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Spent a couple of days here - for the first time in a few years - and was amazed by the visitor numbers; virtually impossible to get a bed - or be fed!
Popular since William IV's time, and the nearest real resort to London. Has a lot going for it; history, Lanes, gay scene (Kemp Town), marina, pavilion etc.
It seems to appeal to a wider audience now - with Brighton Pier as a major hub. Good transport links - back in Victoria, in less than an hour.
Rich wrote: Is there still the naturist beach there that they made a big thing about opening in about 1980, and if so is it popular?
I will join you!
Brighton has always had a gay scene Barney, like a lot of seaside towns but Brighton is more open about it. Even sleepy Winchester has a bit of a gay scene, also.
Lester Pidgeon wrote: Spent a couple of days here - for the first time in a few years - and was amazed by the visitor numbers; virtually impossible to get a bed - or be fed!
Popular since William IV's time, and the nearest real resort to London. Has a lot going for it; history, Lanes, gay scene (Kemp Town), marina, pavilion etc.
It seems to appeal to a wider audience now - with Brighton Pier as a major hub. Good transport links - back in Victoria, in less than an hour.
Another snag is that people who live at defunct railway stations are also stuck, if they don't drive all thanks to Dr Beeching. I got 2 mainlines that were not paved over since the Beeching cuts, it's a crying shame as they are now expanding the village. If I do use the train, it's guaranteed to be packed to the rafters, even the guards don't bother ordering people off, as people are not going to get off. Nothing works in the UK, and the infrastructure is outdated and barebones at best. We can't even use bilevel trains due to tunnels and viaducts being too small.
Throughout the years there has been very little to reopen the lines Beeching cut, despite having miles and miles of railway tracks that are still there. Hs2 should have been completed years ago.
Lester Pidgeon wrote: Green Man wrote: Nothing works in the UK
Public transport in London and the South East is excellent.
Depends on where in the South East, many towns and villages in the S.E. no longer have train services and buses are limited, especially on Sundays, and a lot of bus routes finish after 6 PM or so especially in small market towns and villages.
Many recent surveys have confirmed increased satisfaction with south eastern transport services - with an acceptance that the 'one man on a bus' sight is unacceptable.
During the week, three buses an hour are commonplace; on a Sunday they usually have a interval of over an hour. Quite reasonable - particularly as their exact location is visible on the app.
Downing Street Cat wrote: Rich wrote: Is there still the naturist beach there that they made a big thing about opening in about 1980, and if so is it popular?
I might visit Rich, and make it instantly unpopular. Unless they presume it's a beached whale. lol.
You might find they put the Sky copter up and make a Sky News story if you do!
Lester Pidgeon wrote: Green Man wrote: Nothing works in the UK
Public transport in London and the South East is excellent.
It's the pits in Milton Keynes where you might expect it to be really good in the new city. You're better off on a pushbike.
I went to a show in June at the theatre and decided on public transport to and from the venue for the first time in a very long time. Big mistake. Coming out of the show at just 10.20pm I discovered I could not get home as there were no further buses on a main route back home. The last late bus was 10pm in an area like that! I couldn't believe it, outside the theatre in the main central MK too. So it was a taxi. The electronic timetable was a pack of fiction too at the stop beside the theatre, and even an number I used to track the next bus on an app told a load of lies, there was no next bus.
Rich wrote: Lester Pidgeon wrote: Green Man wrote: Nothing works in the UK
Public transport in London and the South East is excellent.
It's the pits in Milton Keynes where you might expect it to be really good in the new city. You're better off on a pushbike.
I went to a show in June at the theatre and decided on public transport to and from the venue for the first time in a very long time. Big mistake. Coming out of the show at just 10.20pm I discovered I could not get home as there were no further buses on a main route back home. The last late bus was 10pm in an area like that! I couldn't believe it, outside the theatre in the main central MK too. So it was a taxi. The electronic timetable was a pack of fiction too at the stop beside the theatre, and even an number I used to track the next bus on an app told a load of lies, there was no next bus.
Don't tell Barney that, he tells you it's nothing to worry about, and it's marvellous. It's madness that a city like M.K. has no night buses from the venues to the main routes. Google Maps is better than any bus timetable; it gives you real-time information, whilst the electronic ones don't for some odd reason.
I did give a friend's lift home into Devizes, which didn't take long, about 30 mins or so, but it's another town where public transport is pretty much non-existent thanks to Dr Beeching again.
Devizes is doing well in the live music scene, I have been told, but without your transport, you are stuck unless you want to go to Swindon and see real-life zombies and see a mother and son snogging behind the train station. I haven't set foot in the town since then. Swindon can keep The Vic.
Winchester is only a tiny place; if it didn't have a Cathedral, it would just be like any other small market town. They have a night bus to Alton; I suppose you can get a bus from Alton into Surrey; I have not looked at the logistics in great depth. I haven't been to Surrey in ages; the last time I went was to buy a second-hand pickup truck.
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