Walking the Coastline Between Hove and Brighton

I pretty much passed out last night, despite thinking there was no way I’d sleep as the room was bright and loud (I’m on a busy street) and the bed wasn’t great. But next thing I knew, it was bright daylight and I was wondering what the heck time it was. Well, only 6:45. I may have dozed off again. šŸ˜€ I eventually went down for breakfast around 9:30 or so and did some online stuff at the kitchen table, then went upstairs to work for a bit.

By one, I was hungry and I also knew I didn’t want to waste inside the gift of a sunny afternoon at +14C! My host was home by the time I was ready to head out, so she let me know about a lunch deal at the best fish and chips shop in town. That sounded good and it was on the way to the water, so I decided to head there and check out the deal.

So I’m in Hove, which used to be a separate city from Brighton, but the two were joined as one city, Brighton-Hove, in 2001. Hove is considered Brighton’s more genteel cousin. While here, I will use both Hove and Brighton. If I’m talking about Hove, I’m referring to this part of the city specifically. But if I use Brighton, it can mean Brighton proper or the city overall, simply because Brighton is better known.

This is my street and you can sort of see the house I’m staying in. It’s another terraced Victorian house, but not as tall, and the staircase is not as steep as the ones in Hebden and Shrewsbury.

What a lovely surprise!

I have to cross this abomination to get to downtown Hove, the pedestrian railway bridge. Trundling through there last night, I was immediately reminded of the ferry building in New Orleans. Just as decaying and smelly. Augh.

Isn’t it nasty? There is talk of it being refurbished or replaced. That would serve the community well as that bridge is a blight.

Here’s the Hove train station. Both Brighton and Hove have direct connections to London in a commute of about one hour, which isn’t too bad.

First Esso I’ve seen in Europe.

Wolfies of Hove had a lunch special of a piece of cod with chips for Ā£3.50. This was a much better deal than I got in Hebden, where I paid over Ā£4 for a portion with half chips that I could finish and I couldn’t finish this portion. It was very good, but the bottom of my fish got mushy and the chips at the bottom stuck to the wrapper. So a good deal and tasty, but not as nice as what I got in Hebden.

I got my lunch as takeaway and ate at a bench by a bus stop to watch the foot traffic.

I continued making my way to the water along this pedestrian street.

I then crossed this busy street to walk the final block or so to the water.

There are some really impressive buildings along the Hove-Brighton Coastline!

Hello, old friend. šŸ™‚

Here are the northern and southernmost places I’ve seen the ocean in the UK. Next time I come, I need to do Cornwall, Wales, and Northern Ireland!

Well, there’s my word of the day. A groyne (pronounced groin) is a wooden or stone structure built to prevent erosion.

Aaaaaah. The famous Hove beach huts! The structuresĀ are privately owned and there is a license fee of over Ā£300 a year for the spot. It is very difficult to findĀ one since all the spots are taken so you have to find one available for private sale. One was recently on the market for Ā£14,000. They can only be owned by residents of Brighton-Hove and you have to keep it forĀ at leastĀ three years before reselling. Many have been owned by families for generations.

There are very strict rules on the colour of the roof and bottom (notice the light green and red), but the doors canĀ be any solid colour or stripes of several colours.

Each has an address.

Nice French pun (ƀ l’eau — to the water — sounds like allo — hello — and c’est l’heure is “it’s time. So “to the water, it’s time or”or “hello, it’s time.”)

I had a hard time finding images of what the insides look like, but it seems that folks use them mostly as storage sheds with perhaps a table to eat at out of the sun. Many have a gas cooker for making tea and doing basic cooking, I assume. They are meant for day use only.

More magnificent buildings.

More colourful huts.

The British Airways 360, a vertical tram. You ride all the way up in what looks like a giant doughnut.

So that meant I was in Brighton, about 3.5KM from home. I hadn’t meant to walk so far today and I had to get back to work! So I decide to meander my way back home. I passed a street with a Korean, Japanese, and Chinese restaurant right next to each other. Convenient!

I popped into a Sainsbury’s Local to get a salad and some pasta sauce to go with pasta I brought from Shrewsbury, plus a small bottle of wine, so I wouldn’t have to go out again as I’m knackered.

Without going out of my way, I was able to take a different road over the railway so I didn’t have to take the nasty bridge.

Brighton has a reputation for being very grotty and having a lot of homeless people while at the same time being very hip and trendy. That was definitely the impression I got today and I could see a very clear distinction between Hove and Brighton. I hope the weather holds for my future explorations!

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