A Quiet Night?

We are always in search of a peaceful spot to spend the night. The other day we were passing through a lock mid-afternoon and the lock-keeper asked us where we were going to stop for the night. We asked if he could recommend anywhere. He told us there was a nice place 2 bridges further on – a quiet place with little road traffic. We left the lock and saw what we thought looked like an excellent place, just 1 bridge further on, and so we stopped. There was a wide greensward separating the canal from the road with some attractive houses facing the water. There was also a windowless, factory-type building entitled ‘Millenium’ with a large car park. I wondered if it might be a ‘LaserQuest’ type place.

We had a quiet evening, a glass of wine watching the sunset, and went to bed. We were awoken a short while later to the sound of shouting and whooping and the steady beat of dance music. So, not a ‘LaserQuest’ type place but a very noisy nightclub. The sound of the beat wasn’t too loud and easy to tune out, but every so often revellers would come outside seemingly in order to shout and scream – not so easy to tune out. And then, when the music finally stopped, around 4am, there was a competition in the car park to see who had the loudest horn. Not a very quiet night! Perhaps we should have just got up and joined in.