We left home in the morning on a gloriously warm sunny day heading for the Sussex Coast. Our first stop, however, was to be Battle (1066 and all that!) and they have some peculiar parking arrangements in Battle. The abbey has its own car park for which you have to pay and you have to pay again to go into the abbey so we weren't going to do either of those things. The other council run car parks are pay and display but in the Pay & Display cark park off Caldbec Hill there is what they call an overspill car park (unsurfaced) which is free and, consequently, it is very popular. We did actually find a space but it took a 99 point turn to get into it because there was so little room to manouevre.

We had been here last year when Marie came over but I forgot to take a photograph of the Abbey Gatehouse (silly me) so I rectified that omission this time.

We had arrived in Battle shortly before lunchtime and now it was lunchtime so we looked for somewhere to get a light lunch. We found a delicatessen, Battle Deli, which was also a little teashop and went in there.  We both enjoyed our lunch very much and I had the nicest soup I've had in a long while. Very good value. Recommended.

Not far from the car park was this ancient house.

Now there's an interesting shape.

A short way past the abbey is this view. The field on the other side of the gate is called 'Lake Field', although I don't know why as there isn't any lake, and was bought by the National Trust to preserve the view. It's a view worth preserving.

We decided that it was time to move on and headed for Eastbourne. Once settled in we went for a walk along the seafront. It had clouded up a bit by this time but was still pleasantly warm. We drove through Eastbourne, along the seafront, with Marie when she was over here and staying in Rye and it looked quite impressive then so we were very interested to be able to have a good look this time.

It certainly seems a nice town. There were a lot of rather grand buildings, mostly hotels, along the seafront and they looked well cared for; no peeling paint. There was a pebble beach and a pier.

We walked along the pier and were able to catch this view in the evening sunlight.

Nice pier and very well kept with some interesting little buildings including the 'Victorian Tea Rooms' and a Camera Obscura which was closed – pity.

So back for dinner and wait and see what the weather brings for tomorrow's walk.