London to Brighton

View from the living room of our lovely one bedroom flat

Rita enjoying the sunshine on the upper boardwalk with Brighton Pier in the background

Brighton's pebbled beach stretches for miles and was recently voted 20th best in the world

King George IV completed his Oriental styled Royal Pavilion as a home and party palace in 1823

After a lovely weekend spent with my cousin Lis and her family Rita and I headed for the rental car agency to pick up our Vauxhall hatchback (thankfully, I think they only sell these cars in the UK) and made our way to Brighton some 75 miles (125km) away. Our trusty Tom Tom GPS guided us without incident into the heart of old town Brighton and our new home for the next 4 days.

Brighton is a seaside resort which has a long history of being a decadent party town for British Royalty and commoners alike. Both groups have created many tacky tourist facilities to entertain themselves including the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Pier. After finding our apartment, locating a parking space and unpacking we went for a walk-about to check out the beach, pier, old town (called The Lanes) and the Royal Pavilion.  However, we did not come here to spend our time in Brighton, although very unique, but to tour the surrounding countryside which we will be doing over the next few days.