Tuesday 31st July Drive to Pagham and Beyond

Mums day of rest so its Beatrice & I let loose on the roads for a drive to Bognor and where ever else we might end up.

Impressed myself my getting on to the right roads without any U turns and on to the motorway heading for Southampton.

Getting the hang of the Ford Focus and am remembering that its a manual and you have to put the clutch in when you are stopping or else it stalls! Just got to get the hang of which side the indicators are and of course the radio.

Drove into Pagham area trying to find Dursley where the aunts use to live and where when we were children we spent some summer holidays. More by luck than skill we found Barrack Lane and the house just as I remember it. Parked the car in the little shopping area and walked to the end of the lane and on to the beach. Pebbles, no sand,just pebbles. We crunched our way down to the sea and spread ourselves out on the warm stones. We know the water was very cold as we watched two young girls with their bodyboards make quite a few attempts to brave the freezing water. They eventually made it.

Walked along the beach and found the pathway we use to take and up back past the house to the car.

It was time for lunch so we found a great pub and a two meals for the price of one suited us fine.

A drive into Bognor passing the old pier that had been half destroyed by the storms 10 years ago, to the end trying to find somewhere to park. Bognor was full up as the sun was shinning and it was at least 21degC. The beach goers were out in their thousands.

Saw Butlins, I felt it was a place to avoid though I understand it is very popular and has been there since the end of the war though much changed.

We kept on driving and decided to visit Arundel Castle and village.Home of the Duke of Norfolk for the last 900 years.( You would have thought that he might have done something about moving by now wouldn't you.)

By the time we arrived it was too late to tour the castle so we decided to take a walk around the joint and then on into the village.

Stopped by the river Arun and the boat shed,looked into the antique shops had a ice cream and wandered back to the car to complete our 10000 steps for the day!but not before we took a second look at the yellow car that was chugging its way down stream,obviously having taken a wrong turn but seemed to be making good progress. Quite a handy idea really if the roads are all jammed up.

Had enough for the day and we thought about the drive home which was going to take us a couple of hours. In fact it was trouble free except for the areas where they had sign posted (! Queuing) The speed limit is 70mph but I must have been the only one doing that as I was being left behind, I'm getting the hang of it though and will have another go at it tomorrow when we catch up with Richard and family in Newbury.

Arrived home about 6.30pm, Mum had a drink ready for us and had a cooked beautiful meal and was looking quite glamorous as she had been to her hairdresser, on the buggy of course.

Wrote the blog up and so to bed at 1030 tired and ready for a good night rest. Wow this travelling is so tiring.