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Day 7 - From Lower Horsebridge to Brighton - Day's mileage 26.0

    I went downstairs to breakfast ahead of Jeanette and ran into the biggest dog I had ever seen in my life. This spotted beast's head was almost as high as my chest and his body very stout. When he saw me he started barking. I froze. I heard his owner call out from the kitchen, "Don't worry about him, he's a big sissy." I slowly edged my way towards my seat. The dog kept barking and then stopped and came over to me. He acted like he wanted to be petted so I cautiously put out my hand and let him smell me. Then I scratched his head.

    He leaned on me and almost knocked me over. I staggered back and he barked a few more times then walked away and laid down next to the entrance to the kitchen. His owner, the inn owner/cook came out. I asked what kind of dog he was, saying he was the biggest dog I had ever seen.

    "An English Mastiff," the inn owner/cook replied. He laughed and played with the dog and then asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I told him I'd like the full breakfast and he pointed me towards the cereal and milk.

    A Norwegian couple with a boy and girl, about 8 and 10, came down for breakfast. The dog started barking again. The little girl must have encountered him the day before and fearlessly went up, put her arms around him and tried dragging him toward the kitchen. Since the dog was three times her weight, she didn't do much to move him.

    The owner came out of the kitchen again and hauled the dog off and took the family's orders. In the mean time, my wife had also come down to breakfast. We talked to the father. They were visiting England so their children could practice their English. He was an engineer and he recognized that in an international environment, English was the language of business and he wanted his children to be equipped with those skills when they grew up.

    We were back on the bikes by nine and on our way to Lewes and then to Brighton. We started off on the A22 but faced only light traffic. The way was flat and the weather even better than the day before. We actually were seeing glimpses of sun. We turned onto the B2124 and were pleased to find that we were experiencing more downhills than uphills and made good time and arrived in Lewes about eleven. We found ourselves in the middle of a street fair on High Street, the old section of town. We pushed the bikes along and looked at the things for sale in the booths and ended up buying some fruit, bread, cheese and cooked pasta for lunch.

    We hadn't done any laundry since landing and it was time to wash some clothes. We found a launderette and loaded up our stuff and while waiting, ate lunch. We had wanted to visit Lewes Castle but the laundry was more important.

    We started towards Brighton on the A27 and were pleased and surprised to find the route marked with a Sustrans Route #10 sign. The route consisted of a well marked smooth paved cycle path separate from the roadway which was a divided highway. Another thing that we found was that the route was mostly downhill and that we were going to have some very easy cycling. 

    Things were just too perfect. A headwind came up and blew so hard that we had to pedal even though we were riding a 3 to 5 % downgrade. The pedaling was easy but still... In addition, the traffic was very heavy and the tire, engine and wind noise was very loud. Even so, we soon found ourselves on the outskirts of Brighton. The cycle path merged with the surface streets in town and we rode along, stopping at all the stop lights, following the route towards the water.

    One of the Brighton wonders is the Royal Pavilion. Built by King George IV as a seaside party house, it sits in the center of town, only a few blocks from the water. The house was open for viewing but it was 4:30 and we decided we'd come back in the morning so we could spend a proper amount of time to tour through the palace.

    We continued on to our lodgings for the night. I had booked us in to the Baggie Backpacker's Hostel. This was to be our first experience in staying at a hostel. I had first tried the YHA hostel but they were full. We rode up in front and saw about a half dozen teenagers out on the stone stairs. Jeanette saw them and said, "No." Jeanette's a vice-principal at a High School and the idea of spending her evening hours with another group of teenagers was not her idea of having fun. In addition, we didn't have a private room and would have to bunk in dorms.

    I saw another hotel down the street and checked for a room. They had a room available at three times the cost of our stay at the Backpackers. I took it. I went back to the Backpackers and apologized saying that my wife just wasn't comfortable dorming with a bunch of teenaged girls. The young female clerk looked hurt that we found the hostel unacceptable but said, "Don't worry about it, we can fill the beds. I'm sorry that we didn't fit your plans." I felt really bad, it looked like she was looking forward to having us as guests.

    We moved into the hotel and then went walking on foot along Brighton's famous waterfront. We stopped for dinner at The Regency, one of the sidewalk restaurants on the strip and had a fish and chip dinner. The dining area was crowded and we allowed a French group of three young people to sit with us about half way through the meal. The two boys and girl all spoke English and we talked about the possibility of touring in France next summer. We really enjoyed the conversation but excused ourselves when their food was delivered. 

    We walked a few more blocks down the strip and then suddenly remembered, "We didn't pay!" We ran back and found our waiter. He laughed and thanked us for being so honest and returning. We made sure we gave him a generous tip.

    We walked slowly towards the Brighton Pier looking at all of the people along the beach/sea wall. Nightclubs were built into rooms in the sea wall and groups of young people were gathering outside, waiting in line. At other places, tables and chairs were set outside with groups sitting, talking and drinking.

    When we reached the pier we noticed groups of girls arriving, all dressed in the same costumes, some as cats, some as poodle skirted bobbie-soxers, some as vamps. We asked one of the security people on the pier what the costumes were all about. He replied, "You know, girl's night out. They're celebrating before one of 'em gets married." We couldn't believe that many girls were getting married but we found that the groups come from some distance just to party on the pier.

We walked the length of the pier, mostly watching, dropping a few coins in the slot machines and having a few drinks. People were having fun and there was even a Karaoke bar. It had been a long day. We headed back to the hotel, ready for bed.

Recommended
Regency Restaurant
131 Kings Road , Brighton , East Sussex
Tel: 01273 325014

Day 8 - From Brighton to Arundel - Day's cycling total - 23 miles

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