Wednesday 6 April

One week on the road so we treated ourselves to coffee in bed - and Mavis is looking more homely as each day goes by, or more untidy as Alison likes to put it.  We took Mavis into nearby Rye. One of the frustrations of this life is the lack of car parking suitable for a vehicle of Mavis' ample proportions, so we ended up in the coach park at Rye station desperately hoping that we weren't contravening some bye-law. Time will tell.

Rye is a charming little town, built on a pimple of raised land in the middle of reclaimed marsh and it is particularly picturesque, in a chocolate box kind of way, with cobbled streets and plenty of exposed beams. We couldn't help noticing they take a particularly literal approach to house naming in these parts. Thus the house opposite an old pub is called The House Opposite while further down the road is The House with a Seat - which, you won't be surprised to read, has a seat outside and likewise the first house in the street was christened with the carefree abandon they exhibit around here as The First House.

Dotted around Rye are viewing points but as far as we could tell these just meant you could see a long way. Not, unless we missed something, at anything of interest, unless you take a fascination in expanses of flat green landscape, in which case Rye is a particular treat.

Back at the site we had an early evening stroll through nearby Guestling Woods in the amber glow of a watery setting sun. The peace and tranquillity was only disturbed once by a party of neon clad runners careering past us in a flurry of breathless politeness as they all bid us thank you for stepping  out of the way. 

And home to dinner, hot chocolate and a film.