From Brilliant Brighton to Castles Cathedrals of Canterbury

Saturday  26/9/15  

Our stay at Brighton was an entertaining one. I haven't written much about out B&B's because all bar one have  been very good and last night was no exception despite a funny start. Our host, Diana had messaged us to say that she was going to be  out and about when we arrive in Brighton and so she would leave a key under a flowerpot. We found her house and the key. We parked close to the house but realised we needed a permit and there was a inspector hanging around so Rob didn't want to leave the car just in case. We let ourselves in and put some gear in the house and then waited for Diana to come. She had said

our room was upstairs so we went in to look and noticed that it hadn't been made up. We were starting to get a bit worried.

While waiting for Diana to return, another couple arrived with a suitcase. They said they had also booked with Diana and she

had said to let themselves in with the key. They said Diana had told them their room would be in the basement. Finally the missing lady returned. She had got a bit mixed up and thought that Rob and I were

arriving Saturday not Friday. She soon had our room prepared and we sat down with the other couple and a cup of coffee. Diana then told us that another guest, Hildegard was also staying and her room was in the attic. Diana was a lovely, slightly eccentric and bohemian type of person in her sixties. We all had a good night's sleep and met up in the morning at breakfast. Diana had provided a good spread. She was off to something special that she did at the botanic gardens and told us just to close the door when we left. We walked back down to the famous Brighton Pier and beach again in the morning to see what everything looked like in the morning. We spent two hours wandering around looking at the gardens, the Royal Pavillion, the beach front and the pier. The weather was perfect too. We saw people in swimming and even water-skiing. From Brighton we had an easy drive to Canterbury but once we got into the main part of the city the fun started. It was so busy that we were moving at a snail's pace. All the carparks close to the city were full. We drove out of the city and just by chance found a park and ride station. We parked the Jeep and hopped on a bus to get into the city. We found out that it was the beginning of the sales and there was a special food festival on. Many of the locals said that it was not normally this bad. We walked to a few of the special places in Canterbury, including the magnificent cathedral, the  Norman castle, the town walls etc. We returned to the car on the bus and all for £3 which is pretty cheap for here. Tonight we are staying in our last and the most amazing AirB&B we've been in for the whole trip. It's about 5 km out of Canterbury. It's a cottage in a semi-rural town with a river just across the road. We were greeted by Sarah and she offered us wine and beer and scones! She sat down with us and we chatted for ages. She then booked us in to the local pub for dinner. We walked to the Pub which was over 500 years old and then had a lovely meal. The owners(Sue and Bill) were both once teachers and were lovely people. Bill spent alot of time when he wasn't serving drinks, chatting to Rob about Rugby as England v's Wales was on the TV. After a great night we headed back to Sarah's and Mitch home. We again sat with them and had a few more drinks and conversations.