BUGS, BUDDIES AND BEACHES

After recouping our energies with a good night's sleep after the Solstice, we headed down south, stopping at Winchester on the way. David was convinced the cathedral tour was only £2, having visited before, but on discovering that it was over £6 each we decided to browse the quaint city centre instead.


We found a nice camp-site on the river Arun, between Arundel and the sea, although we were annoyed at having to pay for showers again. We met another camper who was taking his three ferrets on holiday.


Chichester Cathedral was interesting, especially these ornate water spouts to drain water off the roof.


While on a tour [a free one!] of the inside of the cathedral, David felt as if the plug had been pulled and his legs wanted to give way. Worried that this was a rapid onset of old age, we sat on the grass outside for a while. On the way to Forest Row to see Jonathan and Andrea Shopley, the fever started and he realised that he had caught another bug! Jonathan made a delicious barbeque, but sitting outside just accentuated the rigors. Here is their gorgeous dog, Griff.

The next day the long anticipated weekend with the Lilleys arrived at last! We met Paddy and David Lilley in Tunbridge Wells, but instead of touring the Helios homeopathic pharmacy as planned, Dave swallowed Disprins [in the midst of all the homeopathic meds] to stop the teeth chattering and to enable him to drive down to Hastings. The homeopathic remedies that David L had prescribed started to work, but it was a week before he fully recovered.

We rented a static caravan for the weekend with the Lilleys. It was situated in a lovely wooded holiday park called Beauport, near Hastings.

The wooden deck was covered in potted fuschias and vegetables, and although the caravan had cardboard walls [there was no escaping David's diarrhoea!] and the bedrooms were hardly bigger than the beds, it was comfortable and clean. The next day we wandered about the very quaint, old village of Rye with its cobbled streets



and stopped for a pint at the Mermaid's Inn [built in 1420 and notorious for its smuggling history].



The beachfront at Hastings was very busy, full of people from "the other side of the railway line", and rather tacky. These wooden net shops, where the fishermen hang their nets to dry, are unique to Hastings.

Back at the caravan, Sandi made one of her now famous seafood chowders for dinner. Here is David Lilley expressing delight at the chowder!

Breakfast next morning was enjoyed out in the sun...

The weather was lovely and hot and thus ideal for walking along the seafronts of Bexhill and Eastbourne, which were both far quieter and nicer than Hastings.


We met a delightful old lady on Bexhill promenade, who after extolling the virtues of living in Bexhill, offered to take this photo of the four of us.

Eastbourne has a long seaside promenade along its extensive beach,


and like Brighton, has a wonderful old Victorian Pier, which sadly has seen grander days.

We met another homeopath, Moira, for lunch at the Golden Galleon near Seaford, after which we enjoyed the walk to the shingle "beach", marvelled at the white chalky cliffs of the Seven Sisters,

then walked back through fields full of bunnies, dandelions, thistles and blackberries [abuzz with bumblebees].




Sadly, it was soon time to bid the Lilleys farewell, but not before we had each had an osteopathic adjustment to our desperate spines.

Our next stop was a camp-site near West Wittering beach. The beach was a 20 minute walk away, but at low tide it took another 5 minutes to reach the water as the beach was so wide! It is a Blue flag beach with lovely fine sand, just like at home. The water was warm and only lacked waves - at last a proper beach in the UK! We now found ourselves in the middle of a "heatwave" - temperatures of 28-30 deg and the BBC full of warnings about what not to do!

These Hypericum blossoms seem to thrive in the heat.

After 3 days at W Wittering we moved to South Lytchett Manor near Poole, which was a very full campsite. We were given a voucher for a free bottle of wine at a nearby pub, of which we took full advantage. We browsed the Saturday street market in Poole, and drove along Sandbanks, a peninsula of supposedly the most expensive real estate in England.

When we arrived at Ebu, it was early evening with still a few hours of light ahead, so we decided to try to find the lane of cherries again that David and Ebu had happened upon 2 years previously. We found the lane, and the black cherries were ripe for the picking! We munched and picked happily for the next hour, taking bagsful home.