Rye via Brighton & Beachy Head

Tuesday, 26 November 2019

Today we have a nice 2 hour drive along the southern coast of England...at least is would be nice if it wasn't raining.  But, as usually, we won't let the rain get in the way of our traveling, so we moved out the the AirBnB and jumped into the car.  Our first stop is Brighton, 1.25 hours away.

We arrived in Brighton around 11 AM.  Even though it was raining and window, we parked and headed to the Brighton Pier.  During the "season" it is glitzy and shiny and bright with amusement rides, carnival games, food stands, restaurants, and arcades.  Because it was a Tuesday morning and rainy and windy, we pretty much had the pier to ourselves with only a few other crazy people walking around.

After walking the pier it was after noon, so we walked into town to find lunch.  I found a place on my phone that is know to have very good sandwiches, Social Board Brighton.  Wow...it was so good.  Tim enjoyed his Philly and I loved my Tempeh sandwich.  You might be like...Tempeh?!?...yuck.  Well, this is the description of the sandwich.  All those different textures and flavors made it one of my favorite sandwiches ever.

Tempeh ( B-right-ON ) organic pan-fried tempeh, marinated in szechuan pepper and mirim, served with daikon, pink pickled ginger, wild mushrooms and our own gochujang sauce (VEGAN).

Boy...I would love to have another one of those sandwiches right now!

After lunch we walked back to the car and headed out to Beachy Head.  It is only 40 minutes away, but a pleseant drive along the coast with views of chalky, white cliffs.  Beachy Head has the largest of these cliffs called "Seven Sisters" and it was spectacular.

You may be asking...isn't Dover where the white cliffs are?  Why yes, but here in Beachy Head, we knew that we would have  the place pretty much to ourselves instead of dealing with the crowds of Dover.   We are driving to Dover tomorrow, but we might not visit the White Cliffs of Dover since we are now here.

I'm sure it it was sunny, the contrast between the white cliffs and dark sand would be amazing, but it was still quite a site to see. 

There was a visitors center with displays that talked about the formation of the cliffs and how erosion will one day take out the visitor center.  The coast is currently eroding 8 - 10 inches per year.

We are on our way to Canterbury, which is only 2 hours from here, but Rick Steves talks nicely about a town called Rye, exactly between here and Canterbury.

If you dream of half-timbered pubs and wisteria-covered stone churches, Rye is the photo op for you.

Who doesn't dream of half-timbered pubs?!? So, we decided to stay there for the night.  We arrived at our B&B just after sunset.  We walked around town a bit, stopped at an Italian restaurant and shared a pizza and some pasta, then looked for a half-timbered pub.  We found a pub called Rye Waterworks Micropub, and what a find!  They had about 8 local cask beers with the casks visible from the bar:

We had a couple of these cask beers and then switched to trying some of the local ciders they offered.  I think one of the ciders I had was 12% ABV!  Here is a cool photo (borrowed from their website) of the ciders:

After all that beer and cider, I had to use the bathroom:

Pretty cool that it flushes like you are pouring cask ale!  After a few hours of hanging out at this awesome pub, we walked back to the B&B and called it a night.  Tomorrow we head to Canterbury for 2 night with a stopover in Dover.  Until then...