Seth Lakeman at St Mary's Rye

On a very warm day we took the train from Rye to Eastbourne for a gentle stroll along the seafront. The small, 2 carriage train from Ashford to Brighton was packed to the gunnels when it arrived at Rye but fortunately many people got off and also at Hastings so in the end it wasn't too bad.

Very busy along the prom in Eastbourne, but pleasant enough especially in the shade at Holywell Retreat at the far end of the prom where the land rises to the cliffs of Beachy Head. We enjoyed the inevitable coffee and scone sitting in the shade then turned around and walked back to Eastbourne through, it seemed, a smog of hundreds of barbecues being started. I wonder if this was what caused the "chemical cloud" that affected the coast just a little west of here yesterday?

We'd had a big breakfast at the hotel before leaving, meaning that neither of us was in the market for a large dinner before the concert, so we called in at M&S to buy sandwiches, hoovering up loads of end of day bargains which we sat and ate at Ypres Tower in Rye before the concert.

And so to Seth Lakeman, back in the same church as we saw Eric Bibb last night. Same hard pews but as we sat at the back we had quite a good view although the sound was not so good as last night. We couldn't hear many of the words nor his talking between songs very well at all. Nevertheless, you have to admire the musicianship and his songwriting abilities. The concert started earlier than I'd realised, which was why we were at the back and so finished earlier meaning we were home much earlier than I thought, which was no bad thing.