Nothing like a pub after a long walk.

Greetings from blustery Eastbourne. Yesterday we were greeted by a sky full of clouds that were scudding across at breakneck speed, interspersed with flashes of sunlight. We are quickly running out of days here, so we decided to risk getting caught in a rain storm and started out on our walk to Jevington, about 4 miles along the Weald Way.
This track moves inland from the coast and continues for many many miles. The wind was howling when we reached the top of the downs about 3/4 mile from the house. The walks in England have been laid out for hundreds of years and are well marked and maintained by organizations. Each has a booklet published and sold by the group as a source of funds. We don't have a book for this one, but we are only going a short way.
It felt good to be out there. We were glad that we had chosen to go. The wind made it a bit of a slog at times, but we enjoyed the walk with its panoramic views of the south of England. We passed golfers playing in conditions that we never seem to see in Canada. There were lots of dog walkers and a jogger in shorts who apparently wasn't aware that his head was in danger of being blown to France. For our farmer friends, during the nineteenth century, farmers constructed concrete dew ponds for the many flocks of sheep that grazed the escarpment as there is no surface water on the downs. They are still very much in use today.
After about 2 hours we dropped down into the tiny village of Jevington. This is a quaint place with charm oozing from between the ancient bricks of its cottages and pubs, yes, it had two pubs. The Hungry Monk, which we had been told to visit was, sadly, closed on Mondays, but, as I said, there were two. We went instead to The Eight Bells, proudly serving its customers since 1787. We had a fine lunch, and with our recently untested legs complaining a bit we continued back up on the downs for another 2 mile walk to Willington.
Willington is suffering the fate of many of these tiny places. The large chain stores are destroying local businesses. There was only a small store, a hairdresser and another pub. We had hoped for a charming tea shoppe, but alas, no. At this point we were about 5 miles from home and decided that the old legs were not up to that, so we caught a bus that took us back to Eastbourne. We were dropped off at the train station in the down town area and with aching legs, we struggled up, yes up, to the house. We arrived home tired but very satisfied with our day.