April 21–22

Accomodations: The Cherry Tree Guest House, Eastbourne, and The Redesdale Arms, Moreton-in-Marsh

Yesterday was a rest day for us in Eastbourne. The first order of business, though, was a trek to the laundromat. Clean, fresh-smelling clothes are such a relief and often something most people take for granted. 

After the laundromat, the five of us did our own thing for a while and then met up around noon at the waterfront. After lunch from the food carts lining the broad walkway, we strolled down to the ice cream parlor. Just as we were arriving, a little girl of about four or five came happily out of the door with her ice cream cone. Within moments, she came running back in to her mother crying. A seagull had swooped down and taken the ice cream! As if that wasn’t enough for the mom to deal with, the older girl, about eight or nine, was looking at the ice cream and banged her mouth into the glass case hard enough to make it bleed. When we were buying our ice cream, the girl said we could sit out at the tables, but to be careful of the seagulls. No kidding! Later that evening, I saw one swooping towards a woman holding an ice cream off to the side. It changed course about two feet away from her; I couldn’t see if she moved to get it away or if the seagull changed its mind—maybe it was the wrong flavor of ice cream.

The rest of the day involved napping, wandering around the neighborhood, and dinner on our own.

Today was our train ride to Moreton-in-Marsh. This trip involved four train changes (that must be why they were so much cheaper than our other tickets) and manhandling our own luggage on and off the trains. Since I bought the tickets online for all of us I collected them and ended up with 17 credit card-size tickets and receipts. Instead of trying to sort them out, I thought I would just hang on to them all for everyone. A railway employee assured me that would be fine. I was a little worried about our first transfer because there was only three minutes between our arrival and the departure of our next train. I warned everyone of this and to be ready, but it went very smoothly because our next train was arriving next on the same platform. We all felt pretty smug for navigating that transfer so easily. We had a few more minutes at the next transfer, but there were more people crowding around to get on. Nancy, David, and I managed to get ourselves and suitcases off and turned around in time to see the door closing. Nancy lunged and hit the button to open the door, but all I could see was John and June being swept away on the train. I am not even going to try to describe the rest of the trip. Suffice it to say we were reunited, had to figure out getting from one platform to another platform on a different level (it was not just a simple elevator ride) and then we missed our last train. This all involved a lot of befuddlement and questioning of railway employees. We were finally taken under the wing of a railway agent who got our tickets endorsed so that we didn’t have to buy new ones and actually stayed with us and pre-boarded us on the next train! It’s an understatement to say we were all relieved to get to Moreton-in-Marsh.

Me, reenacting our last sight of June and John at Farringdon.

Tomorrow we start our walk here in the Cotswolds. We are looking forward to a change of scenery and more leisurely walking!

• To Moreton-in-Marsh, April 29
• To Chipping Camden, April 28
• To Stanton, April 27
• To Winchcombe, April 26
• To Guiting Power, April 25
• To Bourton-on-the-Water, April 24
• To Stow-on-the-Wold, April 23
• A Rest Day and a Train Trip to Remember, April 21-22
• To Eastbourne, April 20
• To Alfriston, April 19
• To Kingston/Lewes, April 18
• To Poynings, April 17
• To Bramber/Upper Beeding, April 16
• Rest Day in Amberley
• To Amberley, April 14
• To Cocking, April 13
• To Buriton, April 12
• To Meonstoke, April 11
• Winchester, April 10
• Winchester, April 9
• To Winchester, April 7-8