Brighton Roadtrip

Last Saturday, we got up early to rent a car and drive to the coast in Sussex (south of London). I walked over to the car rental place at 7:30AM to be first in line to get our car. I had made a reservation online on Friday. I was the first in line and when they opened at 8AM, they could not find my reservation. I had accidentally made it for 28th of August not July. Hertz did not have any available cars. Helen and David arrived just as I found out that we did not have a car. We discussed taking the train to Brighton but then decided to check another car rental place next to Hertz. Luckily, they had a car although it was 75 gbp instead of 46 at Hertz. We took it and were on the road about 8:30AM.

Helen navigates and I drive and this seems to work the best for the two of us. We were able to get out of town without to much hassle. Brighton Beach of first destination was about 70 miles and 2 hrs away. We parked the car in a car park next to the beach. We all had to use the WC (water closet, Loo, restroom, toilet). On the entry to the Loo was a certificate for the Best Kept Loo of the 2007. Great Loo.....

We walked down to the beach which is covered with small rocks and no sands. We walked along the boardwalk towards the Pier. I spotted some art work in a shop that appeared to be from Cuba. Paintings of old chevys and other old cars. I chatted with the person in the shop and a local artist travels to Cuba often and had done the paintings. Click here to see more photos of our outing plus Cuba photos.

We walked back up into town to see the Royal Pavilion , a seaside home built in 1815 for Price Regents and later George IV. We then drove east along the coast towards Eastbourne.

We stopped at Beachy Head which has these chalky white cliffs. They wind was really blowing but we were able to find a spot on the ridge and have lunch and enjoy the views. Afterwards, we hiked up the ridge to the former Lighthouse and had some spectacular views of the cliffs. Then we walked down on the beach and by the tide pools as it was low tide.

When we left the coast area we drove around some single track roads between Wilmngton and Lewes. We were in search of the "Long Man", a chalk layout created by the Saxons. While driving David mentioned that he had read about a "White Horse" figure in the AA book and we went around a corner and we spotted a "White Horse" figure on the side of a hill. As it turned out this is not the one that he read about and I could not find any information on it but there was about several other "White Horse" figures in the UK.

We stopped in Lewes, Sussex and had some local beer after walking around the Lewes Castle.

Getting back in to London was exciting. About 60 miles from London, we hit stop and go traffic on the A23. Helen decided that we should get off and drive around it. We traveled a little longer distance but did not run into any more traffic until we were about 10 miles out of the city. With great guidance we drove across the Thames and right back to the car rental. As we were walking back to the flat, it started to rain.