Worthing

If we had known what the weekend was going to turn out like we would have organised a teddy bears picnic. But instead we organised instant noodles for lunch on Saturday supplemented by a few cups of tea and bacon sandwiches along the way. Our first stop was Chichester. Our little teddy bear Caramello was born here - though we could find no evidence of where he was made - not even a teddy bear shop. Harry wandered into a Toy Shop looking for cousins, aunties, uncles and other distant relations but I said 'Quite frankly Caramello is a cut above toys' to which Harry agreed and we walked out.
Chichester is quite a pretty little town, it has its own little cathedral - built in Norman and Gothic styles - we didn't go inside but enjoyed walking around the Bishops Garden and the close. It isn't hard sometimes not to go in because we have been spoilt with castles, abbeys, cathedrals, forts, heritage homes etc and sometimes we just feel as though we have overdosed on them. Saying that I always wonder what I missed out by not going in. There is quite a nice long wall to wander around which of course we did, looking into people's back yards - some of them which were just waiting for the sun to come out so that the owners could enjoy the petite gardens and furniture. The city appeared quite small and this is supported by the not too complimentary quote from Daniel Defoe "I cannot say much of Chichester, in which, if six or seven good families were removed, there would not be much conversation, except what is to be found among the canons, and the dignitaries of the cathedral". A bit unkind I thought.  Anyway, Caramello enjoyed having his photo taken by the wall and it was here that we began to muse how we have given our little bear a personality. We tried to think of a word that would describe him for each letter of his name but that became a bit contrived - so some of the words we used to describe our little bear in no order in particular are: organised as he is still carrying his map; curious as he enjoys the travelling around; shy in that he is usually quiet; a little bit naughty - because we always ask each other if we have Caramello as if he just might wander off a bit by himself; patient because he doesn't mind when we get lost; adventurous as he has been on a micro light, boat, plane, bike and canoes; easy going as he is happy to go with the flow.
On leaving Chichester we saw a sign for a aircraft museum - it unfortunately was closed but we'll be going back to the area and so no doubt it will be on top of Harry's 'list of things to do'.  We had our lunch sitting on the shore at Bognor Regis which was quite a nice thing to do in the middle of winter.  The seagulls looked on in the hope of a piece of noodle at the end (no such luck there - we were  hungry and also know what happens when you feed seagulls).

So, onto our second cuddly little creature... it's a long story so stay with us.We stayed at Worthing for the night and on Sunday we took a wander up Devil's Dyke - it had been recommended to us by a work mate who lives not far from there.  I have no idea why it was called Devils Dyke but it is in the South Downs Way and is a long narrow valley that has over time been carved through a landscape formed from chalk and grassland. Some people believe that the Devil dug the valley to drown the parishioners in the valley below while others have suggested that it was formed during the last ice age - it does have a glacial type appearance so Harry and I thought the last suggestion had some merit. Over 2000 years ago Devil's Dyke might have been home to a small farming community and there are signs  of the walls of an old hillfort (you have to look quite carefully).  In the late 1800's, if you were 'anybody' this was the place to go.  You could walk along under your umbrella (I keep hearing about those great summers a long time ago and so the green house effect really is having an impact) and travel up a funicular railway to the top. Nearly one million people were 'somebody' as that is how many visited the Dyke using this mode of transport back in 1897.

If you didn't just want to admire the view you could walk not far and travel across the valley on Britains first aerial cable car - remember this was over 120 years ago so I think that is quite impressive having such a tourist industry back then. I must admit we enjoyed the walk and probably would have done it even if the cable car was still working (it is only a couple of concrete pads now, a bit like the railway, so you've probably gathered they photos aren't ours - I found them on the National Trust website). 

Then at the top where the paragliders jump off the hill and circle above the dyke and the spectators watch from below there is a pub. We and the paragliders and their friends saw the same view that Constable saw when he came to the area to paint and stated that 'this was the grandest view in the world' - nice view but not the best we've seen.  After doing a bit more wandering we went to the outside seats in the pub enjoying the thought of eating outside while paragliders floated above.  But they wouldn't serve food outside in winter because of the wind (lovely sunny day and no wind but it didn't seem to matter - company policy).  So, thankfully we found a seat in the sun inside and looked out over the landscape as we ate a reasonable meal. I was doing a bit of research about the area and we might have chosen not to eat there had we seen the following comments. "My wife and I made the journey up to this pub because of its location and memories I had from my childhood. When we arrived we were met by the most aggressive and threatening man I have come across in a long time. I later discovered that this was in fact the landlord and while he did not receive our custom then, he will not ever receive it in the future either" and "the server put up two glasses, one of which had a white rime of dried bubbles coating the whole of the inside of the glass. It was quite obvious that the glass was dirty and had not been washed at all, this was refused. The other glass looked cleaner but not by much as clumps of gas bubbles formed on the inside surface as it was filled". However, if we were going to add a comment to that website which we probably won't we would say"We found the food average and knowing my taste buds any soap in the glass would have been clearly noticed and returned for another drink". Amazing what good or bad publicity will do to a place.  Anyway, you may wonder about the little furry creature that was here.  Looking over the hills to the other side of the Dyke is Ashdown Forest - the home of, wait for it, Winnie the Pooh.  So I began to surmise on our walk back to the car what the similarities were with our little bear and Harry said "they are both bears" - where has his imagination gone? So, I put on my thinking cap and decided:  they both have a friend called Kanga; they both have round tummies (though one has not yet tasted honey); and when Winnie was described by others on the web he was easy going, whimsical, calm, gets-along-with-all types (which is exactly what we thought about Caramello but in different words).  The web also described Rabbit as passionate; a leader, temperamental, stubborn and prone to anger and Kanga and Tigger as optimistic, fun, talkative, popular and sometimes over-bearing. And what about Eeyore and Piglet? Moody, prone to bouts of depression or negatitvity.  What fun A. A. Milne (who incidentally moved his family including Christopher Robin and his wife Daphne to a country house in Hartfield, East Sussex - very close to Ashdown Forest where Winnie lives and where Christopher Robin and his nurse would explore and play.  Most people will know that the characters in the stories were based on Christopher Robin’s toys but as a child when I was given the book for Christmas (we incidentally were camping at Hatepe and on the drive to Taupo in a little Ford Prefect, over those hills and around the bends, I read my new book and was quite car sick) the characters seemed so real.  On talking to my work mate he said if you read the book and remembered the places you could pick up where they were in Ashdown Forest but there wasn't any plaques to help to identify the spots - might do a bit of searching on the web for our next trip over that way. Anyway, some quotes from Winnie which just go to show that bears are intelligent and perceptive:

• “If you live to be 100, I hope I live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you.”
• “If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.”
• “If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart. I'll always be with you.”
• “Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”
• “You can't always sit in your corner of the forest and wait for people to come to you... you have to go to them sometimes.”
• “Pooh looked at his two paws. He knew that one of them was the right, and he knew that when you had decided which one of them was the right, then the other was the left, but he never could remember how to begin”
• "It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"”

Anyway, leaving devils dyke I had 2 questions one which was answered along the way.

Question: Why were all the electric fences around with temporary 'kissing' gates.  Answer: The National Trust graze cattle to keep the grass down.  Otherwise within 50 years they think the valley would be quite covered with scrub and we wouldn't see a thing.

Question: Why was there a group of young men at the top of the Dyke throwing bananas and apples into the air in unison? Answer: No idea.

So far so good, two little cuddly creatures.  The third little creature would have been cuddly too if he wasn't so wet and didn't have a long rat like tail - yes we saw our first river vole - you could be mistaken for thinking initially that it was a floating fat bit of wood.  The little voles were swimming across from one side to the other side of the moat that surrounds the castle in Arundel - a magnificent piece of architecture - still used today - and one which we will return to when it opens.  It sits high above the town over looking and overseeing everything the town people do - from wandering into the little tudor buildings, the priory garden, churches and along the little street of boutique shops. The castle was built around the William the Conqueror era and has a long history of royal visitors (eg Queen Victoria and Prince Albert), royal weddings and features in tv series and moveis eg Doctor Who episode Silver Nemesis and The Young Victoria. Anyway, the moat around this castle is where we saw the little vole and the locals who told us what he was also said 'we were lucky to see it' as usually the live inside their little riverside homes.  We saw not one, but three paddling furiously from one side of the moat to the other. And after coming back to Bristol and doing a bit of research on a vole I discovered that Ratty in Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the Willows' was actually a water vole - not a rat. They are good swimmers, paddle furiously but don't have any particular natural gifts that help them swim unlike the beaver or otter. The voles make their nests in a little hole on the river bank and swim around at any time of the day or night. They have lots of little voles between spring and autumn and that must be a fun time to go and see the moat - little voles (voling?)and ducklings and goslings. Teenagers are chucked out of the home, when Mum has her next litter (about five litters a year). They are legally protected in Britain as they are a bit rare one of their main predators being the American mink which escaped from fur farms and numbers also declined due to changes in farming patterns and flood control. The story of many a rare breed of animal and bird. I can't remember much of the Wind and the Willows story but Ratty is described as relaxed, friendly, caring and likes a bit of adventure (ie he took Mole for a ride in his boat to visit toad) - and some quotes from Ratty:

• "There is nothing, absolutely nothing so much worth doing as messing around in boats." 
• "There's plenty to do, lots of time too, Messing about on the river. Wherever you go, you go with the flow when you're messing about on the river". 
• "Whether you get there, whether you don't. You think it will matter, but I tell you it won't. Lots to be done, and it's all of it fun. When you're messing about on the river".http://orangecow.org/pythonet/scripts/windinthewillowsquotes.txt

So we enjoyed our wander around Arundel. We noticed that in one of the hotel walls was a couple of dice embedded into the brick work with the commentary "In 1928 the Old Cross was rebuilt after a fire. When dice were discovered in the foundations and displayed in the brick work for good luck for all who visit". A great way to get custom - but we didn't go in and so missed out on that piece of luck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Water_Vole

So, there is only one more thing to write about and it doesn't involve a cuddly animal but something old.  In Worthing we went to the movies (Sherlock Holmes - Conan Doyle probably would not have minded the modern version directed by Guy Ritchie and the portrayal of Sherlock and Doctor Watson character - I have a feeling he might have enjoyed especially the new take with a few explosives, kung fu and special effects). But it wasn't really the movie I went to see but the theatre - The Dome. It is described as "a unique example of an Edwardian Leisure Centre" - it was like the old picture theatres we have at home - we used to go to one as a kid - it seats what feels like hundreds (580 actually) in big comfy seats with lots of leg room. The entrance is old wooden panels and the bar has that "I want to sit and have a drink in there" feeling. The building was built by a guy called Seebold and designed by one called Theodophilus Allen and in the local Gazette the highest complement was paid "Worthing may well be congratulated upon the possession of a townsman sufficiently enterprising to provide so pressing a want in such a satisfactory way". On our way to the theatre we did some 'promenading' yes that is a word and explains the strolling along a "long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk." There was a history of promenading but somehow I think that those who bike, run, rollerblade, skate, jump, hop ie do everything but drive a car along the esplanade is nowadays 'promenading'. We've done it before and I imagine since it is a feature of English seaside towns it won't be the last time we promenade with the locals and visitors.

On the way back to Bristol we stopped at the Cissbury Ring (no it is not a car racing track but an Iron Age hillfort which was a fortress some 2300 years ago). We walked the 600 or so feet up the hill (as though we hadn't done enough walking for the day) and it was sort of worth the effort as you could clearly see the rings around the hill and a view of Worthing in the distance.  In its history there were also flint mines (explains why houses in the area are built of flint I guess) and some of the mines went down 40 feet with lots of tunnels (they're called galleries) radiating out from the long vertical tunnel.
And another Denise thought for the week - An owner at the top of the Cissburg Ring was calling to her dogs who weren't really listening - one was called Daphne and the other Rocky.  Why do we call girls after flowers and not boys?

http://www.findon.info/cissbury/cissbury.htm