A windy weekend in Westham

We're back down south again now having had just as good a journey back from Norfolk as

Optimistic ducks at Fairfields Farm campsite 

going up. Fortunately the traffic was fairly light everywhere except around the M25 but even there we kept moving at a good pace. I did forget to get into a middle lane for the Dartford bridge crossing so ended up on the far left, able to see exactly how high up we were, and not loving it at all. Gripping the steering wheel, looking only straight ahead and underbreath mantra chanting got us over safely. At least the bridge is considerably shorter than the road to Sopalmo.

Our current campsite for this week is Fairfields Farm, a nice green space with open pitches and a good little shop. We continued our Buy Local spree with some of their Pork, Apple and Cider burgers which went nicely with more of our Norfolk cabbage last night. On the (presumably) non-edible side, there is a flock of about a dozen ducks here that route march around all the pitches each morning, peering in doorways in the hope of sharing breakfasts! We have also seen a few pied wagtails and the obligatory seagull. Otherwise, not much in the way of wildlife worth observing - unless I include the slender guy on the next door pitch who was sunbathing naked for most of Saturday afternoon. He and his partner packed up and left this morning though so the remaining scenery is that much the poorer!

Dave and I went for a stroll that became a walk early yesterday evening. We avoided the cycle race earlier in the day as our friend Marta visited, (Hi Marta!). Walking through the Pevensey Castle grounds was interesting as the space looked so much smaller without all the Food and Wine Festival stalls of a couple of weekends ago. While I remember to mention it, we tried the Kush Cuisine spice blends I bought there. Chicken marinated in the Bajan Fish Spice for a few hours has a lovely rich flavour and isn't too chili hot for Dave. However, our hour-and-a-half wandering was seriously put to shame by the fantastic achievement of Dave's daughter, Carrie. She walked 30 miles in eleven hours along the Thames Path yesterday, all to raise money for The Eve Appeal. Well done Caz! If anyone else wants to make a donation to this important charity, her team's JustGiving page is here.

We're going to stay here until Wednesday when our boat sails to St Malo. The house sale is now completely completed and the final transfers all went far more smoothly than the previous few months - thank goodness. So we are now essentially rootless for a while which is an interesting thought to muse over. I'm still actually getting used to the idea but having the whole of driveable Europe open to us is tremendously exciting!