Sussex 10 - 17 Oct 23

Statue of Arthur Conan Doyle in Crowborough

Tues 10 - Although we don't really like going south around the dreadful M25, we thought we'd better brave it to head to Sussex before the Camping Club sites closed for the season. We headed the relatively short, and painless, journey down to Crowborough Camping and Caravanning Club site, arriving at about 1400hrs and were met by the charming wardens who quickly set us up on a decent enough hardstanding. This is a fairly basic site next to a sports centre with a short walk uphill into town and a very handy bus stop outside. We walked into Crowborough, had a mooch around, did a bit of shopping and had dinner in the Crowborough Cross (a Wetherspoon's pub, but don't tell anybody we went there). It was decent enough.

On Wednesday it was time to follow in the paw steps of Winnie the Pooh so we took to Mr Toad, found the visitor centre, had lunch in the Pooh Corner tearoom and museum (a fairly good little museum with some interesting Milne/Shepherd memorabilia, but they really need to get somebody who can spell to write out the information cards). From there it was onto Pooh Bridge, then onto Ashdown Forest for a 2 mile walk where, to quote Pooh " I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost". The map from the visitor centre wasn't very good. After a good day's walking it was back to the van to relax and recover.

AA Milne and Christopher Robin

Poohsticks Bridge

On Thursday we took the bus into Brighton. It was a nice journey, through Lewes and Uckfield, and we really enjoyed wandering around the lanes and a really good lunch in Mowgli before heading back on the crowded bus to Crowborough.

In all, we were quite impressed with the site. A good location with easy access. The shower facilities are pretty basic though and the C&CC are probably charging too much for the site, but that seems the way of the world at the moment.  Shame it closes during the winter.

Despite it being Friday the thirteenth, we took to the road to travel the short distance to Normans Bay C&CC club site. Now this really is a "meh" site. Fairly bleak, set behind a high bank so you can't see the sea and accessed by a truly horrible road passing some ugly houses.  It a quite a distance from any pub/shop although the sea is very close by. The facilities are average and the site very regimented. Another 3 star site with 5 star pricing. Anyway, we settled in and drove to the local ASDA (huge but bloody useless) for some provisions and had a wander along the beach.

The beach at Normans Bay

Sat 14 - There is a famous view if the Seven Sisters and Beachy head, with coastguard cottages in the foreground and we wanted to see this view. It was a somewhat circuitous route, but we got there and had a wander. Next we decided to see Beachy head from the top. Now Beachy Head is BIG, but our ace navigator managed to miss it, so we headed into Eastbourne for a wander around and then have another attempt at finding it. She missed it Again! Luckily, Beachy Head found us and we joined the hundreds of foreign tourists milling around the top. Eastbourne itself - well, the seafront is nice and we found a good cake shop, but won't be in a hurry to come back. We headed back towards the site and stopped at the local pub for fish and chips. It was cheap and cheerful.

Sun 15 - we braved the narrow, bumpy road to walk the 1km or so to the deserted Normans Bay station to catch a train into Hastings. The train station is near the shopping centre, which is any town any where and therefore to be avoided, but there was a historic vehicle rally on the sea front, the fishermans museum was excellent and the old town streets very nice indeed. We had a brilliant roast beef dinner in the Royal Standard pub, then took the cliff railway up to the top for some views, before heading back down for ice cream and another wander before heading back on the train.

Mon 16 was designated as a rest day, but we didn't. We went into the useless ASDA again to try and find Basil and some crab paste but there was none to be had. We wandered around the very pleasant, and large, Sovereign Harbour with lunch in the Harvester, before heading off for an interesting walk around Pevensey Castle. The winds picked up all day and we spent the night in the van feeling a bit like a ping pong ball in a tumble dryer.

On Tuesday it was up, packed and a smooth journey home with the M25 and Dartford crossing being kind to us for a change.