Lorraine and I travelled to Brighton with a spring in our step and a twinkle in our eye. We picked Craig up from Ringmer (where he grew up) and travelled to Brighton and tried to find a hostel. Craig recommended the Brighton Backpackers, I don’t. We stayed there even though it had no car parking and we had to leave the car at Craig’s sisters and catch a bus to the town centre. The hostel was not very nice. The bunks had fallen apart long ago and were now held together with sellotape and nails, sellotape providing the main structural support. The nearest shower was broken, so to take a shower you had to go down 4 flights of stairs and up another 4 on the other side of the building. To top all that off, sharing with 4 guys (one who stared) and coming back from the pub to find pest control there, we decided not to stay any longer.

We did see the Royal Pavilion which is an indian style building in Brighton, the pier (a fairground on stilts over water), the museum, the pub and the mall. Lorraine and I are in no hurry to get back though and since we managed to see all of the places of Craigs childhood we feel there is no need. We even went to Bodium castle which was closed, Pooh Bridge and did see the long man of Wilmington (he wasn’t long, he was missing the good bits because Queen Victoria went to see him). We did miss Lewes fireworks however, which was the point of hanging around, we are sad about that. After 4 hours driving we ended up back in Reading where Lorraine lives and although there is a builder in the kitchen it is still quieter than most hostels.