My little sister Riggy and I quite spontaneously ended up going for a two day trip to Littlehampton and Arundel in West Sussex. We got to the bus stop in Tooting in the morning with our rucksacks packed and no idea where we were going! (we never did plans)... When we got to Balham station we bought two open returns to Littlehampton and got on the train. When we got to Littlehampton we followed the foot bridge over the remote West Beach Nature reserve, a beautiful beach with butterflies, wild flowers and dunes.
We then walked all the way back into the town, hung out by the markets where I bought a SD card for my camera (left mine at home) before we bought fish and chips from a local chippie and ate lunch by a big pond not far from the sea front. After lunch we decided to go for a ramble, our vague 'plan' was to walk to Arundel, though we had no idea how far that would be and how long it would take. While walking up the river we fatefully spotted a boat which was actually going to Arundel, perfect! We hung about a bit before boarding the boat.
On the boat we met some mates from Mitcham (of all places)!! My OAP soul surfaced and I found myself really connecting to four interesting and wonderful old people on the boat. It was a magical boat ride under the chalk blue sky, with stunning pastoral views, all the while I was talking/ really talking to our new friends about everything, hikes up the wandle, places visited, Joyce's son who is a Muslim! Anyway it was really great to converse and laugh and to learn, when we finally got off at Arundel our friends all waved us goodbye and shook our hands and told us to have a lovely journey and I began to wonder as I sometime do whether we would ever meet again, and how great it would be if we carried on all the way to Timbuktu, what a riot that would be! Ahhh I love England, This is what my blog is all about; depicting every day life and every day connections on our small but very special Island. Truly blessed.
On the boat we met some mates from Mitcham (of all places)!! My OAP soul surfaced and I found myself really connecting to four interesting and wonderful old people on the boat. It was a magical boat ride under the chalk blue sky, with stunning pastoral views, all the while I was talking/ really talking to our new friends about everything, hikes up the wandle, places visited, Joyce's son who is a Muslim! Anyway it was really great to converse and laugh and to learn, when we finally got off at Arundel our friends all waved us goodbye and shook our hands and told us to have a lovely journey and I began to wonder as I sometime do whether we would ever meet again, and how great it would be if we carried on all the way to Timbuktu, what a riot that would be! Ahhh I love England, This is what my blog is all about; depicting every day life and every day connections on our small but very special Island. Truly blessed.
...pastel blue....
...say hello, wave goodbye....
When we got to Arundel we walked around for a bit before trying to find somewhere to stay for the night. The hostel we thought might be a good idea had been converted into a Christian academy or something. We tried a few B&Bs before finally managing to get a room at Arundel park hotel where we dumped our bags and then set out for another long sunset walk. After our walk we went to the local Pizza Express, before buying some junk food from Costcutter (-a strange moment when I saw someone wearing my same WWT wetlands uniform!-) we then headed back to the hotel where we watched Miranda and had a cup of tea before calling it a night.
The next day we woke up early, had breakfast and checked out of the hotel. It was gloomy and grey outside but quite atmospheric. We headed up to the beautiful cathedral where we spent some time being quiet and admiring the stunning architecture. We then headed to another church before following the river Arun again, this time cutting through parts of a forest.
...downs, in the glum...
After we got back we decided to start the long journey home. The trains were delayed and so somehow we ended up in the town of Horsham. We hung out in Horsham for a bit before finally getting the train via Boxhill all the way to Clapham Junction, it took more than 3 hours! and from there we got the bus home... finally... Tooting sweet Tooting....
