Moved to Crystal Palace (SE london) to help Jenny move house but unfortunately it was cancelled so we made the most of our week in London by visiting friends and family. Watched King Kong at Greenwich cinema with Claire, had our christmas party with Jenny in Battersea and met Steve and Matt in Greenwich for a bit of sightseeing and a spot of lunch.

Our caravan site is set right in Crystal Palace Park and exploring the grounds was lovely. It was gorgeous and green and had the dinosaur lakes which i had never heard of. These large statues of pre-historic creatures set amongst the lakes were created in 1850 ready for the Great Exhibition held at Crystal Palace. Amazing.

We spent a good few hours this morning exploring Fishbourne Roman Palace which has some fantastic mosaic floors dating back from AD 75. They have also recreated part of the garden as it would have looked in the day.

In the afternoon we ventured to Bognor Regis - a small but typical seaside town - for a walk on the beach, fish and chips and a game of Crazy Golf - I thrashed Pete! And a trip to Bognor isn’t complete without visiting Butlins. We sauntered into the site not realising that it was an Adults Only weekend and we shouldn’t be there! What a shame - we were hoping for a swim in splash world.

This evening we crossed the road to visit the local pub, the Bell Inn. We enjoyed a quiz and curry night there and what made it even better was that we won! I don’t think the locals were to pleased when we left with a cash prize and didn’t buy them a drink.

A great end to a great weekend.

Arundel is a gorgeous little town by the River Arun. It has the most amazing view as you approach it by car. It looks like a medieval town but is apparently mainly Victorian. The cathedral sits atop the hill and the imposing but very romantic looking castle across from it.

The town was in full festive spirit as it held its annual victorian christmas street party complete with carol singers from the local junior school, morris dancers and hot food and drink.

After exploring the town (sadly the castle is closed over winter) we ventured to a partially frozen Swanbourne Lake to enjoy a cuppa and to feed the birds.

That evening we returned and enjoyed a slap up meal at a bistro called ‘The Muse’ before watching a one man play at the local theatre - ‘Defying Hitler’ was a really enjoyable play detailing the diary of a young man growing up in pre-nazi Germany pre and post WW1.

Our next destination is Chichester. We stay at a lovely peaceful nursery in a village near the marina, unfortunately we are camped in their car park as the field has flooded with all the recent rain. They assure us they are very quiet at this time of year and we won’t be disturbed - likewise we won’t be taking up space for punters purchasing christmas trees and poinsettas.

Chichester is a market town with a Georgian influence, a Cathedral and a Montezuma’s. It does the job but isn’t the most enticing town we have visited (more like a poor mans Canterbury). The Cathedral is beautiful and worth a wander round. Pallant House Gallery is also recommended, unfortunately it is closed for refurbishment until 2006.

Before leaving Brighton we did a last minute tour of the area. This included:

The most fantastic chocolate shop: Montezuma’s can be found in The Lanes. Handmade with the best ingredients and nothing unnatural added! We had chocolate with chilli, white chocolate and cranberry and a selection of scrummy truffles. http://www.montezumas.co.uk

Our favourite organic farm shop: Discovered whilst driving back from an afternoon out, the Boathouse Organic Farm Shop in Lewes has the best selection of food, drink and Ecover products I have seen. We bought some homemade sausages and organic bacon - I think we’ll have to go back for more - yummy! http://www.boathouseorganicfarmshop.co.uk

The best beer: Lewes in East Sussex has its own independent brewery, Harveys. It even has its own shop and after trying a few slurps of the stuff we proceeded to purchase a stash for ourselves. The Christmas Ale is heavenly (but be careful - it is 8.2%) http://www.harveys.org.uk

Okay, so we had beaten our munchie attack and thought a nice walk and fresh air would do us good. We wandered to the Marina and decided to watch a film… or three. Yes, we slobbed out all day in the cinema.

To find out which films we watched -

We decided to go out and experience Brighton nightlife. Starting off at the Palace Pier with its dazzling christmas lights, we ate chips then wandered to a bar to get warm. Little did we know what a treat we were in for! It was Karaoke night at Horatio’s Bar - so we stayed for a drink, then another, then another. It was compelling stuff to watch the punters sing their little hearts out but we managed to drag ourselves away after a couple of hours.

It was extremely cold on leaving so we found ourselves walking into the first place we saw. Charles Street is a bar and club, the first inkling we had that it was a gay bar was when Pete got chatted up within 10 seconds of walking in. Several bum pinches later and a bloke who wanted to steal my brooch and we knew for sure. We had a great night there jigging our funky stuff on the Club dancefloor.

We staggered home in the early hours and awoke a few hours later to an attack of the munchies. We walked to a local greasy spoon, Mac’s Cafe, which was reputed to do the best fry-up in town - they didn’t disappoint.

We decided to move onto our next destination today and booked in at a site nearby to Brighton Racecourse and Marina. It is an odd site nestled in amongst a leisure centre, playing fields and golf courses but it is quiet and our views are very green.

We set up very quickly (getting old hands at this now) and decided to have a wander around the Marina. It wasn’t the most picturesque marina we’ve seen but it did have a good selection of restaurants and we treated ourselves to an early tea at the tapas bar.

Moving on

After a lovely weekend visiting family in Holmfirth (The ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ village) we left Canterbury. The caravan suffered a little bump, as I got confused about which way to turn the jockey wheel - my heart stopped when the whole front of the caravan thudded to the ground. Luckily a nice man on site had spotted my error and ran over to help us lift the caravan and hitch it onto Yogi Blue. No damage was sustained (except my pride) and Pete hasn’t stopped laughing about it for days!

We headed to the south east coast of England and ended up in Bexhill-On-Sea (the only caravan site open in this area). Although classed as a resort for the more ‘mature person’, the whole area has lots going for it. We love the seaside resort of Hastings and look forward to exploring more of it in the next few days. The countryside of East Sussex is beautiful and we have been extremely lucky to have had sunny days and clear skies this week.

We have felt a change in temperature though and need the caravan heating on constantly. This morning we woke to frost covering the fields surrounding us and our water pipe frozen! Luckily the sun had it defrosted by 10am.