A bad sailing but we have sunshine in Hailsham

After an early 7am start yesterday, and a windy night that meant neither

Sunshine and daffs in Hailsham 

of us had much sleep, we were hoping for a few hours' kip onboard the Normandie, the Brittany Ferries boat from Caen to Portsmouth. No such luck! Each end of the journey was ok, but being out in the Channel was rough. Not only up and downy, but side to sidey too which resulted in me being quite poorly. Fortunately Dave had booked us into our own cabin. Even so, I really don't like boats!

The traffic was pretty light from Portsmouth to our first UK destination, Hailsham, so I only had a couple of hours driving to cope with. We were pleasantly surprised by the sunshine having not seen any for a fortnight. I was less impressed by the sheer volume of litter on the verges and tangled in shrubs along the roadsides. The first half hour from Portsmouth harbour is particularly awful to see and included four dead foxes. Yuk!

We've joined the Camping And Caravanning Club to enable us to use their lovely Certified Site on Ersham Road in Hailsham. Ron is friendly and helpful, directing us to the top corner of the meadow which is the driest bit and also reasonably sheltered from the wind. Although it's quite a large field, easily able to accomodate more than a dozen setups, the site is limited to six at any one time so it's spacious and peaceful. Plus, at the moment, the pitch boundaries are marked with cheery daffodils. This is our first CS and we want to see how we will manage with an external sanitary block and the other usual campsite facilities. We should have everything we need in Bailey, but are unused to things like washing up in the little sink and using our own shower. Hopefully we will adapt as we have more CS and CL (Caravan Club equivalent) sites booked and they are a significantly cheaper option. Had we gone back to Horam for this fortnight, it would have been £30 a night!

Local walking route / cycle path The Cuckoo Trail is about 50 yards from the site entrance so I used that to wander into town this morning. I remembered blogging a similar walk from Polegate about this same time last year. I struck lucky with replacing some of my partially worn out wardrobe at the British Heart Foundation shop. I tried on two pairs of jeans and a gorgeous bright printed skirt and they all fitted perfectly so now all I need to find is new walking boots. I've finally walked through the soles of my trusty Karrimor ones.

We're going to The Holiday Inn in Eastbourne tonight for a fish and chip supper and tomorrow I get my Cooke's Cakes cupcakes. Lots to look foward to!