Day 80: Back to Eastbourne

When I was a child my grandfather used to take us out in his car on Sunday afternoon to give my parents a bit of time off. With six children I’m sure that was welcomed. When we asked where we were going he used to say, “there and back to see how far it is.”

I left Eastbourne on May 1^st and started my trip on the edge around the whole coast of Britain and tonight I will have been there and back to see how far it is.

Saltdean is a small village on the outskirts of Brighton and I called in on Ruth an old friend  who had been so encouraging about this trip. She is a writer and she had suggested not only to write a blog but to keep a journal as well . One journal has become three! So much happened that I did not record for the blog, and I just wanted to share some of it with Ruth.

Over a cup of tea I told her about the soldier theme and what some of it had involved. Why? Because Ruth was an army doctor for years. Things I had experienced around the military would resonate with her. It did.

I am waiting to see what I am supposed to do with the ideas and experiences that were shared with me by the soldiers I met on route.As a professional with a foot in both camps so to speak, Ruth may well be part of that too.

Peacehaven is a small town on the coast road just a little further on towards Eastbourne. It would be easy to dismiss it as an insignificant bungalow development but that would be a mistake.

Peacehaven was established in 1916 and originally formed for returning first World War veterans so that they could recover in peace and beside the sea. The land was cheap and people could afford to buy plots and build on them. Originally they could build out of any materials and it may have started like much like plotties movement I saw elsewhere.

Its name came from a competition in the papers set up by an entrepreneur who bought up much of the area and offered free plots as prizes but it was revealed to be a scam. The plots were free but the conveyancing was expensive. The naming competition winner was a lady in Leicestershire called Ethel Radford who suggested the name Peacehaven.

The Greenwich Meridian runs for more than 200 miles through Britain from near Withernsea in East Yorkshire to Peacehaven.  The line is invisible like the equator but there is a monument to it in the town .

Newhaven is another easily dismissed town but again there are some distinguishing features. For a start it is an active port. From here you can take the ferry to France for a day trip.

There is also a 19th century fort there to protect the harbour. It was the largest defence work ever built in Sussex and is now open as a museum.

Seaford is a small seaside town just before the Seven Sister Country Park. It is worth the trip just to visit Pomegranate an unfussy small restaurant run by Steve and Sava. The food is consistently great, with imaginative specials every day. Thankfully an exception to the poor quality food offerings elsewhere on a lot of coastal Britain.

The Cuckmere Haven is famously featured in geography textbooks because it is a fine example of a meandering river with several oxbow lakes.

The iconic Seven Sisters cliffs that feature on the front cover of Bill Brysons latest book (The Road to Little Dribbling) are there in all their glory and are another  popular film location.

The area is  designated.  The Seven Sisters Country Park and the visitors centre is worth a visit. .

It's a lovely flat walk from the car park to the sea where there is a nature reserve.  From the 16^th to the 19^th centuries these beaches were popular with smugglers who were pursued by revenue officers from nearby Newhaven with mixed success.

You can also see old pill box war defences on the route left over from World War 2

On to Birling Gap from where you can stroll along the cliff top to the Belle Toute Lighthouse. The lighthouse was once the Eastbourne Lighthouse but was decommissioned and sold to private owners who converted it to a Bed and Breakfast location. It was shot to international fame in 1999 when it was moved back from the edge of the cliff to prevent it falling into the sea due to cliff top erosion.

And then it’s home.

So….what have I learnt?

I appreciate my own hometown more than I would have believed possible when I left.  It is a beautiful place unspoiled by slot machines and tacky tourist attractions on the promenade but with lots of much more interesting tourist attractions on offer every month.

It is a clean town.

In spite of the recent criticism of the new pier owner, ours is still one of the best piers along the entire coast of Great Britain and I can say that because I have seen almost all of them. I even like the gilding that catches the evening sunshine.

The flowers everywhere I also have taken for granted and think more towns would benefit from the colour and the beauty and the sense of self esteem that come with taking care of your environment.

I LOVED my trip and I know my mother would also have loved every minute.

The best bits?

Definitely the people I met and the small miracles and magical moments I found by scratching under the surface. The local people who advised me what to see and what to do and the surprising number who did not consider that their towns had anything to offer to a visitor but sent me instead to neighbouring places. 

I appreciate the people who make their homes on the coasts of this stunning beautiful island of ours and now know how tough life is for so many of them living on the edges.

Going by myself meant that I talked to people from all walks of life and saw things from their perspective, particularly as these were interesting months politically in the UK with the EU referendum going on.

I missed my family and particularly my daughters. Morgan, beloved number one daughter, acted as my media persona par excellence and sorted my photos and blogs when I had no signal (much of the time) and made sure I was not sued on my return for being totally non PC. She also added all the links for me and tweeted on my behalf meaning that over 8,000 people have looked at a blog that was intended for my six brothers and sisters and my lovely neighbours. Thank you Morgan. Love you lots.

And how far was it to go there and back again? 5649 miles.

Would I do it again?

In a heartbeat.

Day 61: Blackpool to Harrogate

It’s day 61 already.

I am on the homeward stretch and still loving it.

One of my sisters is a fan of Blackpool and I was looking forward to going there....I really tried to like it.

There is no parking in the town centre so it cost me £5 for three hours – nearly as bad as Brighton.

Parking attendant Dan BP117 told me what I ‘must see and do’ in Blackpool.

Most of it was at the Tower.

It’s all very well making your town centre pedestrian only. You get money from the car parking and usually it makes a quieter and more pleasant experience for shoppers. Not here it doesn’t. 

Every tourist attraction was vying for custom by having someone with a microphone or a tannoy system blaring their different offerings over the shoppers. Ghastly racket!

I have never seen so many ‘pound’ shops so close together. It speaks volumes about the economics of the area. There were even pound shop versions of food and cafes

Everything was a ‘bit too much for me’

The bling....

 

The horse and carriages....

Three  ‘gypsy’  fortune tellers all within a few yards of one another and all using very similar names

Three piers...

And nothing I could eat. It was all fast food, fried and fake. Chips, candy floss and beefburgers.

The world famous Blackpool illuminations don’t happen in the summer. It’s a winter thing when it’s dark. To be fair Blackpool bills itself as a family seaside resort, and also actively encourages hen nights and stag dos. It isn’t trying to be anything else. It may have by-laws against drunks in the street ,but the pubs were doing a roaring trade at 10am in the morning and I saw lots of drunk women clutching blow up ‘male’ dolls shrieking in the street, and no one paying a blind bit of notice. Business as usual perhaps?

What did it have that I did like?

Trams

I haven’t seen donkey rides on the beach anywhere else and I thought that had long gone out of fashion but they were here.

The Wedding Chapel was interesting too although I can’t truthfully say I liked it. 

It’s a modern building on the seafront attached to tourist information, and in its first year as a registry office, they had 600 weddings. Okay, I thought it was hideous.

The famous beaches were wonderful. Sandy and wide and clean.

However I thought the place was horrible overall. Sorry Blackpool I tried but I far prefer Morecombe by light years.

There is something about Yorkshire. I like it. I went to Helmsley off piste on my way up the East Coast and now impulsively I have done it again.

Blackpool was flattening all my batteries. I set myself the target to enjoy Blackpool and sadly just failed to reach that target. To add insult to injury it was 3pm and I realised that for the first time on this trip I had got my dates muddled and my Blackpool host was not expecting me until tomorrow. I had nowhere to stay.

I now had a choice; 

a) I could find a new Bed and Breakfast and stay in Blackpool for another day and night

Or

b)  I could run away and have a day off

No contest really - option b.

In the car park where I did at least have an on/off phone signal,  I booked myself into Harrogate 75 miles east of Blackpool and set off.

I remember Harrogate fondly. When I was a deputy head teacher in Eastbourne, my children won the National Patchwork Championships two years in a row and the Head and I travelled to Harrogate to receive the trophies. I had not been back since. It would be nice to revisit. Anywhere would be nice away from Blackpool.

I was fortunate that the Middletons could have me stay at such short notice. (No, not those Middletons, far more interesting ones.)

Stephen and Qiuying and their daughter Honey live in a huge and beautiful house in the best part of Harrogate with Baxter a golden retriever. Stephen has a passion. He collects trains – not model trains – real ones. He spends all his time and energy restoring vintage trains to working order, some of which are famous. You can see what I mean on his website www.statelytrains.com

His enterprising Chinese wife runs her businesses from home. On my arrival she made me a wonderful Chinese supper and then took me and the dog for a long walk through Valley Gardens and the RHS woodlands near their home. 

That put me back together again. Tomorrow I have a whole day off with no fish and chips in sight---hopefully.