Aba's Place: Walks

Shoreham - E. Sussex

Well as I hadn't yet managed to get it together to sort out a proper holiday, I thought I'd do the next best thing and catch up with friends by the sea for a long weekend.

Usually when in Brighton I head up to the South Downs or to the stretch of coastline east of the city. This time we fancied something different so headed the short distance in the opposite direction to Shoreham, a small town on the coast between Brighton and Worthing.

We parked up and wandered across the footbridge over the harbour and walked the short distance to where the renowned Shoreham Houseboats are moored up on the banks of the River Adur.

These houseboats are individual works of art, lovingly crafted out of old boats, scraps of metal and lots of other creatively used bits of old tat . A must see if you're in the area. However, though they are wonderful to look at, they are people's homes so remember to respect their privacy whilst admiring them.

Once you get to the main road at the end of the stretch of houseboats, bear left towards the coast and eventually you'll hit Widewater Lagoon, a haven for swans, other birds (to use the correct technical term -- bird watcher I ain't), and interesting plants. We came across some amazingly huge thistle like things (yep you guessed it - I'm not much of a botanist either).

Stop Press -- I am reliably informed by houseboat dweller Jill, that said amazingly huge thistle like things fall into 2 types, a Cardoon and an artichoke. You can even eat them (but if you do you'll be depriving butterflies, bees and other wildlife of a meal, and human visitors of an amazing sight).

Thanks for the botany lesson Jill.

On with the walk ...

With the lagoon on your right, the beach is to your left.
It was a beautiful sunny day when we were there. The wind was up and there were loads of folk out doing what seems to be the latest craze in water sports, kite surfing.

Very entertaining to watch as the surfers made it look oh so easy getting pulled along, riding the waves, jumping out of the water and doing fancy turns.
I have to say I was pretty impressed that they managed to stay upright at all!

We walked back along the shingle beach to the footbridge and spent a little time checking out the pretty harbour before crossing into town and finding a very nice cake shop (sorry don't remember the name but it was up a side street opposite the footbridge). I can recommend the vegan slice which was delicious, healthy and filling. How to make yourself feel virtuous whilst eating cake ...

So all in all, I was well impressed with our visit to Shoreham and will definitely stop by again next time I'm down that way.