On Sunday we got up early - by vacation standards - and did the quick 20 minute ride to the Ferry. I had received an SMS from DFDS, advising us to arrive 90 minutes prior to the scheduled departure due to peak holiday season.

The check in went fairly easy for me, since I just rode the bike from one checkpoint to the other, whereas my pillion-pilot had to run and present our documents :D Go team!

After 10 minutes we reached the motorcycle lane where we now had about an hour of waiting and chatting to other moto-travellers, about to embark. Embarking was very easy and the staff stowed and secured all bikes themselves.

The boatride was rather unspectacular and soon we disembarked and excitedly entered the English traffic. Following other bikes and cars from the ferry, we easily managed to adapt to left sided traffic and off we went to Rye.

We had somewhere read about Rye being a very old and cute fishing village and felt that this would get us in the right England spirit. It‘s indeed pittoresque and we went for a little hike, but after about 90 minutes we decided to ride on to our destination for the day: Hastings.

On the way there it was raining a little but always just a bit so we quickly dried everytime and our equipment didn‘t get soaked. Riding in raingear was a new experience for us but we quickly got used to it.

In Hastings we stayed in a BnB which had no Garage so our Bike had to sleep outside in the rain for the first time. In the meantime we went on to check the town and visit our first English pub. What an experience: there was life music at around 5 p.m. and the locals where already in a very good mood. There were so many beers on tap that we asked for advice and were recommended to try Cider. What a difference to the stuff that you‘ll get in your local German Irish Pub. We were hooked!

Next stop fish and chips down by the pier. So far the city seemed somewhat strange to us...plenty of people but businesses seemed unreal. But now we discovered a road parrallel to the main shore strip with great bars and restaurants. Pity we were full from fish and chips because a Jamaican dude was barbecuing jerk chicken that smelled amazing.

Some more cider and lager and off to bed.