1/9/98

The long week-end did not turn out quite as planned. Not surprisingly, all the bed and breakfast accomodation was full on Saturday. I tried for about two hours to find somewhere on the phone and Internet.

One landlord was able to offer us a room on Sunday. He said that he could only give me a room on Saturday if he kicked his sons out into the street, but they had enough reasons for disliking him already. So we settled for Sunday there.

On Saturday we went back to London and bought a new walking backpack. My old one was too small and it gave us a good excuse to go back to "Elements" for Satay and Mee Siam.

On Sunday we drove to Worthing in Sussex, arriving at 12pm.

There we left our things at the b&b and walked about 2½ miles along the seafront to Goring.

Worthing is very different to Folkestone. It does not have any cliffs for one thing, and is only just above sea level. I think it was originally a salt marsh. A high bank of shingle protects it from storms, and it also seems to be protected by being in the centre of a large bay.

Economically it has survived far better than most Kentish seaside towns.

It did not have the patronage of royalty and the accompanying tawdry and elaborate buildings which have fallen into disuse in resorts like Bognor Regis and Folkestone. Many of the inhabitants seem to be the well-off retired middle-classes and families. It is well maintained, has flower-beds everywhere and some good restaurants. There were good facilities for families and safe swimming from the beach.

We had an excellent meal at Nooris, a really good Indian restaurant.

The next morning at breakfast, the landlord told us he had double-booked every room on Saturday by mistake, and had to sleep in the bath himself.

On Monday bank holiday, we decided to walk from Lewes, also in Sussex.

The walk was slow to begin with as Lewes was so interesting.

Many of the houses and shops were built around 1450AD and the castle and some other buildings are even older. In the castle grounds there is a bowling green which also dates back to 1450. Prior to that, it was a jousting ground. We also had a quick look at the home of Anne of Cleves.

She was the fourth wife of King Henry the Eighth.

It was getting hot, so we stopped at the "Swan" pub for a drink.

The landlord told me his wife gets very confused about the decimalisation of weights and measures. Last week she went to a supermarket and asked for a pound of potatoes. She was told "We only do kilos now." So she said "OK, I'll have a pound of kilos then."

I think he'd kissed the Blarney stone sometime.

The walk was spectacular, but quite hard going. We travelled about 11 miles, along several ridges with views looking over to Brighton and the Seven Sisters cliffs near the Cuckmere haven, then descending into valleys, some of which were wooded, some harbouring small villages.

The whole area is made up of chalk with some flint so the paths were quite rocky and a bit hard on the feet, even with good walking boots.

The chalk gives the whole area an unusual look. The downs undulate gently with very smooth lines into folds and ridges. Sometimes the soil is pure white at the top of a ridge, turning cream in colour and then merging into chocolate brown at the valley bottom.

All along the walk, there are tumuli and other burial mounds from prehistoric times. Like many long-distance paths, the South Downs way has been in constant use since those times, with the Romans also leaving their imprint on the countryside with roads, encampments and villas.

And the weather? It was very warm with fresh breezes.