Worthing; Friday, 23 January, 2026

First trip of the year, and a half day’s leave from work, meant I was heading down to the station shortly before 12:30, only to find that my train had been delayed by almost 15 minutes which was starting to call into doubt my 21-minute connection onto the train down to Worthing.

In the end the delay didn’t get much worse and I made the change at East Croydon with a couple of minutes to spare, just enough time to pop to the WHSmiths to get a very expensive lunch, unlike the original plan of popping out of the station to the nearby Sainsbury’s to get a much cheaper lunch.

The journey down was uneventful, and we arrived into Worthing on time. I had about 45 minutes before check-in opened at the hotel, so I wandered the half mile or so down towards the seafront and had a look around the beach and then a wander out along the pier.

Storm Ingrid was causing issues further west down the coast into Dorset and beyond, but up here in Sussex it was more just some high waves crashing onto the beach and pounding the pier.

I headed out along the pier to take in the views of the seafront and a closer-up look at the pretty rough seas of the English Channel, thankfully not so rough that the pier needed to be closed. From the pier I wandered over to the Lido, a small amusements and café area that’s sheltered from the worst of the weather by a wraparound wall.

By now it was time to checking so I headed further along the prom to my hotel for the weekend. After checking in a dropping off my stuff I went for a bit more of a wander around the town centre before grabbing a bite to eat and then wandering back along the sea front in the dark.

I had a quiet evening in the hotel room, popping down to the bar for a drink, before turning in ready for a busy day ahead.