Dover to Brighton - Part 2

Hi there and welcome to part two of our trip from Dover to Brighton, as we travel around the outskirts of London!

Just to Recap Part 1:

Below is a map of the journey we made, and in this Blog we will be picking up where we left off heading from Dover castle to the white cliffs of Dover and towards Brighton.

 

We stumbled upon a stopping area for the Dover Cliffs as we were leaving town for Brighton. 

The stop area was called the 'Samphire Hoe Country Park' which is an excellent place to stop and stretch your legs or go for a hike along the base of the iconic white cliffs.  

"Hoe, Office and Toilets" - the three most important things in a man's life.

Below: The park is entered via a little one way tunnel under the chalky cliffs and then opens up to a open grass land between the cliffs and the Strait of Dover.

Moving on to Brighton:

Once we were on our way again we plotted course for Brighton, and ignoring all GPS advice decided to take the 'scenic route' to our destination. Lets say that the trip was longer than anticipated but the views and the scenery was worth the time. We saw rolling hills, sheep everywhere, solar panel farms, wind farms, and huge fields of yellow rapeseed/canola fields (which we didn't know what they were until returning to Canada).

(Sorry not many photos, hedges kept getting in the way)

The Brighton Pier:

For a Pier the 'Brighton Pier' or 'Palace Pier' as it was previously known has had some pretty exciting events occur during its lifetime.  It opened in 1899, and is now Brighton's only non-derelict pier.

The West Pier was its rival but was closed in 1975 and was subsequently severely damaged by fires and storms, with the remaining iron structure being partially demolished in 2010. Historically, the now destroyed Royal Suspension Chain Pier was the first pier structure built in Brighton.

Above: Every one of these horses on the merry-go-round has a unique name.

During World War II the pier was closed and some decking removed as a security precaution.

During a storm in 1973, a 70-ton barge moored at the pier's landing stage broke loose and began to damage the pier head, particularly the theatre.The damaged theatre was never used again.

A bomb planted by the IRA near the pier in 1994 was defused by a controlled explosion.

The pier was renamed "Brighton Pier" in 2000, although this legal change is not recognised by the National Piers Society or some of the residents of the city of "Brighton and Hove". Seems like they don't want to move on and embrace the only remaining pier?

It was a pleasant day when we were there, we got there at ~5 pm and we still had 2+ hours of daylight to look around and see stuff. The theme parks and attractions were all closed down though, either because of the time of day or more likely because of the time of year.  

Above: A reasonable representation of both of us!?

Above: The beach is made of pebbles! How strange. Us Australians are used to sandy beaches.

Below: The Royal Pavilion has a colourful history stretching back over 200 years. Built as the seaside pleasure palace for King George IV, it has also served as a civic building, First World War hospital, and has become a true icon of Brighton.

Sadly we only stumbled on the Royal Pavilion after it closed but it was certainly very beautiful from the outside. It has very Indian-inspired architecture. 

Overall the city of Brighton was a little squishy and a bit derelict but it was nice enough. Plenty of big shopping alleys and certainly a lot of people crowing the streets even for a weekday evening. 

We came across a Vegan food cafe/shop which was cool, but it was just closing for the night as we got there so we couldn't try anything from their menu. 

After we finished at Brighton, we drove West towards the Jurassic Coast but ended up stopping pretty soon at the Travel Lodge in Arundel. It was pretty gross there but sometimes you just gotta do it! 

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Well that is the end of the Dover to Brighton leg of our journey.

 Thanks again for reading and stay tuned for our next adventure to Jurassic Cove, Lulworthy Castle and the Durdle Door.

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