Last leg to the UK

  Hastings, England, United Kingdom
Monday, June 29, 2009

The return flight was uneventful but the service was excellent and it was one of the best flights I experienced - good for British Airways!

Ed met a rather tired me at Heathrow, 2 am by my watch; it was good to see him after such a long time  It was sunny and warm, a lovely English day and so good to be here.  A warm welcome awaited me in St Leonards from Claire, Paul, Kristina and Alex how lovely to be with them after all my travels.

It is still sunny and warm and Sunday, Ed and I walked along the beach to the neighbouring town of Bexhill for lunch.  Its a great walk, especially when the tide is out as it goes out such a long way at that point.  One can see the wreck of the old ship 'the Amsterdam' which has a colourful history.  An excerpt from a Hastings Heritage Site.......

'The wreck of the Amsterdam is the most notable feature of the beach at Bulverhythe, the tops of its ribs being exposed in the sands and the peaty clay of the prehistoric forest. This large Dutch East Indiaman was run ashore in a severe gale on Sunday 26 January 1749. Fifty of her
crew of 333 people had died of plague, traditionally said to be yellow fever, since the ship left the Netherlands on the first stage of her intended maiden trading voyage to Java, via the Cape. Forty more people were sick and dying as she was beached at high tide, their misery being
compounded by the ship having lost her rudder in Pevensey Bay.

The crew clambered down the sides of the ship at low tide that night, and were taken to safety in Hastings. Local smugglers quickly raided the ship and took some of the silver bars from the 2.5 tonnes of bullion that the Amsterdam was carrying, and, after the rest of the bullion was removed, the town crier tried to recover the missing bars from the inhabitants of Hastings. Fighting broke out between local people trying to raid the ship, and one man was shot on the beach. The Hastings coroner decided that it was not his responsibility to investigate the matter as he considered that the man had died ‘at sea' '

The following day we did the same walk with Claire, Paul and the children plus of course Tilly the dog, it was a school 'inset' day so no school for the children, I thought eight kilometres wasn't bad exercise for the day!  

We enjoyed another walk across the hills at Fairlight, this is one of my favourite places and we ahd such a lovely afternoon and so warm and sunny.  Tilly just loves all the smells at Fairlight and chasing her ball all over the place.  It was a brilliant afternoon ending with a cup of of tea with lifelong friends who live in the area.   On the way there we watched a spectacular cloud  formation, photo attached here too.

Claire and I had a mother/daughter day out on Tuesday, what a special treat, we went to the Sussex Downs, near Eastbourne; did some exploring around Seaford and then went to Crowlink for our picnic lunch.  It was a beautiful,so warm and sunny, I do hope this weather lasts!!

It's nice to be 'home' here for a while although we are off to Hampshire to stay with our eldest daughter  Penny and family for a few days before heading off to Ireland to explore a little of that country ......... travelling not quite over yet!