Tuesday 7th June 2016...oh what history!!!!

Do not think you get away with out doing anything today you need to get your Googling fingers ready!!!
Said good bye to Catherine after a lovely two night stay and I enjoyed being close to the ocean, she laughed when I said that and told me English people do not call it the ocean they call it the sea!!!
I was on the road just after 9 am and my fist stop was in the lovely old town of Arundel, this is your first Google exercise to Google Arundel, it is so steeped in history....

The castle looks wonderful but two things stopped me going on a tour inside...first was that all the rooms do not open till noon, I have no idea why the rest of the castle opens at 10 am and the second reason was the cost..almost 40 dollars, why do they charge so much....so I just enjoyed a free Pearson tour of the town!!

 In England these are called roundabouts or traffic circle....love the old buildings..

This is one old and lovely church!!

Just a few hundreds away is another great historical building

20 minutes away is another lovely small village

and some lovely cottages

I love this shot it reminds me of the old women who walk the streets of SMA!!!

He followed me BUT he did not get my lunch today!!!
Then it was onto Portsmouth a city famous for it's long Naval history....I was smart and instead of driving into the city and fighting to find somewhere to park I stopped and parked out side the city at the park and ride and for 4 pounds parked Little Bluey Tres and then took the bus

right into the start of the Naval dockyards!!
Again the prices are really high so I chose to tour the HMS.Victory which also included a 45 minute harbor cruise....so your job now is to Google HMS.Victory.....

So now you know all about the ship so enjoy the photos but first I have to tell you what I did...these men were talking on the quay side and I listened in to their conversation and the officer was going to take these new recruits on a tour of the ship

 so i just joined in with them they did not mind and I learned so much of the history of the big battle than other tourists it was great.....

 I imagine the cannon is quite a good alarm clock!!

I really enjoyed my time here and to see the place where Nelson died in battle!!!
Next I walked to where the boat cruise started but always like reflection shots!!

The boat for the short cruise which was really informative also...

Your last Google of the day is HMS.Warrior..

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Never fired a shot in anger!!!

The old and the new!!

This is interesting the above shot is of Britain's only air craft carrier and as you can see it has scaffold all over as it is being readied for scrap..so until the new HMS.Elizabeth is commissioned in December no aircraft carrier!!
It was a great afternoon and the bus dropped me back at my car and with in 15 minutes I was at my airbnb for the night another nice room in a family home, the family are lovely and kind...

 The door from my room opens onto the lovely garden

It was now about 5 pm but still warm and sunny so I sat outside and read my book.
Then walked about a mile to a nice Pub where I had a good fish dinner and walked home... had a long bath and now it is almost 11 pm!!!

On the map below and to the left of London is Woking where I left Anne's house on Friday...I went east through Canterbury onto Margate and then down to Dover......from there along the coast west towards Hastings and now I am in Portsmouth.
Yashi Kochi!!

Monday 6th June 2016...it wasn't an elephant BUT!!!!!!

The sunshine continues and this morning I packed up the back pack and headed here

Malc had loaned me his bus pass and I used it to get to Brighton it was about 25 minutes on the bus and saves all the trouble with paid parking when I got there....
My first stop was the incredible Taj Mahal type building in the town center

What a great looking building..

I then walked down to the ocean and to the iconic

This is one of the most visited spots on the coast and the pier stretches out in the ocean a long way!!!

This looks like a nice sandy beach beach but it is not it is all small pebbles...

Now you may be at this point wondering what I meant by the opening header..well let me explain....My regular readers will remember my encounter with the elephant in Kruger National Park a few weeks ago and how that was for me well this morning this was an encounter of a different sort.
So I have to set the scenario first......
A gorgeous sunny and warm day and I am enjoying my walk along this grand old piece of English history and then I turn a corner and see this sign

 I like free things..so I did take one

 So here I am quite content and happy and I see this sign

 no worries I won't...

So I proceed to take out the lovely egg salad sandwich on brown bread I had carefully made for myself this morning and in the deck chair with drink in one hand and the above mentioned sandwich in the other I start my lunch looking out on the ocean and thinking this sure beats working.
Another bite of the sandwich and then a drink and it happens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This monster

I never saw him coming swoops down onto my lap and in one swift and quick motion snatches the sandwich out of my hand and flies up to the lamp post above!!!!
I almost fell out of my deck chair not only did he steal my lunch but he sits there looking at me I have to say it was funny but happened so fast.....one of the pier managers was passing by and the bird was still there and I told him I wanted the bird arrested and he laughed but said they have so much trouble with them they do this regularly but their favorite trick is to take the ice cream from the kids hands it freaks them out he laughingly told me!!!
So now I can add sea gull to the list of Whales, sharks and elephants that I have had close encounters with!!
After I recovered I walked back into town but I do not care really for this place so many street people and pan handlers who were quite aggressive and many tacky tourist shops

but I did like this store front!!

I went back to the sea front and decided to walk part of the way home on the front..

I like this contrasting shot..the huts are basically just for day use to store swimming stuff in..

 I did see one open and managed to sneak a shot, who is that cute guy in there???

 I walked a long way you can just barely see the pier in the back ground.

I then got a bus back home and arrived around 3 pm it was a great little trip!!
Tonight I went to a pub about 15 minutes away where I met Claire for dinner.....I first met Claire in an airbnb stay my first night in New Zealand and her parents live close by to where I am staying and Claire knew I would be around we arranged dinner...it was a lovely evening lots of stories and check out the steak and ale pie we both had!!!

Of course as soon as you put your fork in the flaky crust it collapses....
Nice to see you again Claire and good luck with your future plans.
I move on tomorrow to another airbnb in Portsmouth..so stay tuned!!
Yashi Kochi!!!

Sunday 5th June 2016....It worked!!!

Last night in the shower I gave a rousing rendition of "The sun will come out tomorrow" and it did!!!
Just a glorious morning and my hostess had breakfast stuff laid out for me this morning and I left around 8.45 am   now when I booked and picked up Little Bluey Tres I was thrilled with the color but not so much this morning when I went down to her...

 It appears these guys think my car is the ocean!!!

.... and drove and parked closed to the old town of Hastings...

 I went up these steps to start my morning hike

 The view of the harbour is lovely and the fishermen winch their boats onto the gravelly beach over night!!

The trail along the cliffs and the views!!

It was a wonderful way to start the day and I think I walked about 9 km.
I did some research and I wanted to go see the sight of this

which strangely enough is not in Hastings but in a small town about 10 minutes away actually called Battle.
My research told me that the grounds are not all that interesting and it is not worth the money so I took their advice I did go to the town and walked around but only on the outside here a few of the shots and some of the old buildings in town...

 A golden oldie pub

and this old home looked worse and leaning more in real life than the photo!!!
So pleasant to walk around in shorts again and perhaps just maybe I had an ice cream.
I then drove about 60 km towards my next air bnb stay in the small town of Lancing but first I stopped in at a Pub at 2pm and watched the finals of the men's tennis from Paris

I think this tells the story of Novak beating Andy Murray...it was a fascinating game those guys are monsters on the courts!!!!
Found my home where I am staying for 2 nights and my hostess Catherine was there to greet me and had a cup of tea waiting for me.....my room is lovely and again I have the free use of the kitchen and living room....

The ocean is across the street and after I was settled I went for a walk..

 This one below is looking back from the sea at the house

 and this is a zoomed in shot and my bedroom is right above the traffic light

 a bit of a rocky beach

and the lovely beach huts....

So another great day hope yours was too!!
Yashi Kochi!!!

The blog below!!!

The blog below is not centered correctly and it is because of the quote I inserted about Ali..sorry about that some of the signs and photos are cut off..these are the last two photos!!!