It's day 10 of our trip and we're just under half way in knocking off the piers from our list and exactly half way through the days we'll be on the road. So far we've clocked up 1000 miles which is about the same number of times that Brenda the SatNav has told me I'm over the speed limit. I finally found the button to disable that feature so that should ensure a less stressful car from tomorrow (but will increase my chance of getting 3 points on my licence).
Along the way we've seen an amazing variety of piers from the decrepit, the bizarre, the old, the modern, the long and the short. But today we saw the best pier of the lot (so far). I'll get to which one it is later but first we had to drop my Dad off at the train station.
We got to Portsmouth a little early so after taking the photo outside the Clarence Pier we had time for a game of crazy golf (again!). To cut a long story short, I won (yay!) The pier itself is a lot of fun with a roller coaster right on the sea's edge and numerous rides, amusement arcades and takeaways encamped on the structure. From the entrance it doesn't look like a pier but I guess if you were looking back at it from the sea you'd probably think it was. Anyway the sign said Clarence Pier, it's in our book of British Seaside Piers and the Piers Society say it's a pier so that was good enough for us. And they had a Wimpy (you don't see many of those anymore, a bit like Little Chef's) so that was the clincher.
Lunch done we headed to Southsea for their pier. It's shut. It looks like they're working on renovating it at the moment so there wasn't much to do but take the selfie and move on.
With my Dad safely put on his train we headed to Bognor Regis for pier number 23. Somebody tweeted to me that Bognor is the last resort but I think if I had to use one word to sum up Bognor Pier it would be 'random'. There's no sign to say Bognor Pier but I guess from the front it looks like one with an amusement arcade and an ice cream café and as you're in Bognor perhaps they don't feel the need to tell you and the money they save on buying a sign can be spent elsewhere. To walk on the pier you have to go around the side and that's where the fun started. It's a combination of concrete, wooden planks, disused buildings and a scaffolding ramp at the end that doesn't lead anywhere or seem to do anything (perhaps this is where they spent the sign money). There were a few seagulls, a bloke on a mobility scooter just sat in the middle of the wooden decking on the pier having a kip (at least I hope he was), a couple sitting against a wall with a bag of chips and two young lads dangling off the scaffolding 50 feet above the sea at the end of the pier. It was all very strange and like a scene from A League of Gentlemen.
Time to move on....
Worthing was the next stop and as the saying goes, we certainly saved the best to last.
Our chosen hotel was the Travelodge, located right on the sea front. We got lucky with a sea view room which also had a pier view.
We took a stroll into the town centre which has a Greggs (Dylan's breakfast is sorted), a JD sports (Dylan now has a new pair of trainers), a computer game shop (Dylan now has a new Wii game) and a Poundland (Dylan now has a bar of chocolate). Dylan now has no holiday spending money left......
Around the corner was the pier and what a treat it is. The pier front is made up of three domed buildings which made a lovely back drop for our selfie. Around the side of said domed buildings we walked up the pier along the wooden decked promenade admiring some stained glass windows on the central partition that was doing a great job of protecting us from some strong winds.
The pier had the obligatory amusement arcade in the middle of the pier and we lost an obligatory £2 playing on the 2p machines.
But the real star of Worthing Pier is to be found at the end. It's an art deco thirties style café/bar which has recently been renovated and now looks amazing. It offers incredible views from a wall of windows at the back and on a clear Summer's evening makes an excellent and relaxing place to enjoy a cold glass of Chardonnay.
Now officially our favourite pier of the trip (so far).
Sam's cousin and family had travelled down from Crawley to meet up with us and we had a very enjoyable couple of hours reliving our adventure and having a general catch-up. Another great end to another great day.
This really is a truly great adventure......
Next up is our busiest day with 5 piers, a 202 mile journey, a trip to an open air cinema in Leeds Castle and an exclusive guided tour around the currently being renovated Hastings Pier. It's set to be another fun day!
Miles travelled so far: 998 Piers visited: 24
Along the way we've seen an amazing variety of piers from the decrepit, the bizarre, the old, the modern, the long and the short. But today we saw the best pier of the lot (so far). I'll get to which one it is later but first we had to drop my Dad off at the train station.
We got to Portsmouth a little early so after taking the photo outside the Clarence Pier we had time for a game of crazy golf (again!). To cut a long story short, I won (yay!) The pier itself is a lot of fun with a roller coaster right on the sea's edge and numerous rides, amusement arcades and takeaways encamped on the structure. From the entrance it doesn't look like a pier but I guess if you were looking back at it from the sea you'd probably think it was. Anyway the sign said Clarence Pier, it's in our book of British Seaside Piers and the Piers Society say it's a pier so that was good enough for us. And they had a Wimpy (you don't see many of those anymore, a bit like Little Chef's) so that was the clincher.
#21 Portsmouth Clarence Pier (me and Sam on the rollercoaster)
Lunch done we headed to Southsea for their pier. It's shut. It looks like they're working on renovating it at the moment so there wasn't much to do but take the selfie and move on.
#22 Southsea Pier
With my Dad safely put on his train we headed to Bognor Regis for pier number 23. Somebody tweeted to me that Bognor is the last resort but I think if I had to use one word to sum up Bognor Pier it would be 'random'. There's no sign to say Bognor Pier but I guess from the front it looks like one with an amusement arcade and an ice cream café and as you're in Bognor perhaps they don't feel the need to tell you and the money they save on buying a sign can be spent elsewhere. To walk on the pier you have to go around the side and that's where the fun started. It's a combination of concrete, wooden planks, disused buildings and a scaffolding ramp at the end that doesn't lead anywhere or seem to do anything (perhaps this is where they spent the sign money). There were a few seagulls, a bloke on a mobility scooter just sat in the middle of the wooden decking on the pier having a kip (at least I hope he was), a couple sitting against a wall with a bag of chips and two young lads dangling off the scaffolding 50 feet above the sea at the end of the pier. It was all very strange and like a scene from A League of Gentlemen.
#23 Bognor Regis Pier
Time to move on....
Worthing was the next stop and as the saying goes, we certainly saved the best to last.
Our chosen hotel was the Travelodge, located right on the sea front. We got lucky with a sea view room which also had a pier view.
Around the corner was the pier and what a treat it is. The pier front is made up of three domed buildings which made a lovely back drop for our selfie. Around the side of said domed buildings we walked up the pier along the wooden decked promenade admiring some stained glass windows on the central partition that was doing a great job of protecting us from some strong winds.
#24 Worthing Pier
The pier had the obligatory amusement arcade in the middle of the pier and we lost an obligatory £2 playing on the 2p machines.
But the real star of Worthing Pier is to be found at the end. It's an art deco thirties style café/bar which has recently been renovated and now looks amazing. It offers incredible views from a wall of windows at the back and on a clear Summer's evening makes an excellent and relaxing place to enjoy a cold glass of Chardonnay.
Now officially our favourite pier of the trip (so far).
Sam's cousin and family had travelled down from Crawley to meet up with us and we had a very enjoyable couple of hours reliving our adventure and having a general catch-up. Another great end to another great day.
This really is a truly great adventure......
Next up is our busiest day with 5 piers, a 202 mile journey, a trip to an open air cinema in Leeds Castle and an exclusive guided tour around the currently being renovated Hastings Pier. It's set to be another fun day!
Miles travelled so far: 998 Piers visited: 24
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