Results tagged “Beaches” from UK and Japan 2010

Fairly standard night and breakfast.  Still think it's probably the best hotel we've had so far this trip.  

I went for a walk down to the beach while Stu was getting ready.  Not a terribly nice beach, and separated every twenty metres or so with walls to stop erosion.  Walked west to get a better look at the circus tent looking thing.  Didn't find out what it was until I looked it up just then - it's a Butlins Holiday Park.

Beach at Bognor Regis
Beach at Bognor Regis

Bathing Boxes at Bognor Regis
Bathing Boxes at Bognor Regis

Bathing Boxes at Bognor Regis
Bathing Boxes at Bognor Regis
So we headed off.  First stop was Brighton to have a look at the pier and the Royal Pavilion.  Was quite surprised that Brighton actually has no sand beach at all - it's all small rocks!!  Bizarre.  Found the place very noisy (from traffic) and not very pedestrian friendly.  Was quite happy to get out of there before our first hour of parking was used up.

Grand Hotel, Brighton
Grand Hotel, Brighton

Brighton Pier
Brighton Pier

West Pier at Brighton, finally destroyed by fire in 2003
West Pier at Brighton, finally destroyed by fire in 2003

Brighton Pier
Brighton Pier

Brighton Pier
Brighton Pier

Royal Pavilion, Brighton
Royal Pavilion, Brighton

Royal Pavilion, Brighton
Royal Pavilion, Brighton

Brighton Clock Tower
Brighton Clock Tower
Next headed for a view of the Seven Sisters at Beachy Head.  As we pulled up there was sun on the cliffs.  So jumped out with just my camera and headed off down the path to get a better view.  Well of course, that was my first problem.  Five or ten minutes later, just before I got to the cliff, it decided to start raining.  Rather a lot.  So I ran for the cover of a tree (which was actually quite successful I have to admit - an Australian native would offer no such protection from rain).  Waited waited waited.  Finally it stopped so went down a bit closer to take some photos.  As I was heading back, the sun started to come out on the cliffs.  But this was of course after I'd left the best position to document them.  It was just fail on so many levels.

Seven Sisters at Beachy Head
Seven Sisters at Beachy Head

Seven Sisters at Beachy Head
Seven Sisters at Beachy Head

Getting stuck behind flocks of sheep is a minor hazard travelling in England
Getting stuck behind flocks of sheep is a minor hazard travelling in England
Decided to skip another view of the cliffs and a drive through Eastbourne in favour of getting to Dover at a reasonable hour.  Actually went past the Long Man of Wilmington which I'd not listed in the day's activities thinking we'd be going around the coast.

Long Man of Wilmington
Long Man of Wilmington

Drove drove drove.  Stopped at a Scottish Restaurant for lunch. 

Saw France on the way into Dover :)

And finally made it to Dover Castle just after 4pm.  The place closes at 6pm.  And it was raining.  Have I mentioned how much it rains here?  Decided to go in anyway.  £13.90 each.  We definitely should have gotten English Heritage membership :/ They asked us if we wanted to go on the 5pm secret war tunnels tour and we said yes.  But that was way at the bottom of the castle, and the tower etc were way up the top.  Which meant we had a grand total of half an hour to explore the castle :(:(:( Which was a shame because it was a very cool castle to explore.  Rather than directing you in one way and out another, you can go in and just explore little nooks and crannies and rooms and stairways and corridors.  It was a lot of fun, but we just didn't have the time to do it justice :(  In fact I actually managed to lose the sweetie which was quite stressful because we had to get down to the tunnels. 

Dover Castle
Dover Castle

Dover Castle
Dover Castle

Entrance gate at Dover Castle
Entrance gate at Dover Castle

Dover Castle
Dover Castle

Dover Castle
Dover Castle

Interior of Dover Castle
Interior of Dover Castle

Interior of Dover Castle
Interior of Dover Castle

Corridor in Dover Castle
Corridor in Dover Castle

View of Dover from the top of the castle
View of Dover from the top of the castle

Top of Dover Castle
Top of Dover Castle

Top of Dover Castle
Top of Dover Castle

English Channel from Dover Castle
English Channel from Dover Castle

Dover Castle
Dover Castle

Dover from Dover Castle
Dover from Dover Castle

St Mary in the Castle church
St Mary in the Castle church

Dover Castle
Dover Castle

Interior of Dover Castle
Interior of Dover Castle

Dover Castle
Dover Castle
After much stress, we both made it to the tunnels by 5pm. But of course you can't take photos :(:(:(  So was really stressed out and then grumpy as well.  Blah!!  But it was pretty cool to see the tunnels anyway.

Entrance to the tunnels
Entrance to the tunnels

So left when the tour was done and headed for the hotel.

Stopped at the Battle of Britain Memorial.  It was raining.  A lot.  And windy.  Which was bad for my camera but in one way it was good because there was noone else there.  Had the place to myself.  Managed a couple of photos, with and without rain on the lens.  

Battle of Britain Memorial
Battle of Britain Memorial

Battle of Britain Memorial
Battle of Britain Memorial

Battle of Britain Memorial
Battle of Britain Memorial

Supermarine Spitfire Mark I replica at the Battle of Britain Memorial
Supermarine Spitfire Mark I replica at the Battle of Britain Memorial

Battle of Britain Memorial sign
Battle of Britain Memorial sign

Got to the hotel.  Internet access is a pain cause you really need a wifi username and password for each device.  And the fire alarm has gone off for ten seconds tonight.  Yay.  But the nicest thing about this hotel is its location, with an outlook to the English Channel.  Can see France! :)  The moon over the water was amazing before.

Went out to get a pizza for dinner.  At the local Pizza Hut.  Most expensive pizza I've ever eaten.  £11.99 - which is $25AUD for a standard size pizza!! Gah!!!! Just a plain old pepperoni pizza.  Insane, totally insane :(  Still, it was actually quite nice.

Hoping for five minutes of sunlight tomorrow morning to see the cliffs, that's all I'm asking.  It can rain the rest of the day, but some sun on the cliffs would be nice... kthxbai!

Photos on the Canon: 242
Photos on the Sony: 7
Photos on the Video: 6
Videos on the Video: 10
Steps walked: 15414
Pounds Spent: ?
Let the sweetie sleep in til 8am this morning and were slow getting going (didn't leave the B&B til 10:20).

First stop was the Headland Hotel, which is is just south-west of Newquay, and was used in the 1990 movie of Roald Dahl's The Witches.  


Newquay
Newquay

Headland Hotel, Newquay, used in the 1990 movie
Headland Hotel, Newquay, used in the 1990 movie "The Witches"

Then we headed east.


Tiny little roads
Tiny little roads

First stop on the south coast was Polperro.  Because my parents went there last year and raved about it and said it was one of the nicest places they went to.  Because obviously they had a good day for it.  For us, it rained.  Of course it rained.  The rain was fairly short lasting and was mostly gone by the time we'd stopped for a drink.  But the tide was all the way out, so the little harbour was just a bit pile of mud.  So didn't leap out for us as a nice place.  Got ourselves a Cornish pastie cause we still hadn't had one, then headed off again.  Had intended to see if we could find somewhere to get some photos of Looe (the next town along), but it was bigger and more crowded and the parking lot looked full to overflowing.  So even though it was now sunny, we ended up just driving through and I didn't get a single photo :(  But the tide was out so I suppose it wouldn't have been that great anyway.


Horse-drawn wagon in Polperro
Horse-drawn wagon in Polperro

Polperro
Polperro

Cornish Piskies!
Cornish Piskies!

Muddy harbour in Polperro
Muddy harbour in Polperro

Muddy harbour in Polperro
Muddy harbour in Polperro

Harbour in Polperro
Harbour in Polperro

Polperro
Polperro

Polperro
Polperro

Polperro
Polperro

Cornish Pasties
Cornish Pasties

So then had a big long drive, and stopped again at Lyme Regis.  Walked down to the beach, but couldn't get very far along because the tide had come in and was blocking access.  Don't know if there were other access points.  So really just took some photos of the cliffs then headed off before them impending thunderstorm dumped on us (just made it back to the car in time!)


Seagull at Lyme Regis
Seagull at Lyme Regis

Cliffs at Lyme Regis
Cliffs at Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis
Lyme Regis

Stu at Lyme Regis - hey look! Sunshine!
Stu at Lyme Regis - hey look! Sunshine!

Stu at Lyme Regis
Stu at Lyme Regis

This is as far as we got before we couldn't go any further
This is as far as we got before we couldn't go any further

Cliffs at Lyme Regis
Cliffs at Lyme Regis

Cliffs at Lyme Regis
Cliffs at Lyme Regis

Lots more driving.  Ended up in Portsmouth around 7pm.  We thought we'd be able to have a wander around the Historic Dockyard.  Except it closes at like 6pm and there's no access at all, just a super high brick wall blocking the view of everything :(  We should have known - the two nearby carparks were closed and we thought we scored by getting a free on-street park.  I thought the place would be somewhat like Darling Harbour where you just wander around.  Instead the place was almost completely dead.  Just a couple of shops open, a couple of restaurants and a night club.  We had expensive pizza and beer for dinner.  Took some photos of the Spinnaker Tower then headed off again.


Cute cloud
Cute cloud

Entrance to Portsmouth
Entrance to Portsmouth

HMS Warrior, Portsmouth
HMS Warrior, Portsmouth

HMS Warrior
HMS Warrior

Spinnaker Tower
Spinnaker Tower

The only things open in Portsmouth after 6pm
The only things open in Portsmouth after 6pm

Spinnaker Tower
Spinnaker Tower

Arrived in Bognor Regis and found our hotel (Best Western Beachcroft).  Probably one of the nicer hotels we've stayed in this trip.  Or maybe it's just the view out to the English Channel with the moon rise over the water.. super awesome :)  And lots of space too.  Although the poor sweetie had to drag our bags up to the second floor.. sorry sweetie!


View from our hotel in Bognor Regis
View from our hotel in Bognor Regis

Geotagging - Day 27
Geotagging - Day 27

Photos on the Canon: 219
Photos on the Sony: 11
Photos on the Video: 3
Videos on the Video: 10
Steps walked: 10361
Pounds Spent: ?
Another small B&B last night so a lot more personal.

Had a bit of a slow start, then headed into town to do our washing.  While the washing was on we went for a walk down to the beach, and while the drying was on we went for a coffee.  Well the sweetie did, I had an OJ :)


Tourist train in Newquay
Tourist train in Newquay

Newquay
Newquay

Beach at Newquay
Beach at Newquay

Cool house on top of rocks in Newquay
Cool house on top of rocks in Newquay

Beach at Newquay
Beach at Newquay

Beach at Newquay
Beach at Newquay

Beach at Newquay
Beach at Newquay

Bridge to the isolated house at Newquay
Bridge to the isolated house at Newquay

Fountain at Newquay
Fountain at Newquay

Having lots of weather here on holiday - yeah, story of our holiday!
Having lots of weather here on holiday - yeah, story of our holiday!

Came back to the hotel and repacked our suitcases then headed out.

First stop was Padstow because Stu was interested in Rick Stein's restaurants.  We had trouble with parking.  The first car park was full, which mean a drive through pedestrian-infested streets trying to get out.  Then the second car park was also full, with about ten cars in front of us trying to find parking.  So tried for the top car park.  Got a park there but the machine wouldn't take money (for me or the people in front of me).  A city car park person came by and had a look and said yep, machine is broken (often happens in the rain)  (did I mention it was raining?).  So we got free parking!  Do you have any idea how exciting that is in this country??  Anyways, so wandered down the hill in the rain.  Had a bit of a wander around.  Found Rick Stein's "The Seafood Restaurant" but they didn't have any tables.  So went and found his cafe which is a bit more casual.  Had some lovely seafood there.  Our most expensive meal so far, but that was the point of going there.


Port at Padstow
Port at Padstow

The Seafood Restaurant at Padstow
The Seafood Restaurant at Padstow

Port at Padstow
Port at Padstow

Cornwall
Cornwall

So then headed south west and went out to the tourist trap known as Land's End.  We got there at 5pm, but paid a pound too much for parking (£3 instead of £2 if we'd just waited two minutes for 5pm).  Went down to the cliff edge and thought well that's lovely.  Took photos of ourselves with the "overnight" Land's End sign that they put up after 5pm and don't charge £9.95 to stand in front of.


Stu at the entrance to Land's End
Stu at the entrance to Land's End

Lighthouse at Land's End
Lighthouse at Land's End

Rocks at Land's End
Rocks at Land's End

Rocks at Land's End
Rocks at Land's End

Signpost at Land's End
Signpost at Land's End

Stu at Land's End
Stu at Land's End

Karen and Cutie at Land's End
Karen and Cutie at Land's End

Then headed back past Penzance (and the pirates thereof?) to St Michael's Mount to attempt to photograph it in the horizontally blowing rain (horizontally blowing *into* the direction of my camera, not away from it :( ).


St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount

St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount

St Michael's Mount
St Michael's Mount

At least the parachute wind surfers were having fun
At least the parachute wind surfers were having fun

Then back to the B&B.

It's raining here.  Severe weather warnings and everything.

Have I mentioned the rain?


Geotagging - Day 26
Geotagging - Day 26

Photos on the Canon: 168
Photos on the Sony: 27
Photos on the iPhone: 1
Photos on the Blackberry: 1
Photos on the Video: 3
Videos on the Video: 11
Steps walked: 8479
Pounds Spent: ?