Travel along the seaside

Sunday Sept 15 

It was a bus travel day and we headed out of Canterbury headed  to the west and dropping down south to the coast to our first destination, the town of Battle to see where the Battle of Hastings took place.  This was a famous battle in 1066 that changed the course of history for England.  The King, Edward the Confessor died in January of 1066 with no heirs.  3 vie for the throne.  The king of Norway, Edward’s brother in law - Harold Godwinson and William of Normandy all claim to be king.  The king of Norway is defeated and killed in Northern England and then the Battle of Hastings is the battle between Harold (who already crowned himself king) and William.  Long story short, William of Normandy’s army was victorious and Harold was killed in battle.   This ended the roughly 600 year Anglo-Saxon reign of England and ushered in the Norman reign, which lasted only 50 years.  At the battle grounds we walked through where the actual battle took place, where 6000-10000 soldiers were killed or injured.  We also viewed the ruins of the Abby that was built on the land to commemorate the battle.  

The first picture is out of the bus front window, many roads that we went down had a canopy of trees or hedgerows that were cutout for vehicles to go through.  

Then we got to the battlefield, which was very well done.  You could walk around at your own pace and with no crowds.  

These were the ruins of the Abby that was built to commemorate.  

After that, we headed to a small town called Pevensey.  Pevensy castle was where William the Conqueror and the Norman’s landed 1066, before the Battle of Hastings.   It is now a ruin, but it started out as an ancient Roman fort, then the Normans added to the castle but it fell into ruins.  It was actually used in WWII when both British and American troops were stationed there.  

I know this picture is a little dark, but the change in the color of stone at the middle of the top of it, is where they added a hidden gun turret in WWII.  

A little further down the road, we stopped at a quintessential Victorian sea side town in East Sussex.  We had an ice cream that they called a Mister Whippy and strolled along the pier.  

One last stop before sleeping in Alfriston.  We stopped at some of the tallest chalk cliffs in Britain at Beachy Head in South Downs National park.   It has an Iconic lighthouse that is 122 years old.  All along these cliffs are hundreds of miles of hiking paths, that many take advantage of - not me! 

The lighthouse looks tiny, it is not.  It is 108ft tall built in 1902.

We really saw a lot for a travel day.