The South of England

So our big adventure has begun.

The first week we stayed in the YHA of Southease with Nina’s school. We went to Brighton and waved Jonas and Evy goodbye.

 

Hitchhiking for the first time was quite exciting. In Southease a Belgian couple in a motorhome almost stopped, but then drove by any way.

So we decided to walk towards Lewes along the river Ouse. We passed mainly fields with live stock along the riverside. It was a lovely walk and Jan even rescued two lambs who got parted from their mother somehow. Good for Karma!

In Lewes we tried to get a ride in the direction of Bristol. Jan and I made bets about which car brand would pull over first. We are sure we were both wrong 🙂 but we don’t know what car it was. The driver, Chris, was very friendly and a positive thinker and dropped us on the A27 in Brighton.

After an hour smiling at cars and hoping for a ride, Michael stopped and took us near Chichester.

And there Ross, father of seven and soon becoming a grandfather at age 39, picked us up and dropped us in Chichester.

Jan was still rewriting our hitchhiking sign when Guy pulled over and invited us in his motorhome. It soon became clear Guy was also a very friendly and nice guy. 🙂

The first idea was that he would drop us at Southhampton, but while talking he changed his mind and took us with him to New Forest National Park, where horses, deer and cows stroll around freely. We found a lovely camping spot and put up our little tarp. We had some good talks and Guy made us dinner and tea. We talked till sunset and called it a night. New words learned: ‘Is there a chippie in town?’ and ‘We are just winging it!’ 🙂

We woke up at 4h30 am because of a loud conversation between foxes and a little, curious pony who was watching us sleep.

Of course we fell asleep again and got up at 7 to enjoy the oatmeal with honey Guy prepared for us.

We packed our bags and drove off to Bournemouth where Guy had a business meeting. During his meeting, we went into town and encountered some squirrels and bought a data sim card to get in touch with couchsurfers more easily.

After his meeting Guy drove us to Bristol, where we booked a hostel for the night. We went to a great pub where we had a nice cider and watched the football game Portugal – Wales.

Tomorrow we will visit Bristol in the morning and afterwards we will hike to Wales. Rain is to be expected!