England

Visited the British Museum again this morning - we are just blown away by the sheer volume of precious antiquities.  Then headed off to collect our hire car and found our way back to our hotel to pick up our backpacks without any difficulty - the traffic proved nowhere near as bad as it looked from the top of a double-decker bus.

Our main goal was to get out of the city by the most direct route, which turned out to be approximately south from where we were and we headed that way more with the aid of the compass than by any real navigation until we stumbled across the M25 and a sign that said 'Hastings' and decided that was as good a place as any to aim for.

We quickly tired of the freeway, easy driving though it was, and when we saw another sign saying "Romney Marsh - Tourist Drive" we felt that since we were tourists it was fitting that we go on the tourist drive.

The road was narrow and so pretty, lined with hedges either side and we were coasting along enjoying the scenery when a car roared up behind us out of nowhere swerving from side to side.  We glanced at each other in astonishment when the car flew past without a pause on a blind corner and vanished over a crest down the tree shaded road ahead.

Ten minutes later we crested another hill to see the same car parked sideways across the entire road while the driver leaned on the open door to take a photo of a cow in a paddock!  We amused ourselves for a few miles speculating on where they might be from, guessing they'd recently come off the ferry at Dover.

Arrived at Hastings by a roundabout route but were not too late and began looking for a Bed and Breakfast to stay at.  Took a turn up a narrow, steep street to the left of the main road and stumbled across "Lavendar & Lace" dating back to the 1500's - just what we were after!

Found a laundrette and did some washing while we had dinner in a nearby restaurant