Brighton and Beachy Head

After a few months of sight-seeing around London, we managed a weekend away out of the bustle of the city. It seemed fitting that after breaking the shackles of winter that we take a trip to the seaside. We borrowed the car from Karen (many thanks!) and went for a drive down the Brighton.

The Brighton Pier.
The pier has its charm, but with an overpowering waft of tackiness. Think of the Sandgate Pier... now add your local country show's side show alley (including the ball-swallowing clowns, ring toss, etc) at the end... put a fish and chip restaurant in the middle... add some souvenier shops... oh, don't forget the fortune tellers. It does, however, have a good view of the coast.

One of the more bizzare sights of Brighton. I'm not sure how the van made it here (if anyone wants to make suggestion, leave a comment), but it has recent Queensland plates. It is also an Australian model, so it drove here somehow.

The boys school in Brighton.
It is a lovely old building that is perched up on the cliffs, overlooking the Brighton harbour.
Brighton beach.
The beach mainly consists of rocks, there are no waves, at least not on the day we were there. The rocks drop off quite quickly, so it may not be the best place for a swim.
More Brighton beach.
This time from the pier.

The Royal Pavillion.
The pavillion was built by the Prince Regent George, son of George III. He used it as a party palace for all of his friends. The palace is decked out with the most decadent taste. The outside has an Indian influence while the inside decor is all East Asian influence.
William IV also used the pavillion as a royal residence. Queen Victoria didn't like the gaudy palace so much, so she sold it back to the Brighton town in 1850. Before handing it over though, she did strip it of all furnishings, which took 143 wagons to transport back to London.

Brighton beach rocks and boats.
You can see the West Brighton Pier in the background. Obviously no longer in use, since a fire ripped through it.

Beautiful old church building on the side of a cliff that overlooks the Brighton region. We had to drive along a sweet little english country road to get there.

Lewes Castle.
The main tower gates to Lewes Castle.

Lewes Castle
Our first English castle. There is not much left these days, most of it is in ruins. The town surrounding the castle is like an English version of Maleny.

Beachy Head.
This stretch of cliffs is similar to the Twelve Apostle's region of the Great Ocean road. Much of the cliffs is unfenced and, unsurprisingly, there are a few places that are more dangerous than others.

Understandably there are signs showing the dangers of the cliff edge. Strangely though these are at places where there is also a fence. Along most of the cliffs there is no fence and also no signs. The cliff edge errodes away at approximately half a meter a year.

The cliff edges have quite a sheer drop!

The Beachy Head lighthouse is quite amazing. It stands dwarfed by the cliffs and with waves pounding it.

Us and the cliffs!

Well here it is - Pooh Corner. On the way back from Brighton, just off the A22 there is a town called Hartford. This is Pooh Bear country - where him and all his friends were created - not Disney Pooh, the real one. The shop in the photo is full of original style Pooh parphenalia. Unfortunately we were coming through on Sunday night so it was shut.
We had also hoped to find the Pooh Sticks Bridge, which is a few fields away. It was getting quite dark though and after running through unknown fields for 20 minutes we decided to head back to the car while we could still find it. We'll find Pooh Sticks Bridge next time.