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Ye Olde Buffer -> Rye - The Unexpurgated Version (15 Apr. 2008 17:07:02 )
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Day 1 - Monday (Rye)
We arrived in Rye after an uneventful 2 hour drive at about lunchtime. Driving through the narrow, cobbled streets around Church Square and into Watchbell Street, where our hotel was, was fun! The streets are not wide enough for two cars to pass and some of the corners were pretty tight but we got there.
Our hotel was very nice and rather quaint. This shows the side of the hotel in Watchbell Street.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/rye-hotel1.jpg[/image]
This part of Rye is on the top of the old sea cliff and gives a super view over the harbour and marshes. This view of the hotel is from the bottom of the cliff near the harbour.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/rye-hotel2.jpg[/image]
This last picture, taken from the bridge on the Rye Harbour road, gives an overall view of the town on the hill with the church tower and spire showing on the right-hand side and our hotel is the building on the extreme left.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/rye-hotel3.jpg[/image]
We had lunch in the hotel and afterwards went for a walk around the town. The weather was a bit cloudy with some sun but there was a very cold wind. We went as far as the Landgate and had a look at Marie's cottage, she was due to arrive tomorrow, which was similar in style to our hotel - the upper part of the walls being clad with tiles. I had planned to take a photograph of Marie's 15th century cottage but managed to forget. [:@]
We didn't stay out for long because it felt so chilly and went back to the hotel to organise our belongings and prepare for dinner. Tomorrow, Tuesday, we plan to go to Hastings Old Town by bus and meet up with Marie on our return.
Day 2 - Tuesday (Hastings)
The day dawned with a cloudless sky, not that I was awake at dawn to see it, and as there was no wind it felt a lot warmer altogether. We had breakfast and, as we were planning to go by bus, collected our rucksacks with clothing for all eventualities.
We caught the number 100 bus outside Rye Railway Station where Marie would be arriving later. The bus stops are arranged in laybys either side of the road running toward the camera with the station at the back and you can see part of the layby on the right-hand side where we caught our bus.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/rye-bus.jpg[/image]
This bus starts from Dover goes through Folkestone to Rye then onward to Hastings where it terminates. It is a double decker so, on those narrow little roads, it sometimes feels like riding in a small house.
The bus journey took about 40 minutes and we got off in Hastings Old Town. The first building we saw looked very interesting and was a hint of things to come.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings1.jpg[/image]
The road the bus used was a fairly ordinary town road but the streets we wanted to see run off to each side of this. Just opposite us was a narrow interesting looking little lane which we followed and came out in the High Street.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings2.jpg[/image]
What a fascinating and picturesque street this is with it's ancient buildings and high pavement which runs for quite a long way. You can see on the right of the picture where some steps take the pavement up to an even higher level. I don't know the reason for this, especially as it occurs only on one side of the street, but I would like to find out.
This is All Saints Street which runs parallel to High Street but on the opposite side of the bus route. Here the pavement is returning to around road level and there are still plenty of ancient timber-framed houses along here.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings3.jpg[/image]
There are lots of narrow side alleys which connect these various streets are are great fun to explore. Here is an example.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings-alley1.jpg[/image]
You should be able to see, in the dark patch ahead, a small slit of light which is where the alley goes through the houses and continues on.
We found many others like this, all different, but then spotted one with a sign pointing to 'The Castle and Caves' so, of course, we had to follow it.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings-alley2.jpg[/image]
This eventually, after a bit of a steep climb, came out onto a large open grass area with amazing views over the old town. This is West Hill.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings5.jpg[/image]
The view above is looking across the old town to East Hill which we climbed up later.
We found the ruins of Hastings Castle on the top of West Hill. There is not an awful lot of it left but what does remain is interesting. There are some old dungeons cut into the sandstone below the castle and they are so confined that a photograph would have shown very little so I didn't take any down there but I did take some of the ruins.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings-castle.jpg[/image]
This view is of the modern part of Hastings which is on the west side of West Hill. Just to try and make things clearer - first when coming from the east is the high ground of East Hill then the valley with Hastings Old Town in it. Next is the high ground of West Hill with the castle and caves and finally beyond West Hill is the newer part of Hastings including the pier.
This is what you see from the castle. The headland on the horizon is Beachy Head.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings-pier.jpg[/image]
There is a cafe on West Hill where we had lunch before returning to Hastings Old Town. On the way down to the High Street we came across this narrow road by an old chuch.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings4.jpg[/image]
Yes cars can drive through there but only just. Notice those high pavements again. Having reached sea level once again we climbed up East Hill using the steps which climb next to the funicular which, incidentally, was undergoing maintenance and so was not in use.
[image]http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/forums/YeOldeBuffer/hastings-funicular.jpg[/image]
Lets face it - if you want to go anywhere in the old town you go either up or down. Level? What's that?
After coming down from East Hill it was time to catch the bus back to Rye and while we were walking to the bus stop my mobile 'phone rang and it was Marie to say that she had arrived - hooray!
We got off the bus outside the Railway Station and walked along to Marie's cottage. Marie invited us in and we spent about an hour chatting before returning to our hotel. Marie is nice - we likes her. [:D]
Marie got the shuttle from Heathrow to Charing Cross Station where she was to catch her train to Rye but, if I remember correctly (don't bank on it), the lady driver of the shuttle wasn't too hot on finding her way around London even with the aid of a GPS system and so Marie missed her first train. Well what can you expect with a woman driver? [6] Marie got the next train and was in Rye just before one o'clock.
We had arranged for Marie to come up to the hotel the following morning when we planned to drive to Bodiam Castle, Battle Abbey and Birling Gap. The saga continues tomorrow (Wednesday).
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