, but we didnt know it at the time…and in 2015 I attempted to run 100 miles of it in one go with Centurion Running.
We took another break at Boughton Aluph by a church and we had both used all of our water from our camelbacks but Dave and I managed to find an outside tap at the church and refilled our water supply taking on another 6 litres between us.
We then ran up into Kings Wood on a long gentle ascent. We had a ‘quiet time’. We both knew we had quite a slog ahead and being at the 22-24 mile mark we were close to ‘hitting the wall’. I dont think Dave and I said a word to each other for about 90 minutes. It wasnt an unpleasant thing…..we just needed to get on with it. Which we did.
We passed more useless stone signs giving incorrect distances to Canterbury and passed Bagham and Old Wives Lees without catching a glimpse of Canterbury Cathedral. We were over the 30 mile mark and still hadn’t even got close to our days destination.
Where was Harbledown ? Why werent we there yet?
 |
| Chilham Castle in Bagham on the North Downs Way |
Eventually we ran through Chartham Hatch. I was at one of the stages of running despair by then …..Bargaining……I begged Dave for us to stop and eat dinner at a pub we passed and then run on to Canterbury. He was having none of it and told me to man up. I manned up.
The next few miles were a blur of tiredness and orchards. I ….er….picked up some fallen fruit from the ground that had fallen on the path and wasn’t on the tree….. and put it in my running bag for a gift for Claire from the days run.
It didnt take long to get civilisation, suddenly we were in a road with houses and in the distance we could see Canterbury Cathedral Spire.
34 miles and we had got to Canterbury about 6pm. Whilst trying to hail a cab someone in a hotel looked at my compression running clothes and asked ‘why was I dressed like a diver?’. We ran all the way almost to Westgate because we couldn’t get a taxi so we got the bus up to my old university where we had booked some overnight accommodation in Rutherford College.
Although there were lots of changes the Uni seemed fairly similar to how I remembered it, having not been there for nearly 13 years. We bought sports drink (beer) and running snacks from the campus shop. it would seem that the typical diet of a student and long distance runner is nearly identical. After a very unfriendly check in with ‘hospitality’ we had showers in our corridor. Claire, Dave and I had a room each in the E4E corridor. We were the only guys in the whole corridor and I had booked us in as Professor Evans, Professor Harvey and Professor Turner. After our showers we cooled our sunburnt faces on the cool brick walls. I then wore the only remaining dry clothes I had left (from the soaking they got at the beginning of the day) and we set off into Canterbury to meet up with Claire who was arriving by train. I had no pants or socks on.
 |
| Rutherford College and Kent University |
After meeting Claire (who had sensibly been carb loading on the train with beer) we headed into the town centre. An old medieveal city and tourist trap like Canterbury has a wealth of excellent dining opportunities. The michelin website rates 2 restaurants in Canterbury very highly.
We chose carefully.
We chose Taco Loco because you could wear mexican hats and sit outside. We chose taco loco because you could smoke Shisha as well.
 |
| Lee drinking ‘sports drink’ at Taco Loco in Canterbury |
 |
| Dave and Claire smoke ‘sport hookah’ at Taco Loco in Canterbury |
We had large mix of mexican food, some beers and a bit of mint hookah before getting the bus back up to Kent Uni for bed.
 |
| Claire gives Ernest Rutherford a goodnight kiss at Kent University. |
It was ridiculously warm in the rooms and I slept the night without a blanket on me. Luckily this gave my wet clothes a chance to dry. Very little had really changed since I had been a student there, the only difference as I fell asleep was the realisation that the ‘Rock’ college of Rutherford would have had Nirvana blaring out from the corridors until late at night rather than the peace an quiet we had. The new students were still a week away from arriving for freshers week.
The morning was a very civilised affair compared with our usual running overnight stays. Dave came out of the closet and we all went downstairs into the canteen for a large unhealthy ‘sports breakfast’
 |
| Kent Alumni Lee enjoying his first Rutherford College Breakfast in 13 years |
We set off around 9am down the Eliot footpath and ran past my old student house on the way to Westgate. After yesterdays 38 miles my confident reckoning was that today was only going to be about 17 miles because the website said the whole loop was 55 miles. For the second day running I was going to be horribly wrong.
 |
| 4 St Michaels Place in Canterbury – Lees old student house. |
The pilgrims trail takes you right through Canterbury to its natural conclusion of Canterbury Cathedral. We only stopped briefly to take a picture from the Christ Gate entrance before running out of the city and into the countryside. The weather forecast was that Sunday would be even hotter than Saturday. I made a note to put on suncream later while Dave found a useful book about wild flowers of the countryside just lying in the road.
 |
| Canterbury Cathedral |
Where Saturday had been a day of up and down hills Sunday proved to be a more ‘typical’ Kent running day. This meant running out across vast open fields on flat landscape. in the baking heat and clear skies our camelback water supplies took a pounding as we ran towards Shepherdswell. We checked on the GPS and many of the open fields were between half and a mile wide at a time. Being in the middle of the field meant halfway across you almost had no sense of movement and it was hard to imagine getting to the next hedgerow.
 |
| Lee , Dave and Claire on the North Downs Way near Canterbury |
 |
| The wide and open fields of the North Downs Way near Canterbury. |
We had a brief pub stop at The Bell Inn. We didnt have time for a real lunch but instead bought a load of crisps and large pints of cool Coke. The landlord was lovely and mixed Claire and I up 3 litres of Blackcurrant cordial with loads of ice for our camelbacks (which were empty again). I also had some pain and stiffness starting in my quads (my calves were already KT Taped up and fine). I borrowed some macho pink KT Tape off Dave and went to the mens room to stick pink racing stripes on my quads and hope no-one would walk in while I had my running tights down. (they didnt).
 |
| The …er…’sign’ for the pilgrims way on the North Downs Way in Kent |
Leaving the pub we could see a sign for Dover on the footpath that said 8 miles. This put us in good spirits as did the icecubes in the camelback which not only kept the drink in the camelback cool but also our backs while we ran. Air conditioning on the move.
 |
| Claire Dave and Lee do ‘shadow penises’ on the North Downs Way |
We started running mainly uphill through each field and copse. After a few miles I was convinced at the crest of each hill we ‘would be able to see the sea’ and at each crest I was wrong. Again and again.
Then we got there. We ran into the streets of Dover and down towards the coast. We could see the Castle in the distance and we stopped at the shops for drink and some fudge and Claire took a few seconds in the square to watch some of the paralympics they were showing on a massive screen.
 |
| Claire sits to watch the Paralympic Rugby in the square in Dover |
We followed the signposts towards the ‘Drop Redoubt’ Which is a napoleonic fort on top of the hill opposite Dover Castle. We stopped for a quick ‘3 way Smack’ on a bench at a viewpoint.
We ran along the Western Heights towards Aycliff with fantastic sea views and massive drop offs the cliffs to our left. We could see the Dover Harbour where I used to SCUBA dive when I was at University (we used to go night diving on the outer wall for lobster).
 |
| The North Downs Way with a motorbike that shouldnt be there in Dover. |
We needed to cross the main road via a tunnel but the map was a bit vague about where the actual crossing was but eventually we found it (Dave and Claire nearly being run over by a motorbike riding down the stairs and through the tunnel) and started the ascent towards Round Down. It was VERY steep and the drop off was a LONG WAY down to the Samphire Hoe Country Park below. There were no fences, just a sheer drop 2 feet to your our left. I tried to take lots of epic photos but we were running into the sun and it was difficult. Dave was now storming ahead and left Claire and I about a mile behind him at some points.
 |
| Claire running up the White Cliffs of Dover on the North Downs Way |
As we ran along the top of the cliffs there were lots of concrete bunkers and gun implacements left over from World War 2. We had seen a lot of these all the way from Cornwall to Dover but what interested me the most this time was a ‘concrete listening ear’ which we found. These listening mirrors were used to listen across the channel at France to listen for enemy aircraft approaching and gave some warning before the invention of radar. There were a bemused couple having a barbeque in front of it who asked us what it was. I went into full nerd mode but they seemed more astonished that we had run there from Canterbury.
 |
| Concrete Listening Ear on the North Downs Way in Dover |
There were sections of the North Downs Way that just weren’t there anymore. The map would show a straight path but the cliff edge was gone. A few times we had to do a dog leg round a ‘gap’ in the cliff. After covering so much distance over two days my quads were really tight and painful if I was running or stepping downhill.
 |
| If you squint you can see France from the North Downs Way in Dover |
The paths ran right to the edge and as we looked out over our left we could see the coast of France. We also came across the Battle of Britain memorial and took a moment to look at all the badges of all the squadrons involved in action.
 |
| Battle of Britain War Memorial on the North Downs Way near Dover |
After a mile or two more we finally made it back to Creteway Down where Dave and I had started the day before. It was about 5.30 in the evening and we had covered another 34 miles (not the 28 miles indicated on the maps).
 |
| Claire Trig Point Planking on the North Downs Way overlooking Folkestone |
As a final goodbye to this section of the North Downs Way Claire did some trig point planking and I had a a quick go in another type 22 pill box.
 |
| Lee in a type 22 Pill box on the North Downs Way on Creteway Down near Folkestone |
Dave found a better route off the Down back to the parked car that didn’t involve all the brambles. On the drive home back to Surrey we all realised that at the rate we had run we would have run the whole Greensand Way in 3 days not the 4 we did it in. All of us hit new personal bests for distance off road that weekend. The weather was amazing (if a bit too hot) and it really felt like a great end to a summer of varied and brilliant running.
….And as usual after only a few minutes of finishing a big run Dave was already talking about where we might go running next………..
