Well today started out at 7:00. I prepped for the day, had a breakfast at 8:00 and still managed to miss my 9:00 bus by two minutes, because I had forgotten my wallet and had to return to my room. No big deal, on Saturdays they come every half hour. So I waited in the shelter and read a book. Today my decision was whether or not to try and get to Bayeux France today and return tomorrow. Well upon doing inquiring at a travel agency, my options were to take a four hour sailing (I was too late for the fast ferry) at 12:30 followed by a bus to Caen and then switching to Bayeux, likely arriving about 6:00 tonight. Then to catch the fast ferry back to Portsmouth I would have to leave at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon just to catch the bus back home because they don’t run late on Sunday. So unless I was going to spend two nights there, it would be worth the hassle. Our good friends Margan and Richard will remember a trip similar to that 4 ½ years ago, where we just managed to drop our rental car and race to be the last ones on the ferry.
So plan B was to go to Arundel Castle the stately home of the Dukes of Norfolk for over 900 years. This required taking a 45 minute bus ride towards Brighton, stopping at Littlehampton and then taking a second bus north for about 20 minutes. The only issue was that the connecting buses miss each other by about 3 minutes so another wait of 30 minutes in between. Oh well, I have nothing but time and no one is depending on me. Well I can tell you the wait was worth it. Arundel was started in 1067 by the then Earl of Norfolk, one of Cromwell’s friends. The castle was built over a series of 300 years, and was rebuilt between 1870-1890, though many of the original features still exist. One of them is the Keep, the fortified structure that was able to withstand any onslaught from invaders. I took lots of pictures and four of them feature in the blog. The Castle and Keep will be obvious to you, but two others bear mentioning. The tree that is shown is a Cork Oak Tree, the oldest on the property though it has not been dated. They have large props under the lower hanging branches to keep them from breaking. The last is a picture of a fountain in front of a Mosaic. The building they are in is a design that was patterned after one built by Indigo Jones, a famous landscape designer in 1611. The crown in the fountain is being suspended solely by the jet of water that is rising. The mosaic behind is made up of sea shells reminiscent of one Carol and I saw at Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly. I ate a nice lunch in the gardens and made my way back to the town of Arun on the River Arun and caught my long bus ride back to Chichester.

I explored options for an Easter Service at the Cathedral and decided on the 11am service tomorrow morning. I scouted out several eating establishments and opted for the West Street Bar, a tasteful church conversion. I had the steak and ale pie and a pint of milk. Marsden’s Bitter I believe it was. Picked up a few provisions for the next few days and took the faithful 60 home to Lavant. It’s been a full day and the weather was a little spotty, never really raining but threatening to most of the time. The sun never showed itself, except in a few promises. Temperature was about 12-15. I expect it was that warm at home. However in NS I don’t expect the magnolias and japonica are blooming as they are here and the forsythia is nearly gone. Happy Easter everyone!