The Dragon Quest begins
Finally after lots of talking and no walking, I strapped on my walking boots this morning and Anton and I headed off by train to Littlehampton, which is a pleasant little town that Anton dislikes. We paused only at Marks and Sparks by the station (a.k.a. my larder) to buy sandwiches, and bottled water, and on the train we had to work out again how to use the sound recorder, as I had left the instructions at home. (At least I had written them down.)
Arriving at Littlehampton we bagan a futile search for a ferry which didn't exist. Finally we ask someone and, had to double back through town. We crossed the river on the footbridge and trudged the half mile or so down to the pebbles of the West Beach, where the Dragon Quest walk officially begans.
We spoke some words into the MP3 recorder and then began the walk to find the origin of the River Arun, as well as try to find the dragon in St Leonard's forest.
Our direction was due north, inland, past Littlehampton and out into the countryside, which is actually a flat flood plain of the river. It was an extremely hot day, with a heat haze by early afternoon it was approaching 25C (mid 70s F) which is bizarre for England in April. We actually put on sunblock before we set off too. The walk itself was fairly uneventful, following the river twisting over the plain with Arundel and its Church and Castle rising on the hill in front of us.
It felt like summer, we saw a red admiral butterfly and several bumble bees, although most of the trees are only budding.
The real action of course was Anton and I talking and recording ourselves. This is a steep learning curve and learning to relax around the recorder is going to be vital. I think we got some fairly good material here and there though. We'll have to see and get some feedback on what we've done.
I get flashes of a kind of agoraphobia which strikes mainly on the tops of bald hills and in the middle of wide and empty flat landscapes. I was quietly dreading this part of the walk which is walking on a raised riverbank surrounded by miles of flat fields. I was okay though for the most part, although had one nasty five minutes.
Was very pleased to get to the end of one such section, when Anton and I paused by the mouth of a disused canal and we decided to record something about this. I had the microphone and a five minute search revealed that I had dropped the dratted thing. We then had to backtrack for about 15 minutes. Fortunately Anton found it. The worst part about this, of course was not the losing of the recorder, is that Anton will not let it lie. It also meant that I had to walk one of the most agoraphobia inducing parts of the entire quest not once, but three times.
The rest of the walk passed on fairly uneventfully. We stopped in at St Andrew's Church, near Ford and this was a gorgeous little church, empty of people. We'd seen it surrounded by a few trees in a sea of bright yellow rape (canola).
Then into Arundel rising above the plain where we slaked our thirst with a beer and An Omen was revealed to us. One of the first places we found as we walking into town was a restaurant called the Millennium Dragon.
Then home, I had a shower and pottered about a bit, and in the evening went to Kemptown and met Rick and Anton and Anna, and we all went off to see a lively young band called Mumm-Ra who I quite liked, even believing they were the future of rock and roll for at least two songs.
Rick is a really nice guy, who A&A met through the fact they all have babies. He has been in bands and so on, so is informative about music which is handy.
I was old enough to be Mumm-Ra's dad. But it was all good fun and enjoyed watching the skinny lead singer strike tortured poses and leap onto the drums and jump about.
Spoke to Sprinkles after the gig, and passed the phone around to talk to Anna and Anton. Then home in a taxi, quick Skype with Sprinkles before she went out with her pals. This time next week she will be in Brighton!
Boofed happily into bed.
Below Anton on the beach and the start of our quest, the gorgeous churchyard of St Andrew's at Ford, me standing outside the portentous Millennium Dragon. The lively young boys in Mumm-Ra.
Finally after lots of talking and no walking, I strapped on my walking boots this morning and Anton and I headed off by train to Littlehampton, which is a pleasant little town that Anton dislikes. We paused only at Marks and Sparks by the station (a.k.a. my larder) to buy sandwiches, and bottled water, and on the train we had to work out again how to use the sound recorder, as I had left the instructions at home. (At least I had written them down.)
Arriving at Littlehampton we bagan a futile search for a ferry which didn't exist. Finally we ask someone and, had to double back through town. We crossed the river on the footbridge and trudged the half mile or so down to the pebbles of the West Beach, where the Dragon Quest walk officially begans.
We spoke some words into the MP3 recorder and then began the walk to find the origin of the River Arun, as well as try to find the dragon in St Leonard's forest.
Our direction was due north, inland, past Littlehampton and out into the countryside, which is actually a flat flood plain of the river. It was an extremely hot day, with a heat haze by early afternoon it was approaching 25C (mid 70s F) which is bizarre for England in April. We actually put on sunblock before we set off too. The walk itself was fairly uneventful, following the river twisting over the plain with Arundel and its Church and Castle rising on the hill in front of us.
It felt like summer, we saw a red admiral butterfly and several bumble bees, although most of the trees are only budding.
The real action of course was Anton and I talking and recording ourselves. This is a steep learning curve and learning to relax around the recorder is going to be vital. I think we got some fairly good material here and there though. We'll have to see and get some feedback on what we've done.
I get flashes of a kind of agoraphobia which strikes mainly on the tops of bald hills and in the middle of wide and empty flat landscapes. I was quietly dreading this part of the walk which is walking on a raised riverbank surrounded by miles of flat fields. I was okay though for the most part, although had one nasty five minutes.
Was very pleased to get to the end of one such section, when Anton and I paused by the mouth of a disused canal and we decided to record something about this. I had the microphone and a five minute search revealed that I had dropped the dratted thing. We then had to backtrack for about 15 minutes. Fortunately Anton found it. The worst part about this, of course was not the losing of the recorder, is that Anton will not let it lie. It also meant that I had to walk one of the most agoraphobia inducing parts of the entire quest not once, but three times.
The rest of the walk passed on fairly uneventfully. We stopped in at St Andrew's Church, near Ford and this was a gorgeous little church, empty of people. We'd seen it surrounded by a few trees in a sea of bright yellow rape (canola).
Then into Arundel rising above the plain where we slaked our thirst with a beer and An Omen was revealed to us. One of the first places we found as we walking into town was a restaurant called the Millennium Dragon.
Then home, I had a shower and pottered about a bit, and in the evening went to Kemptown and met Rick and Anton and Anna, and we all went off to see a lively young band called Mumm-Ra who I quite liked, even believing they were the future of rock and roll for at least two songs.
Rick is a really nice guy, who A&A met through the fact they all have babies. He has been in bands and so on, so is informative about music which is handy.
I was old enough to be Mumm-Ra's dad. But it was all good fun and enjoyed watching the skinny lead singer strike tortured poses and leap onto the drums and jump about.
Spoke to Sprinkles after the gig, and passed the phone around to talk to Anna and Anton. Then home in a taxi, quick Skype with Sprinkles before she went out with her pals. This time next week she will be in Brighton!
Boofed happily into bed.
Below Anton on the beach and the start of our quest, the gorgeous churchyard of St Andrew's at Ford, me standing outside the portentous Millennium Dragon. The lively young boys in Mumm-Ra.
Comments
RT