Reporting from the Downs Again- Day 2 | Shoreham

Day 2 - Shoreham Swans & Beefy Burger

Waking up slowly, cuddled under a duvet is a luxury. And if you are someone who has been sweating in the burning heat of 37 degree celsius, then it’s even more special. Summer in Kolkata this year has been quite a victim of global warming with long spells of very high temperatures. The weatherman said it felt like 50 degrees. The amount of sweat the city produced might have been the answer to Bangalore’s recent water crisis, if used wisely! Anyway, quite thankfully, summer in England (at least whilst I was there) did not disappoint me. A comfortable duvet-wrapped sleep at night followed by an occasional thin jacket under the bright sun and soothing breeze - precisely, what we tropicals call Winter! Perfect!

Along the Shoreham River

After a healthy breakfast of oats and fruits, we drove down to Shoreham. Shoreham-by-the-Sea is exactly what its name suggests. It's a pretty town by the seashore where a winding river - river Adur meets the sea. The paths along either sides of the riverbank takes you right into the town and then along the beach. There is a freshness about this place.

Lots of Swans in the river today!

It was quite windy when we started the walk from somewhere on the Steyning road. The narrow winding river trembled constantly, creating tiny ripples as we walked past it. A number of big, white swans were seen practising their water drills. One of them had one of its legs lifted above the surface whilst it continued to do single-legged laps! The river banks were laid out with a stocky variety of wheat. A group of invisible starlings started a morning chorus. A runner went past. We crossed the wooden gate covered in nettles and walked up to the old, wooden bridge that connects the two sides of the river. Few more joggers passed by. It is 11:30 AM on a weekday for God’s sake! Come on people, go back to your desks! Shouldn’t I be the only one off work?!

Cropping up!

We walked into the town and right into my favourite French patisserie of all time. As always, I was spoilt for choice. After a lot of critical analysis, I settled for an orange cake and a coffee. And oh boy! I do choose well !

June is the month of Poppies and you see them scattered everywhere! This is one such on the side of the street in Shoreham.

Whilst waiting for our coffee, we met a recreational-cyclist who had a hotch-potch looking bike loaded up with lots of stuff. Apparently he had built this bike with different parts collected at different times and from different places. He was doing practice rides before he set off for his big bike ride to follow the Tour De France. We wished him luck and then continued doing our own tour de seafront. The wind coming from the sea brought a lot of salt with it. Naturally. And my specs had a nice layer of sea salt on them. Through these sea-salt tinted glasses, I watched many windsurfers and learnt about jibes and tacks whilst idling the lazy, breezy hours away.

Wind Surfing...

Later, we went to take a look at the old boat houses on the other side of the harbour. But what happened here! I was shocked! The weed smelling, dank boats with cheap, crazy wind chimes and shady, wacky characters from six years back were gone! They were all now replaced with clean, uniform corners and sane decors. How sad is this sanity!

11th century church in Shoreham. They were having an art exhibition when we strolled in.

We walked back along the other side of the river where we met a group of people surfing on hydrofoil surfboards that basically perch them up above the surface of water, giving an impression that they are surfing in air! It would be quite cool to try that out, though it didn't look as charismatic as traditional surfing. We were almost at the end of our walk when a bunch of brown rabbits suddenly made an appearance in front of us and danced their white bottoms leading our way - so sweet!

Missed the rabbits!

Back home, it was dinner time. And it was a special dinner that had been booked! What followed was - a short walk down the road to the quaint and pretty pub - The Swan and then the much awaited beef burger. I am not usually a beef fan but this burger is class apart; even with six years gone in between, it tasted exactly the same! With ‘change being the only constant’, it’s such a relief to find the things that don’t change in this fast world!

Burp!