The Ship Inn, Itchenor

After we had unpacked all our things and enjoyed our delighted nose around the static we popped into East Wittering (only five minutes drive away) to the shops to buy some food and drinks (as that was where we had been told the nearest supermarket lived), and I have to say, the place was absolutely charming, just a hint that we were seconds from the water, a couple of little shops selling buckets and spades (and that sort of thing), the rest of the town being made up of 40 or so bespoke stores (such a rarity in this day and age) from a wonderfully brimming greengrocer -


- to the fantastic pie shop -

- where you can see them busily making the pies you are about to buy (I bought a steak pie and a ready to cook cottage pie for later)...absolutely wonderful...

That first evening, we thought we would go and check out the local village to the site (Flyingpops having spent most of the rest of the day napping while I read in the sunshine)...on our way passing a large group of (no doubt ravenously hungry and desperately thirsty) ramblers on a grim charge, prompting us to put pedal to the metal (suspecting, correctly, that their destination was the same as ours), unfortunately we missed the entrance to the pub on our first try -

- affording us out first taste of Chichester harbour, unfortunately the two minutes it took to comment on how pretty it was, take a quick snap, then turn the car around-

- meant that by the time we had parked the car, the ramblers has beaten us to the bar and were monopolising the staff ordering gallons of real ale and time consuming dinners, so we checked in the restaurant, but were politely informed that there were no tables free and we would have to wait for about 20 minutes (oh well)...so we grabbed a couple of drinks and headed outside to find somewhere to sit, eventually settling on a bench next to a selection of fishing gear dumped outside the public bar (only some of it decorative)...

We didn't have to wait long, which was good as Flyingpops was starting to get a little chilly as the sun started to set, before we were being seated on a little table right by the door...

Dinner was rather good, when we did finally get it, Flyingpops choice was particularly interesting - listed on the menu as "Vegetarian Fish and Chips", it turned out to be chunks of halloumi deep fried (like a cod fillet would be), the fried potato was a little on the "well done" side, but I kind of like that...I went for their (extremely mature) cheese burger, cooked medium rare, which also came with chips, but mine were served up with a very interesting dip called French Ketchup, which tasted a lot like a mixture of ketchup and mustard...jolly nice anyway...after our meal we made our way contentedly back to the static, for a few drinks and a snooze in front of the DVD player...