On Friday morning hubby and I got up and headed out to Victoria Station to catch the train to Brighton. 

On the journey I carried on with a Christmas present sock, more on that another day whilst hubby surfed the net to see what he could see. I’ve been wanting to go to Brighton for ages and although I knew I would only get the smallest of tastes, what with it being nearly lunch time by the time we arrived,  I was still giddy with excitement.

First off,  (due to Hubby’s specialised knowledge of all things his wife will love)

YAK

Now if there was ever a yarn shop that you would just want to happen across, this would be it.  Such beautiful yarns,  Dye for Yarn (oh how we love thee), Life in the Long Grass (just yummy), The Uncommon Thread (merino wool, alpaca and silk, just so soft), Malabrigo, (such gorgeous yarn, such gorgeous colours), I could go on, it was simply lovely to wander around admiring the beautiful yarns, gorgeous books and exquisite needles (Brittany, ChiaoGoo and HiyaHiya)

You can have a sneaky peak. (Note the big gap in the skeins of Malabrigo!)

I don’t think there is a better way to start a shopping trip.

Than to immerse oneself in a beautiful yarn shop and YAK is everything a knitter of fine yarns could ever hope for, it was the perfect start to the day.

We then found ourselves wandering The Lanes, a lovely mix of twisting alleyways of independent and very creative shop keepers.  Beautiful antique shops, the items of museum quality, reclamation yards stored in a Victorian shop,  specialists in native American artifacts. One just never knew what was in the next shop, let alone what may be around the corner.  We padded around for a happy hour

fuelled by still warm maple syrup and pecan crumbly fudge.

I know a few knitters that would agree with this statement – You Know Who you Are !

Then we headed down to the pier, not least to eat our home made pasties and drink coffee. It was lovely to see this carousel.

So beautifully painted.

And who could resist this helter skelter.

Brighton has its own ferris wheel,

and a big tall spike (extreme left of the picture) which with the help of google I believe is a moving observation tower, or will be when its finished in 2016.

And then we went down to the pebbly beach, which was really pretty. 

The sea was like a mill pond.

So very, very calm.

A few snaps later and we headed off again.

with a quick wave goodbye to the pier.

We headed to the Royal Pavilion.  Too late in the day to get the full use of a ticket to explore the inside, but not too late to have a good wander around and sit a while absorbing the glorious architecture of the palace.

I’ve always wanted to see it for myself, its just so spectacular. I loved it so.

The gardens are just still in flower, having their last hurrah.

Just a few little flashes of colour,

here and there.

The squirrels are very hopeful. I thought this one was just about to leap onto me in his quest as to see whether I was carrying any peanuts about my person.

And then we headed back to the pier to see if we could see any starlings creating their murmurations.  Sadly I saw a few  twisting and turning in the distance but by the time we were able to get near enough they were chattering and roosting underneath the pier.  This is just a few seagulls heading out to sea.  Maybe next time we will get a few photos of the starlings murmurations,  apparently its early in the season it needs to be colder.

A quick shot of Brighton starting to light up and then we headed home.

Remember that Malabrigo.  Hubby and I are just wondering if I should wear it like this, it still felt warm and I wonder if anybody but knitters would actually notice!