Last weekend I found myself on a drizzly Saturday avoiding a Tommy Robinson demonstration in Bournemouth and taking it easy before what was going to be a busy evening of socialising and dancing at a black tie evening.
The weather had started to change, it really felt like autumn and as I hid from the march and the weather in a waterstones cafe with a pot of tea. I noticed the beautiful people around me and it led to drifting thoughts of an enchanting woman…
Dreams of Autumn
I dream of an autumn woman, with warm auburn hair, one who wears mustard and olive sweaters and ribbons in her hair. With a scarf around her neck and a complexion so fair, contrasting her warm brown eyes as she gently stares.
I dream of an autumn woman, the type that kicks the leaves, and spins, smiling and laughing at the nesting mess she leaves. Frollicking so happily in the cold autumn air, as her hair catches in the wind and she dances without a care.
I dream of an autumn woman, who’s not afraid to show her scary knife skills as we carve pumpkins and prepare for all hallows. Her witches hat on crooked and a smile that shows, despite the sweet aroma of cinnamon and pumpkin spice, she knows how to be just as naughty, as she does nice,
I dream of an autumn woman, so warm, so cosy, so free, with a little giggle as she passes that fills me full of glee. A glee that comes from the knowledge that with her by my side we can hibernate together till spring time brings us alive.
I sit here in my Mum and Stepdads lounge in front of the fire drinking a bailey’s over ice, coming to a strange realisation as I glance up at the time 01:00. This is the first time I have been in a house at this time on a new years eve for a couple of years. You might assume that is because normally I am out getting drunk in a pub or club but you’d be wrong, although I have nothing against those activities they are just not my scene.
I, every once in a while really enjoy just dancing to the early hours but most of the time I am more of a scotch and dark corners with easy going piano music or jazz sort of guy. Though I don’t find a good location for that much these days, thus scotch and a decent BBQ at a mates house is definitely my scene, sitting by the grill smoking cigars talking serious till the early hours… However I am also a restless soul and so more so than not at this time on a new years eve I have been in the car heading towards Cornwall to catch the dawn.
I know that the sun rises in the east and thus Cornwall being to the west would not be the normal place to catch a sunrise. Especially when you consider that normally on new years day the weather isn’t that good, often overcast and grey. However, I don’t care, North Cornwall between St Ives and Portreath is a special place to me and always will be.
This sort of unconventional journey is something I have been doing for about 10 years, and was a natural progression in a way. When I was 17 and had my first bike I would often after babysitting on a Friday or Saturday night just take roads I didn’t know and head roughly in a given direction till I read a road sign name I recognised. This often was in inclement weather and was about freedom and pushing myself, I had a vehicle there was nothing stopping me so why not. I had nothing urgently waiting for me at home after all.
When I passed my driving test at 19 this developed to further distances, it wasn’t uncommon for me to go out and do 60-100 miles of an evening just to find new roads, listen to a cd and work on my driving.
For my 21st Birthday I had nothing planned, other than to hop in my 1972 hillman imp and take myself down to Gwithian to sit on the coast, maybe fly a kite. When a friend found this out he asked if he and a couple of mates could join, before I knew it there was 4 of us on route to Cornwall for the day. We flew kites got a nice lunch and then headed back up, it was a mini adventure and I loved it, I remember listening to Weezer from a minidisk player on the way back reflecting on turning 21. (Note the MiniDisc was old tech then it’s just my iPod was broken at the time, I’m not that old).
We went in two cars, note I had no front passenger seat in at the time (it had been removed to measure up for a bucket seat replacements) so Bob had to sit in the back with no seat belt and had to brace himself every time we entered a roundabout…
Around November that same year one night I had been out in the car to the normal hang outs with other friends, nothing much was going on so I headed home but having split up with my girlfriend about a year before and still thinking about her, I was restless and didn’t feel like sleeping. So I started heading west, deciding I wanted to wake up somewhere else and see the dawn no matter what it looked like, just somewhere other than home. I awoke in the car park at Gwithian to a cold November morning but to about 40 surfers taking advantage of a good morning’s surf.
I remember writing a poem as I sat taking in the scene I think I titled it “230 miles for a smile”, I still have it or a digital copy somewhere I will have to dig it out… since this I have done it many times, at different points in the year, as well as to other locations.
The tradition for me of doing it on New Years Eve started as we went form 2015 to 2016, once again I had split with my girlfriend, this time gradually between that summer and Christmas.
She had gone off to do what she loved (acting) at uni in London and I had stayed doing the commute from the New Forest up to work in Wokingham, things hadn’t been perfect for the few months before she went but I still had hope. She however had a new direction and I didn’t fit with it, so after a particularly awkward night at my works Christmas party in a hotel things were clear and we parted ways.
A month later a friend was throwing a New Years Eve party at his parents with his brother and bunch of friends, it looked like it could be a good laugh. Having not had dinner I turned up with both dinner for myself and desert, everyone loves a chocolate gateau. Whilst shopping for these on route I had decided that not knowing half the people there and being a little in my own head I didn’t want to get drunk and to serious for the crowd.
You know that feeling when everyone else has there respective places at a party, beds and partners etc and then theres you the odd guy who is just a little too intense for most people.
So I decided that at 13:00 I wanted to head off and wake up somewhere else. So I thought about the time scales and chose Gwithian as an easy target, I was mildly hoping that I could enchant with the spur of the moment adventure nature of it a nice your female or a couple of friends to join me. However that was unsuccessful so off I went to catch the dawn in Cornwall driving solo.
The joke being that a couple of friends said the next day they had wished they had joined me as two young ladies had got well out of hand, trashed the bathroom before refusing to leave and causing a ruckus. They said they could have done with my help and that I got out at the right time…
Although since then there have been years where I have stayed at the house party or the LAN party at home, more of them have been spent the same, driving to around Hayle to catch the dawn. The last couple of years friends have joined me realising that it’s an easy going night / early morning of music choices, sweets / snacks and chatting as the mile role by.
I find you get the most honest and fruitful conversations when your in a car with someone for a few hours or more, all that stuff that there was never space for before in your friendship comes up. You get to the bottom of those missed communications and understandings of the passed and find a clear way forward.
If it weren’t for COVID and the importance of keeping everyone safe I would be doing the same again. There will certainly be more dawn rides and drives to come both at new years and at other times, there are just some nights where I get home and you don’t want to be there or my mind needs more time on the road. These are the nights I look at the time and pick a place on the map and a route, go inside shower/take a nap and pack a bag and start heading in that direction.
So although it’s a strange New Years Eve sitting in front of the fire as it dies down and my glass has run dry, not seeing my friends or getting to be on the road, I am looking forward to the year ahead. I am already in my head thinking about how I can get more out of the time I will have where I will be to travel this year. Whether that be to work on the Hillman Imp or to clock up the miles on two or four wheels.
Happy New Year! below is my favourite dawn run from this passed year, that I managed to squeeze in when we came out of lockdown earlier this year, I suspect I will do this one again at some point this year…
July 2020
I know some of you already think I am crazy but what a wonderful way to feel alive…I didn’t feel like sleeping Friday night and had to be in the New Forest for 9am Saturday to give my brother a hand, so I thought where could I go in between.
So I took the long way from High Wycombe to Margate got there about 4am leaving me enough time to find a nice spot before the sunrise at 5am. After that, I hopped back on the bike and rode across country to the new forest not a motorway on either journey. Arriving for 9am…
It was a beautiful morning and lovely scenery to ride through as the sun continued to come up. I was lucky to arrive at a nice cooked breakfast and a fresh coffee.
Following that, after an early night, I started early on Sunday, meeting a friend at Loomies, before taking a nice winding route around Hampshire and clocking up some more miles over Sunday.
All in all clocking up around 280 miles Friday night / Saturday and a further 200 on Sunday for a total of about 16 hours in the saddle. Definitely worth it!
LazyModernTraveler 