Although we’d started with a holiday drink last nigh, today was the first proper day of the holiday.
It didn’t take us long to finish the packing which was then loaded into the back of the car.
I reset the trip counter and hit the road.
The first section, as far as Beaconsfield, was uneventful with no hold up and we made good time.
SO, at junction two of the M40, we turned off and within a few metres were at the services. The operator’s own website describes Beaconsfield as one of the most attractive services stations in Europe.
We easily parked the car and set off in search of the first of five geocaches on the site.
Cache one was a travel bug hotel and was easily spotted disguised as a bird box. Lifting the lid, revealed a sizable box containing the log and one travel bug, which we left where it was. We did add one of Sue’s ‘signature’ resin animals.
Cache two was tucked away in an old tree trunk. Three was a bison tube in a tree and four, a small lock and lock box into which we dropped a resin frog.
Cache five was a distance away near the entrance/exit so we decided to drive to that one but not until we’d had a bite to eat.
On our cache hunt, we’d walked pasta Pizza Hut which would fit the bill. Unfortunately technical problem prevented this place from opening so we ended up giving our custom to The Hope and Champion, which must be one of only a few pubs in a service area.
Being a weatherspoon’s meant that we got a decent meal without breaking the bank. With more driving ahead of us, we plumbed for the hot drinks refills. This caused a few comments when the photo (above) was posted online.
The final cache was grabbed on the way out and just before re-joining the M40 but only for a short distance before branching off onto the dreaded M25.
Whereas the M40 was plain sailing, the M25 was the opposite with roadworks and start stop traffic for many miles.
After too long on the orbital motorway, at Sevenoaks, we left it in favour of the A21 which was much better.
The further south we traveled the more the architecture appeared to change with more clapperboard houses and the distinctive oast house pointy roofs.
Even with the M25’s best efforts to delay us, we arrived at our final turn off about an hour too early. The instructions for the letting agents strictly forbade contacting the owned concerning arriving early so we continued on the A21 with the intention of driving into Hasting to look at the sea.
This never came to fruition as roadworks on the outskirts of Hastings delayed. Looking at the map revealed a Sainsbury store ahead so be diverted there and picked up a few provisions, including a pizza for tonight’s dinner.
The traffic going the other way wasn’t too bad and we arrived at our final destination almost bang on time.
We unloaded the car taking all our stuff into our abode for the next week.
We had chosen an unusual building a re-styled grain silo.
The Corn Bin was designed upside down with the bedroom and a bathroom on the ground level with lounge, kitchen and a smaller bathroom on the upper level.
Being designed like this, meant that we had views from the living room.
The pizza was consumed and having hooked the iPad up to the TV. we finished the second series of Only Murders in the Building to which Sue is now well and truly hooked.