NNs On the Wind

Yesterday was a nearly all day travel day from Malta to London. We caught a 9:15 bus for the 40 min ride to the airport. Very easy to catch buses in Valletta and Sliema.

We used our Priority Pass to get to the lounge. This was possibly the nicest lounge we’ve seen. There was a large outside deck area with comfortable seating and views of the runways. There weren’t any outlets for charging but that didn’t matter for us!

The snacks were well done and the bar was self serve. There was wines, prosecco, and liquor. There were lots of juices and other options. We ate too much!!

Our flight boarded on time and off we went. The trip to Gatwick was uneventful. We haven’t flown into Gatwick before but it wasn’t hard to find the Thameslink train into London. We got some advice as to which one to get for our destination post code. The trains were busy and with our connection at BlackFriars it took over 90 minutes to get to the Mile End stop.  We had to find the key pick up spot and then find the flat. In the dark it was hard to locate the flat and google has not been up to snuff recently. We walked in circles for 10 minutes or so.

We caught with the family here, three of them also recently arrived from the US for our 10 days in London. We are visiting our niece,  with Thom’s brother, wife, and their son.

Sunday, Nov 24, was a full day excursion to Brighton and Sussex with a drive about to see various sights and the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters. We learned these are probably twice as tall as the cliffs at Dover. Who knew?

Paul, our guide was excellent. We had another guide that got us from London to Brighton on the train and then we met Paul and climbed into his really nice large sprinter van/bus., We started out at Devel’s Dike with a geology lesson of the South Downs the predominate the landscape in Sussex. We went to Middle Farm, a working farm, where we had an early lunch.

There was an vast though small farm shop with fresh food, meats, jams, candies, etc. You could spend an hour but we only had a few minute. I sought advice from Paul regarding the now well renown sparkling wine being produced in Sussex. There are awards galore and even Taittinger’s is in on it as climate change is making Champagne production in France tougher,

Paul professed to be somewhat of a champagne connoisseur and when I mentioned we were fans of Veuve Cliquot, he smiled and said he agreed with me!! He recommended the Rathfinny wine. I found a bottle in the shop and proudly showed him it when I returned to the bus.

We continued on to Beachy Head. The wind was blowing. A lot. We didn’t’ get out at Beachy Head as the bus was being blown back and forth in the car park. Paul got out with the Finnish women to get a better look. Paul’s hat blew away. The women’s eyeglasses blew away. Somewhat of a tragic moment. I spotted a live wind reporting app and it reported gusting to 55knots. That’s over 60mph.

Paul drove us through tiny villages and talked about the architecture and the age of some of the cotttages. We pass a working church that was built 1000 years ago. We went down a tiny lane, almost, to stop in front of a chalk etching on the hillside. There are many in England and elsewhere, especially due to the prevalence of the deep chalk layers under the topsoil. We saw the Long Man. He’s very long, tall and on a very steep hillside. Impressive.

Our next stop was the east end of the Seven Sisters. Quite a view. The clouds had barely given way to the sun so it was not the best light for taking pictures. We were also fighting to stay on the ground in the gusty wind. It was worth all the effort though!

Next stop was the far side of the cliffs. We drove through a small town, turning left, right, etc. to a car pack where people seem to come to walk and some exercising their dogs. It was atop a hill, with some hedges along the path areas to the views. If you took shelter behind a piece of hedge you could get out of the wind and enjoy the view. I walked farther along and down to next to the beach. The waves were enormous, and the mist was flying. The wind was intense. I took a few pictures but thought the moisture might be too much for my camera. Also the sun had not performed and peaked out from behind the clouds so once again the photos weren’t all that great.

Once back about the bus we headed to the Brighton train station. It was a full day. The train was about 75 minutes and then the tube ride another 15 minutes. It was nearly 8 when we got back to our flat.

We left the company of our family to go to our flat and order delivery for dinner. We had Indian curry and other yummies. It was wonderful! Busy first day. Hopefully tomorrow will be brighter and less involved.