We found them!

We've had quite an adventure today - I've been waiting to see the poppy fields around here for some time, and while we were on holiday I saw an image of these fields posted on the Brighton photographic group's Facebook page. I sent the girl who'd posted the image, a message to ask her where she'd seen them, and all she said was "in the fields to the north of Lancing". So last night, Alan looked on Google maps to try and find where they were, and found some images of previous photos, so manage to find an approximate location. Then this morning we loaded the folding bikes into the back of the car so we could park up when we got there, and set off on the bikes.

On the way, we called into Gogglebox Chris's house as he was taking part in the Brighton Garden Gadabout. This is where people open up their gardens, provide tea and cakes and raise funds for the Sussex Beacon charity which Chris does a lot of fund raising for. Chris did garden design at college and has done his garden himself and is really impressive. The weather was perfect for it, and there were lots of people turning up while we were there, so hopefully he's raised a reasonable amount of money. I took some photos for him, and once I've edited them slightly I'll put them on a disc for him to use as he wishes.

Anyway, we then headed off to North Lancing, parked up and asked a couple if they knew where we could find the poppy fields. They said they'd seen them and gave us brief directions, so we set off on the bikes. It was definitely a 'wild poppy chase' as we struggled to find the field and asked numerous people we passed if they knew where they were. One guy said he'd seen clumps of them, but not a field, another group of people were also looking for them but hadn't found them, and then we rounded a corner and saw a red stripe far in the distance. One lady that we asked, told us that the farmer had sown the poppy seeds in this field for the 100 year anniversary of the start of World War 1.

Alan went onto Google Maps on his phone again to try and find a way of getting to them, and after about 2 hours of intermittent cycling and walking through fields, we finally found them! It was such an amazing sight and was well worth the effort, but of course this mean I took lots of photos. It was difficult to choose what to blip, but Alan said it should be this one he took of me in the middle of the field and I've put my others on flicker if you want to have a look.

We then made our way back to the car and set off home, but we passed a pub and I asked Alan if he fancied stopping for a pint of shandy. We did and it turned out to be a great find - we ended up having an impromptu late lunch/early dinner. It was a Miller & Carter steak house, with a lovely garden at the back, and the food was fantastic and not expensive. I'd certainly recommend it and will definitely go back.

We're now sat in the garden watching the F1 which we recorded. Tomorrow we're both back to work, and the weather looks good so I'm going to go on my bike, which means I need to be organised tonight!

Anyway, I'll go and watch the race - hope you're having a good one!