Off to the South Coast Again

Today we went off to the South Coast again but this time our destination was Arundel. For most people heading there, their ultimate destination is Arundel Castle not us. We went to visit Anita's friend Marion from her schoolgirl days in England. Just as we did when we went to Eastbourne, we went by train to Arundel. Using trains to get places in England is brilliant - lots of them, generally on time, clean, not crowded too often and cheap if you book ahead (if you don't book ahead the prices can be horrendous). 

To get to Arundel, we took a Bognor Regis train from Victoria Station. With the engineering works still in full swing, getting to Victoria required two Tubes, one to Embankment and then a change to the Circle Line. We got there in plenty of time and settled into our train once the platform number came up on the screen. One thing to keep in mind if you are using trains over here is that you need to keep on the ball. When the time comes for the train to leave, it just leaves - no announcements, no Guard's whistles, no train whistles, the doors are locked and it goes...
 

 The ticket queue at Victoria - booking on-line saves time as well as money...

The Bognor Regis train - our train to Arundel

Our route was the same as that for Eastbourne as far as Three Bridges. Here we headed off in a south westerly direction through Horsham, Billingshurst and Pulborough until we arrived at Arundel. Marion was there, with her daughter Eleanor, at the station to meet us. We jumped in their car and went around to Marion's house to meet up with her husband Terry and dog, Bonnie. We hadn't seen Marion and Terry since we were England last, 35 years ago, so it was really great to catch up with them. It was glorious afternoon so after lunch Terry and I spent most of the afternoon sitting in the sun "solving the problems of the world". Anita and Marion no doubt did the same in between catching up on old times. Eleanor had the good sense to go off down the local pool with her friends and make the most of the sun. Mind you, while sitting in the sun turning slightly pink, it was hard to comprehend that in winter there is snow on the ground.

Marion, Anita, Terry and Eleanor

Bonnie

It was really great catching up with Marion and Terry after all this time but the day did have to come to an end. Marion gave us a quick tour around Arundel as she drove us back to the station to catch the 7:08 train back to London. Like Eastbourne, Arundel is another place that we need to visit the next time we are in England. When we made it back to our hotel, we went downstairs for dinner.