Day 21: Lansing to Seaford, UK: A sudden explosion of beauty

June 9, 2012

We set off from our shared camp with Emma and Stuart, and Emma snapped this shot.

Setting off for Brighton from Lansing. We still look like a parade. (Photo by Emma Taylor)

We were much pleased to have met these two wonderful people in person, and will think of them a lot.

It was still blowing hard from the Channel

We found the NCN route 2 (for a while) and at one point it led right through the Saturday market being held in Shoreham. It was a great market, stressing meat pies, fresh meats, cheese, and baking. We were ticked though, to have one lady tell us we should not be there, walking our bikes. Well, they had put their market right in a NATIONAL cycle route. We were appropriately very rude to the lady, but she does represent a segment of the public that have no sympathy toward cycling. That segment includes far too many pedestrians and far too manyt motorists!

We arrived in Hove, which seems part of the whole Brighton scene, but where we know people are quick to assert that they are not from Brighton.

We did not go into Brighton beyond passing through the waterfront. It looked like a great place, and except for the amusement pier (which we also just passed in front of) did not seem tacky.

A wedding was in progress in this beach pavilion (bandshell).

The ugly Hilton is a big contrast to the elegant old buildings surrounding

Dodie was aware of a candy stick called "Brighton Rock" (don't ask me how she knows these things!). We found a sample, which has "Brighton Rock" imprinted in the candy itself.

Heavy seas strike a breakwater near the Brighton Marina

We ran in to the first example of White Cliffs, which we assume we will see more of as we progress toward Dover. The town had stabilised the cliffs, allowing one to safely pass underneath. I was suitably impressed with the chalk rocks lying everywhere. You could write on a blackboard with one of these with no further processing. However the chalk cliffs are imbedded with flint, making a strange amalgam of hard and soft material. The flint chips lying on the path had us opting to push the bikes to the top of the cliffs, rather than ride below and risk slashing our tires.

If I knew what a groyne was, I would gladly keep off it.

We moved further along the coast, passing the lovely town of Rottingdean, and heading for places like Newhaven and Seaford.

Rottingdean - the last picturesque town for a while

We are in East Sussex now, and it is getting hilly

While there is nothing wrong with these places, they are just compositions of mundane small businesses and uninspired housing. In Seaford (or before, who knows anymore!) we again lost track of the NCN 2. The GPS took us to the A road, and we spent some fun time fight for our lives in the traffic.

Around this time, Dodie was weakening - losing resilience. I think we did not feed her enough. The map showed a campsite in the area but the GPS showed a strange phenomenon. It showed the town streets abruptly stopping and being replaced by .. absolutely nothing. A blank area with not so much as a laneway.

In Canada, this would be no big deal. But in England, I was wondering if I had a glitch in my maps download.

As we slowly pedalled across the mysterious boundary, the dreary townscape winked off and was replaced by a glorious open view of green downs with a curving river heading off to the sea. I couldn't get a shot of it, because we were now shooting swiftly downhill, together with lots of cars, on the narrow road.

At the bottom was an enticing looking pub, and just ahead a sign for the Seven Sisters Country Park. That was about the only sign, and we had to scout around to find what the park was all about. It had a tea garden - closed, and visitor information - closed. But there was a guide plaque that showed a "camping barn" and "backpackers camping". There were also tour busses and lots of people around.

We chose the right person to ask, as he was a local who had clearly been around the park a lot. He guided us to the distant camping spot, warning that now it was only for organized school groups. He said there was a sign that said others would be asked to leave.

We are getting a bit fed up with the lack of camping spots, at least in this corner of England, and we said "Fine, we hope they deport us!". We found the spot and are presently sharing it with a lovely group of chaperoned teenagers. There are flush toilets and we have a spot with a table under a shelter. So it has all worked out one more time!

It's beautiful here, by the "camping barn"

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 616 km (383 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	1
Comment on this entry	Comment	0