Sunday 6 July 2014

Day the Fourth

Today was a very exciting day with a very early start. We left London bright and early to take the train to Hastings and then Battle, famous for 1066 and the Battle of Hastings. Before I was even interested in history I knew this as the most important date in history, thanks to my parents who were there when it happened, because it is when the Normans conquered Britain with the aptly names, William the Conqueror.

Gordon has never been to Hastings before so we really had no idea what to expect. Hastings is a shore town on the English Channel. When we arrived it was raining and, being Sunday, everything was closed until noon. We wandered around a bit and came across a few churches dating from the 14th century. They were very cool, one of them had a large mural painted above the alter that dated back near the building of the church, very, very cool. We visited a collection of small museums that opened up in the afternoon. One for the history of Hastings, one of Fishermen, and one of Shipwrecks.

The rain stopped in time to head to Battle. At Battle, named quite literally after the Battle of Hastings, we visited the battleground and Battle Abby. The battleground was interesting but was essentially a hill, some trees, and a field, pretty standard stuff. The Abby was a lot cooler, it was built by Will the Conq. to commemorate the battle and honour the dead at Hastings so it's only about 950ish years old. No big deal.

Most importantly though, we were in Battle for their annual Scarecrow Festival.
We returned to Hastings after Battle and climbed the hill to castle only to find that it had closed 15 minutes earlier. The view was great though so we enjoyed some ocean breeze and 99s.


Things I ate:
     - pain au chocolat and tea on the train for breakfast
     - bacon, potato, onion, and cheese tart with carrot cake for dessert
     - 99 (like the vanilla part of a Saddledome malt, it comes with a flakey chocolate piece)
     - Dutch pancakes for dinner

Highlight of the day:
     - how much we both enjoyed Hastings, it was a pleasant surprise and I would recommend that everyone visit

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