An early start on a sunny morning for my often walked 6 miles. Through the woods, past the prison, around or over the golf course, through the park with its many dog walkers, and then more paths on the edge of the woods.
Early morning sunshine at the start of the walk
The way ahead
I had to step off the path for the slow moving horses
When we got back from our 9 days in Eastbourne, part of our walls had been turned into an art gallery (the plate is ours)! We had vacated our home so that our grandchildren weren’t homeless between house moves – and this is how they thank us!!
Strolls along the promenade on a warm morning and a misty afternoon were a gentle end to our 9-day stay in Eastbourne. We’ve been blessed with wonderful weather, including a couple of days of gales and dramatic seas.
Best memory of our stay? This one at the top of Beachy Head. On two consecutive days I walked up there – what an absolutely fabulous location!
It’s Saturday, the penultimate full day of our holiday. An incredibly warm and sunny morning brought out the locals and day visitors for a stroll on the promenade. We sat on benches – people watching – old people (like us), parents with little ones on scooters, dog walkers (lots of them!). In the afternoon we read The Times and took in the end of the Trump reign, and early evening we picked up two enormous cod & chips from the nearby fish & chip shop. No need to take pictures today, so here are a few left-overs from the week.
An early morning yoga class on the beach
A colourful gallery
Out the window of our holiday flat
It was nighttime. It’s not possible to hold a camera still for 4 seconds!
Well we’re still on our pre-lockdown holiday (which is allowed!) but given the government instructions to not make unnecessary journeys we are limiting our excursions to where we can walk to.
Today, without looking to see how far it was, we walked to Eastbourne marina (it was 4 miles each way!). Walking into a bitterly cold wind on a sunless morning was not a lot of fun although on the return journey the sun had appeared and the wind was on our backs.
Without any impressive boats, the marina was just like any other marina. Fortunately there were a couple of places open where you could get takeaway sustenance and we were more than ready for a coffee and Danish pastry.
Having walked 6 miles to Beachy Head on the two preceding days and another 8 miles today, I think we may just have a couple of easy days before returning home.
On a glorious day (what a contrast to several days of gales) a walk to the end of Eastbourne and up to Beachy Head on the South Downs. An absolutely wonderful morning. Some great images – thank you Sony Rx100 camera! Click on them for bigger pictures.
Today’s outing was a 20 mile drive down the coast to Hastings. It wasn’t as windy as the previous days but it was a lot colder. Hastings Old Town is interesting and well worth a visit though the crowded street-parking made it pointless to take photos. There are lots of small, independent shops and cafés which on a warmer day we might have spent more time investigating.
Watching the waves through a salt-spattered windscreen
On a sunny and windy morning, two more images of Eastbourne beach, taken from the pier.
Ten miles down the coast from Eastbourne is Seaford. I’ve never been a fan of Seaford but we were looking for somewhere to drive that was not too distant. There was a gale strong enough to blow us away so we headed briskly towards the inviting cliffs. There are some rather colourful beach huts on the promenade and a lot of activity as large trucks redistributed shingle from the end of the beach to further up. I didn’t envy the digger working so close to the water’s edge as the gale did its best to wash it away!
What a wonderfully, windy morning it was as we walked the long promenade towards the Beachy Head cliffs. These images give no sense of the violence as the waves crashed in and the wind blew a gale. On our return walk, with the wind now behind us, the sun briefly came out. In the town there were plenty of people shopping, and a solitary, heavily armed policeman protecting us (but from what?).
We weren’t expecting to be on holiday, but things change, and here we are in windy Eastbourne. There was torrential rain all the way down though we saw the sun for about 2 minutes once we’d arrived. Hopefully we can expect some improvement during our stay. Our incompetent prime minister is shortly to announce a national lock-down. How this will affect our week remains to be seen. Watch this blog!
I really don’t know what to make of this 2 hour documentary on BBC iPlayer. Is it a spoof – possibly not – but it’s very odd. I don’t think I’d recommend watching it unless you’re curious as to what makes it so weird.
I took my very heavy DSLR camera on my walk today, to see if I could cope with the cumbersomeness of it and to see if the pictures were better than my little Sony. I’m very disappointed with the pictures but these two are OKish. The camera is very cumbersome so I think I’ll stick to my Sony, though I might have a go taking the DSLR out with the telephoto lens to see if I can get something interesting.
A walk (8.5 miles) through 3 commons was not quite a disaster but wasn’t without problems.
I’ve come to rely on my mobile phone and the OS Maps app for navigation. On long walks I always take a battery pack to recharge the phone if necessary, but today I forget the charging cable. Half way through the walk the battery had dropped to 10% and I risked getting lost in the multitude of paths. So I decided to abort the rest of my planned route and make a hurried return to the start point.
I also dropped the phone and cracked the case – so not the happiest of walks.
A stroll around Dorking brought us across this unlikely town scene. I don’t think the sheep are permanent residents though I have seen them there on previous visits.
At the Oxfam Bookshop I was refused entry as I would have exceeded the ‘maximum of 2 customers’ restriction. They are also only accepting donations on Wednesdays and Saturdays. I have more than 30 books waiting to be donated which have accumulated over the lock-down.
