Brighten Brighton

It was a good 15 hours to Brighton and we were so used to the long Megabus rides now, that it flew by.  It was nice taking the ferry across the Irish Sea, that breaks up the journey a little and you enjoy the ride a bit more.  After a bumpy half sleep we start to arrive in Brighton and as we went along a road that had 5 charity shops on it we were smiling already!  The sun was shining and we could feel ourselves getting closer to the sea.  Going past all these wonderful buildings and colourful people Brighton was revealing itself to us as a very beautiful place.

We step off the bus, gather all our luggage and walk around the corner to see an incredible site.  Brighton Pier reaches out through this clear blue sea and there is the smell of candy floss, hot dogs, chips and that salty fresh sea air.  It took half an hour of walking on the pier until I had to jump in that sea.  Niz minded the cases whilst I stripped to my undies, found a towel and jumped in to the fresh eternal ocean that covers our globe.

You really feel small when you swim out to sea.  Your feet can just about touch the pebbly floor and you look out for miles and miles at this eternal ocean.  The ebbe and the flow of the waves pulling you too and fro.  A big one hits you and you get your breathe and spit out the salt water and then another is soon on the way.  It is a mighty and grand world of water that covers our world and standing on the shores of it I feel that grandness.

Feeling so much fresher and charged by an hours swim in the sea I return to Niz and we make a plan.  We still have a few hours to fill until we meet a guy called 'Olly' who has said we can stay at his for a few days.  We meet a busker who is playing on the entrance to the pier he is playing a great repatoir on a ukelele and really singing well.  We speak to him for a bit and he tells us it's a great busking city and we get even more excited by being here.

We take a little walk through the winding, curving and steep paths through lots of different shops, restaurants and streets.  It's slow when you are carrying as much luggage as we are so we just eat some very tasty fish and chips (without the fish) and drink a coffee.  We get in touch with Olly and find out where to go.  It's a little bus ride outside of the city to a town called 'Shoreham'.  So we take the bus and haul our luggage with us once again.

We arrive in Shoreham and walk over this glass bridge accross the estuary to 'The River Pikey' community.  It is a stretch of about 40 boats of all different shapes, sizes and histories.  There are old German battleships, old freight boats, fishing boats, house boats and more.  They have all been converted into houses that people live on.  We were amazed as we walked along the path finding out which one was Olly's.

His was a big old blue and green wooden one and he welcomed us in like friends. He is a baker by trade and was hand making the dough for a pizza, as we got to chatting we loved him immediately.  Especially when the 'Old Speckled Hens' came out and we shared in our love for the
Real Ale and just had good talks all evening about all sorts.  A great sense of humour and soul and we felt like we made a good friend.  That's what summer is about for us..Making music, making new friends, making memories and discovering new places.

Converting our Euroes into Pounds didn't yield good results, so we would need to go busking soon, but right now we would just enjoy being in this great place, with great company in great weather.  As we sat on the hull of the ship watching the tide roll away, with a starry warm evening sky above us we got ready for what would be an unforgettable month in Brighton.

Download the fanastic album 'Where The Days Have No Name' and pay whatever you wish..