Newquay to Sandgate (West Coast to East Coast)

We are now on the east coast of England in Sandgate in Kent overlooking the sea.  We can’t see across the channel because there is a sea mist.

It seemed like we spent all day yesterday in the car after driving through Cornwall, Devon and Dorset to Lymington in Hampshire.  Once again the boys had to lug our luggage up many floors of stairs to accommodation that was ok but nothing like the brochure indicated.

Phil, Dave and Jill set out to stroll to Hurst Castle they returned some time later having each given up at different stages of the walk and none of them even catching sight of the castle. This morning we found out why – it’s miles away from Lymington. We found it eventually shrouded in mist so photos were out of the question and on finding photos of it on postcards thought it a bit depressing.

We then decided to make a detour via Beaulieu which has an Abbey and open garden. Unfortunately they were having a promotion called an Auto Jumble and a traffic jam several miles long was in progress. So we wisely avoided becoming involved in it.

 Still on the hunt for a castle we stopped at Arundel Castle but couldn’t get a decent photo of it and didn’t have enough time to do a tour. As many who have been to the UK will know there are not a lot of opportunities to stop and take photos on the narrow roads.

We then tried to find the site of the Battle of Hastings – we went through both Battle and Hastings but missed the sign and with such a distance to travel did not have time to turn back.

We were a bit concerned about what we would find at Sandgate as we drove through Hythe on the way here and were underwhelmed with it. Sandgate is much brighter and more cheerful. We have a sea view from our room (once again up 4 flights of stairs).