Holiday Diaries
Hastings 2009
Summer Break. On a whim we decided to head to the south east of England, an area neither Trudi or Andy have spent very much in the way of leisure time in, although Andy has had to handle design work in Canterbury!
So we used the Caravan Club camp site search facility coupled with the guidebook and map we receive as members and booked ourselves a slot in Normanhurst Caravan Site.
Saturday 15 August 2009
Sat Nav got us more or less to the site without any major hassle. A lot of the camp sites in the Caravan Club Guide advise that you don't follow Sat Nav instructions as these often select routes that are unsuitable for towing caravans or cannot locate sites accurately. In the case of the latter problem this can be overcome, we have found, by spending 5 or 10 minutes using Google Earth to locate the camp site using aerial photographs and obtaining the latitude and longitude of the site entrance. Our Sat Nav which is a relatively cheap affair is able to accept co-ordinates as a destination and route accordingly.
As for the problem of mis-routing this is harder to solve. We have seen some Sat Navs aimed at the haulage business which seem to be very expensive because they are able to drill into map data reflecting the suitability of roads for HGV traffic. Are these costs justified? Certainly there will be additional licensing costs associated with the additional data, but beyond this surely the device itself is just a touch screen GPS receiver which is so common place by now that they can be made for pennies?
The site is a classic Caravan Club Site, that is to say: quiet and peaceful, well maintained with good sized pitches and sensible separation between adjoining rigs.
Monday 17 August 2009
We made a trip into nearby Battle, allegedly the site of the historic Battle of Hastings in 1066. Obviously the town makes much store of its history and heritage, our first port of call was a small museum on the High Street. The curators of this establishment were so very friendly allowing the dog in to the shop and letting Ken try some of the armour exhibits.
After that, we visited he English Heritage site on the ruins of Battle Abbey. Built by William the Conqueror after he had taken the throne this is claimed to salve his conscience at the massive loss of life on both sides in the battle of 1066 and is built at the top of the hill that was the focus of the days events.
Wednesday 19 August 2009
We took a trip to Batemans today. Batemans is a National Trust property famous not especially for the property itself but because it was the home of Rudyard Kipling.
Thursday 20 August 2009
We took a trip slightly further afield today, visiting Rye. Rye is one of the historic cinque ports. The Confederation of Cinque Ports (sink ports) is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex, at the eastern end of the English Channel where the crossing to the continent is narrowest. It was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial.
The name is Norman French for "five ports"; the five being: Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich. They are supported by the two antient towns of Rye and Winchelsea, whose councils traditionally maintained defence contingents for the realm of England.
Apart from the five ports and the two ancient towns, there are seven other members of the Confederation, which are considered to be Limbs of the other towns. These are: Lydd (Limb of New Romney), Folkestone, Faversham and Margate (Limbs of Dover), Deal and Ramsgate (Limbs of Sandwich) and Tenterden (Limb of Rye).
There are in addition some 23 towns, villages and offices which have varying degrees of connection to the ancient Liberties of the Cinque Ports. Pevensey was once a Limb of Hastings, and the coastal confederation during its mediaeval period consisted of a confederation of 42 towns in all.
A Royal Charter of 1155 established the ports to maintain ships ready for the Crown in case of need. In return the towns received:-
Exemption from tax and tolls; self-government; permission to levy tolls, punish those who shed blood or flee justice, punish minor offences, detain and execute criminals both inside and outside the port's jurisdiction, and punish breaches of the peace; and possession of lost goods that remain unclaimed after a year, goods thrown overboard, and floating wreckage.
The leeway given to the Cinque Ports, and the turning of a blind eye to misbehaviour, led to smuggling, though of course common everywhere at this time becoming more or less one of the dominant industries.
King Edward I of England granted the citizens of the Cinque Ports special privileges, including the right to bring goods into the country without paying import duties; in return the Ports would supply him with men and ships in time of war. The associated ports, known as 'limbs', were given the same privileges. The five head ports and two antient towns were entitled to send two Members to Parliament. A Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports was appointed, and also held the title of Constable of Dover Castle, and whilst this office exists today, it is now a purely honorary title, with an official residence at Walmer Castle. The town of Hastings was the head port of the Cinque Ports in mediaeval times.
The towns also had their own system of courts, and the right to send barons to hold the canopy above a new monarch in the coronation ceremony. While this custom no longer continues, the barons still have the right to attend the ceremony.
As time went by and some ports declined or silted up, others were added. Rye and Winchelsea were attached to Hastings as "Antient Towns" in the 12th century, and later became members in their own right.
Lydd, Faversham, Folkestone, Deal, Tenterden, Margate and Ramsgate were all added as "corporate limbs" in the 15th century. Other places associated with the Cinque Ports and sometimes described as "non corporate limbs" included Bekesbourne, Birchington, Brightlingsea, Fordwich, Pevensey, Reculver, Seaford, Stonor and Walmer. At one time there were 23 limbs.
Friday 21 August 2009
Time to think about wrapping up the holiday today. We went into Hastings and took a ride on the hill railway bought a few things and visited the aquarium.
Saturday 22 August 2009
We don't normally detail the days of our holidays when we travel from home to holiday and vice versa, but on the return journey we had a bit of a minor disaster. Hitching up at Normanhurst Andy draped the lighting wire under the drawbar of the caravan instead of over it which meant that it dragged on the road on the way home. Andy spotted a problem on the M25 when we lost the right hand indicator.
At the next service halt we had a look. Fortunately the brake lights had remained intact, as had the left hand indicator. However the right hand indicator and the side lights were out as a result of the individual wires being worn through. We hashed a repair resulting in a very short light cable which was good enough to get us safely home with a full compliment of working lights. We'll have to make a repair to this before the next outing, it isn't too hard by the looks of things.