Kickscoot The Coast: Bexhill-on-Sea - Birling Gap

Bexhill-on-Sea - Birling Gap

I am doing this scoot to raise awareness and funds for the ME Association so if you would like to you can sponsor me here.

Here are the links to the previous sections of this trek;
Whitstable - Broadstairs
Broadstairs - Walmer
Walmer - Capel-le-ferne
Capel-le-ferne - Littlestone
Littlestone - Rye
Winchelsea - Bexhill-On-Sea

It has been a very long time since my last scoot - 10 months I think.

I have had a pretty bad year health wise, January saw me go back to square one and have to rebuild my energy levels. I didn't start making headway with this until May. So unfortunately this has meant a pause in my journey.

Recently I've been getting restless and really wanted to push onward with my scoot. I was going to go last weekend, but then had to have a wisdom tooth pulled out which put a stopper on that idea.

To put energy into perspective a little, having my wisdom tooth removed pretty much wiped out 6 days!

So today was the day. I had a terrible night's sleep and woke feeling rubbish but sod it, this is something I want to do and I've reached my limit of resting and only doing small amounts.

Weather looked ok, no other plans, so off we went.

Let's just say the car journey to the beginning was an eventful one…

Back to Bexhill-on-sea! Which was just as lovely as I remembered it, albeit a tad stormy looking this morning.

The wind was against me but wasn't too strong and I pootled along nicely, dropping the odd special magnet along the way. Lots of roads today though around Pevancy so didn't catch many sights of the sea to start with.

Then as I approached Eastbourne it started to get very busy. I've never been to Eastbourne before so wasn't sure if this was normal, but seaside resort in August I figured it was bound to be a bit busy. It quickly got to a point where I couldn't safely scoot down the sea path so I moved onto the main roads, but they were jammed too...

At this point I discovered this weekend is the Eastbourne air show!

I abandoned my sea view and found my way deeper into the town to find some quieter roads/paths, followed signs for Beachy Head and was soon moving again, my scooter was now reading very low battery, but I was not going to stop without getting up to Beachy Head!

Next there was a lovely path winding down away from the town to a lush green field at the very bottom before the steep climb up to the top.

And my was that a climb!

I am particularly unfit at the moment after 8 months of mostly rest and that particular climb I feel would be hard work for anyone - not pushing a scooter!

The views were **stunning** and I got to watch a red arrows display while I stopped to eat my lunch half way up.

I had imagined Beachy Head would be a very quiet place, I thought I may meet the odd dog walker or tourist but that would be about it. I was about as wrong as I could possibly have been.

It was incredibly busy, cars and people everywhere! I had a large audience watch me huff and puff my way up that hill, they must have thought I was mad!

I was so pleased to have gotten to the top and to find a road again!

My scooter was now reading zero battery but Ben was a long way off in the car and anyway it was too busy for him to park, so I continued.

I am so glad I did, what amazing scenery! And what a wonderful downhill winding road.

I popped up to have a look at Belle Tout as it was not far out of the way and had a great view of Beachy Head lighthouse.

There was a sign here which said Birling Gap 20min walk, so off I went. Absolutely no phone signal at Birling Gap but somehow Ben found me and we headed off for a well earned dinner out.

I remembered to start Strava, but forgot to press stop so the figures aren't exactly accurate.

We are now very much at the point where we need to be staying away from home in order to continue as Ben and the kids spent 4.5 hours in the car today! I don't think I am fit enough to do 2 consecutive days scooting yet, so from here on in may take a very long time… You'll have the bear with me.

ME Awareness Day 2018

Today is ME Awareness day as I'm sure you are well aware from all the posts I've been sharing.

I've been wondering all week what my blog today was going to be about. I had a couple of false starts and this morning decided that I didn't HAVE to write a blog just because it is awareness day. But then I was chatting to a friend and it suddenly became clear what I should write.

I've been reading over the last week a whole load of #millionsmissing posts, which is a marvelous campaign and I hope the various demonstrations around the world today have opened eyes. What I've learnt (though really knew anyway) from reading these posts is that I am lucky.

I am not bedbound, I am not housebound, tubefed, paralysed, unable to face light, sound, company.

The diagnosis of ME covers such a broad spectrum of symptoms it is crazy that they can band it all under the same name.

My specialist used to get me to rate my health in terms of % and it is something that has stuck in my mind and can be a useful tool to mark progress. As some of you will know I've not had the best 2018 health-wise so far suffering a pretty major set back at the start of the year. I'd say I am currently hovering around 55% but have been as low 25%. (I have now been staring at those numbers for 10 mins wondering if they are right, hmm)

I have only in the last month or so began to feel like I am participating in 2018 and not just watching it roll on by.

So yes, I am lucky.

But then on the flip side.

I took my girls this morning to a local Kwik cricket club. This was the first time they have shown any interest in the game and I was quite excited. Being there made me realise how much I miss playing the game and teaching others the skills. It also made me realise that I haven't even taught my kids how to throw and catch a tennis ball. But after standing in a field for an hour I was completely floored and fully reminded of why I can't do it.

There are when I think about it so many things that I miss doing.

But life evolves, you adapt to what you can do and try not to dwell on what you can't.

So yes, I am lucky.

Kickscoot the Coast: Littlestone - Rye

Littlestone - Rye.

Today I bombed through the first 5 miles to Dungeness as my family were waiting there to take photos.

I really like Dungeness and wish I had gone slower and stopped more through the reserve. I find it feels almost like a film set, like a land that time forgot. It is so vast and sparse with sporadic boat wrecks and interesting things to look at. One day I will go back and explore properly.

I was pretty sure looking at my map that I could go in on one road and out on another path, though once there it wasn't obvious but I did find my way. 

There is a footpath that runs around the perimeter of the power station and took me uncomfortably close to the hum, I followed before ducking through a gate and onto the main entrance road to the power station.

This was a fun road, large, well maintained and virtually traffic free!

This took me back onto the main road to Lydd. Once I had negotiated Lydd I then found myself on a lovely road side byway, which passed by many beautiful lakes and ponds, until I reached the sea wall just outside of Camber.

There was a fair wind blowing today and the sea was very rough - I told the kids not to bother as it was not a good day for building sandcastles, they were very dissapointed.

On the way out of Camber I found another lovely roadside byway, which then jumped across the main road and through a field before bringing me into Rye!

My battery had pretty much run out and I needed to stop for lunch, so this is where I finished my ride today.

We had a little wonder around the town and a play in the park before heading for home.

I think I might get one more scoot in before I have to think about the logistics of staying away as I get further down the coast.

For my next scoot I will start at Winchelsea as that is the next seaside part and that is what it is all about!

If you would like to you can sponsor me here.

Here are the links to the previous sections of this trek;
Whitstable - Broadstairs
Broadstairs - Walmer
Walmer - Capel-le-ferne
Capel-le-ferne - Littlestone

Kickscoot The Coast: Capel-le-ferne - Littlestone

Capel-le-ferne to Littlestone

Whoever thought it could be so difficult to get from Capel-le-ferne to Folkstone seafront! I started by following the cycle route 2 sign which took me down a tiny road with stunning views but at the end of that road there were no more signs! 

It took the best part of an hour to find my way down to the harbour, I must find a good handlebar mount for my phone so I don't have to keep stopping to check the map.

Eventually I did make it back to the coast and had a blissful couple of miles of coastal path before having to negotiate roads again in Hythe. Again the cycle route signs failed me, but I knew that route 2 at this point was going to go inland and bypass Dymchurch which I didn't want to do anyway, so after a brief stint by the canal I braved the footpath on the main road to Dymchurch, it was quite overgrown and I got pretty battered!

Once I found an entrance up on to the coastal walk outside of Dymchurch it was bliss! Wide flat paths, no cars, buses or branches and gorgeous sea views! By this point I could see my battery was running low so I didn't stop to take many photos. My battery gave out towards the end of this lovely path in Littlestone.

I had a stunning view while I ate my lunch and could see the lighthouses and power station tantalisingly close, but the map said that was another 5 miles away and I didn't want to push myself too much trying to get there, so next time...

If you would like to you can sponsor me here.

Here are the links to the previous sections of this trek;
Whitstable - Broadstairs
Broadstairs - Walmer
Walmer - Capel-le-ferne

ME Awareness 2017

It is that time of year again, ME Awareness week. In previous years I have been a princess, a superhero, "gone blue", and donated various handmade items to auctions and raffles. This year I am not doing any specific fundraising, apart from my on going "Kickscoot the coast".

This year I would like to talk to you about hope and improvement.

I am a great believer that when there is hope there is a way and that it is so important for those suffering with ME and their carers to always have hope and never to give up.

If you or your loved one has ME you have to be in it for the long haul. There is no quick fix. It is tough. It is brutal. Basically it sucks big time. But it is also a journey filled with ups and downs, highs and lows. Sometimes the downs feel bottomless and the highs short lived, but you must never give up.

I am lucky to find myself in a fairly good patch at the moment. Recently I have been looking back over the last day or week thinking I couldn't have done that a year ago. Which is such a tremendous boost!
I know this is a high and unlikely to be maintainable but I shall enjoy it while it lasts (and be thoroughly miserable when it ends!).

But even through the regular highs and lows I can see an ongoing improvement. The lows aren't as low or don't last as long, the highs are higher and higher. I wouldn't go as far to say an end is in sight, but improvement is there all the same.

The specialist I saw when I was first diagnosed (some 16 years ago) used to ask me to measure my health in %, 0 being bed bound and 100 being fit and able to work full time. I would say at the beginning of this relapse (4years ago) I was down as low as 20%, now in this particular high I think I'm around 70%. Which, written down like that is huge improvement!

Kickscoot the coast - Whitstable to Broadstairs

I have always thought how wonderful it would be to walk the coastline from my home county of Kent all the way to Cornwall.

But  as I suffer from M.E. and have a young family this isn't the easiest of tasks to undertake. So instead of walking I will be kickscooting and breaking it down into segments. 
This is my kick scooter.

Each segment will be around 25 miles or so. I cannot manage consecutive days of scooting as even though the scooter is electric it still takes quite a toll on the body. I plan to cover the Kent coast over a number of days out being dropped where I finished last time and picked up once I have travelled as far as I can manage. Once we get beyond being able to travel home I will have to arrange family trips to fit in with school holidays and my husband's work commitments, so do bear with me, this may take some time!

It will be an epic adventure, but I cannot wait to see every inch of that coastline!

All money raised will go to the ME Association, you can sponsor me here.


Whitstable to Broadstairs.

This was the first stint of my epic adventure and my first ride out to see what both me and my machine could manage! I had estimated that the scooter would probably get me to Margate but that I would be happy to get as far as Minnis Bay. So I am ecstatic to have made it all the way to Broadstairs!!!

26 miles in around 3 hours.

I followed the Viking coastal path, which I didn't even know was a thing until I got to Reculver (yes I know I really should have done my homework), it was very useful to have signs to follow for the most part, though there are a few missing along the way at rather crucial points.

I managed to scoot from Whitstable as far as the bandstand in Herne Bay before I put my feet on the floor at which point I nearly fell over as I hadn't realised my legs had gone numb! Also it was freezing and I was wishing I had opted for a coat and boots, but I decided to continue.

When I got to Reculver I thought it would be a good opportunity to use the toilets so I  I locked my scooter up then instantly put my hands to my pockets and realised I hadn't bought my keys! Thankfully a quick phone call to my husband and a 15min warm up with a hot cup of tea in the cafe and my keys were delivered and I could be on my way once more.

I met some characters along the way and had some interesting discussions. I'm gaining well practised responses to the most common questions I get when out riding now.

Today has taught me few things about how to proceed with this adventure. And it has also got me itching to do the next stint of the journey!!!