A Day at the Hampshire Seaside!

| It's hard to stop smiling at West Wittering Beach! |

England 2015 Trip Journal
Sunday, April 12

     We're ending our day in Chichester after West Wittering Beach and Bethel Leigh Church. All the shops shut early, so we just walked around to enjoy the scenery and got dessert at Marks & Spencer to have with our coffee at Caffe Nero. Going to Costa or Caffe Nero is by far one of our favorite pastimes over here, thanks to the coffee that is undoubtedly superior than what we're used to in our coffee shops at home and the quantity of delicious British treats available in the shops that we can buy for next to nothing. Coffee shops also present the perfect opportunity to do some necessary web surfing on their free wifi.

     Before settling down for our favorite meal, we had to saunter over to the chief sight in Chichester: the Cathedral that has been around since 1108, with its soaring 277-ft. spire. We took the back way, and opposite from the path leading to the Cathedral itself we passed The Deanery, a handsome Georgian-looking building, presumably built for the dean of the parish and the Cathedral back in the 1700s (one of my favorite centuries). I wouldn't mind living in a house like that.

The back way to Chichester Cathedral.
(Back ways are fun – you never know what you might see!)

Et vóila! The Deanery.

     We had a glorious day of sun and blue sky! Meeting with old friends and new Christian brothers and sisters in church this morning also had a glory all its own, and they looked totally surprised to see us after we sneaked in during a song. :)

      Being a Sunday, the West Wittering Beach really had an air of a holiday about it with so many kids (and adults) eating ice cream in the clear spring sunshine under the brightest of blue skies. It would have even been warm if the wind had ever stopped blowing... We tried sitting on the beach, but what with the sand blowing into every crevice and your hair obstructing your view as it blew across your face, we only lasted about ten minutes.

     We decided on a walk down to the water so we could dip our toes in the Atlantic. Who would have thought that an April day by the ocean in England could be as cheerful as the first day of summer vacation! We both rolled up our trousers, wriggled our toes in the sand, watched the waves roll over our feet, and squealed when they rolled up a little higher and more enthusiastically than we expected. But it's hardly a legitimate day at the seaside if you don't get your trousers wet. :)

     It almost feels like I can fly when stand on the shore with the wind whipping past my face, throwing my hair about my head! (It also makes for an interesting hairstyle afterwards.) To top it all off, the shallow waves were almost warm! In the midst of this delightful excursion we decided we were hungry, so we adjourned to the cafe (remember, no English public place or building is without one) for burgers and chips, and to watch our fellow beach-goers enjoying the prescribed ice cream.

A perfect day at West Wittering Beach.

Happy memories!

Smiling like fool in the wind... But a happy one!

This is why I usually face the wind.

Some of the greenest green and bluest blue of surrounding scenery.

     I could hardly keep from smiling involuntarily all the while we were on the beach, with its sparkling sea, the clear blue sky, and the beaming sun. For anyone who has read the completed version of Jane Austen's Sanditon, I could completely understand why Clara Brereton was dancing about in the sea during her bathing excursion with Charlotte Heywood, as the sheer beauty of the day made me feel like doing so myself. Thankfully, there was no Mrs. Gunn to reprimand me. :)

© Anna Morton 2017