Dad's Birthday Adventure

Yesterday was Dad's birthday and we had plans. Sort of. The general idea was to go out for breakfast, then pootle around for a bit  until a big birthday tea at our local pub. Without really knowing why we headed for the coast, and ended up at the big Wetherspoons in Brighton Marina which provided a most delicious bigger-than-full-English breakfast. The decor, which I wish I had taken photographs of, was just as amazing as they had filled it with the beautifully carved wooden parts of a reclaimed church, including the pews for seating.

Afterwards we wandered out and around the Marina itself, enjoying the early morning sunshine (it was only about 9.30am) and admiring the boats and the scenery.

I love the little details about marinas and boaty places, the curled rope, flecks of multicoloured paint on the underside of boats, broken tiles on the Gondola boat cafe etc. Lots of lovely little textures and colours.

After the marina we decided to hop back into the car and head along the coast until we found something interesting. Dad had a vague idea of going to Shoreham Fort as we had never been- although when we got there you could barely see anything due to a heavy sea fog that had rolled in!!

The fog horns were blaring out it was so thick, made us jump every time they went off!

After all the bad visibility, it was a bit of a relief to cross back over the Downs for our picnic by the Jack and Jill Windmills. This seems to be becoming a bit of a birthday tradition as we picnicked here on The Mother's birthday in 2012. It was quite good actually as we could see the fog on the left hand side, swirling around the hills, but on the right hand side we had a fantastic view out over the valley.

On our way home, we went through Chailey Common where they have introduced a small herd of ponies to help keep the bracken and scrubby plants down. It was a lovely and unexpected sight to see them grazing and splashing in the puddles so close to the road. (Can you spot the little feathered friend in the below photo?)

It was a great jam-packed day, and the meal in the pub afterwards was superb!! I can thoroughly recommend The Highlands Inn in Ridgewood if you are down in this neck of the woods, the food was delicious and I love the interior decoration.