yesterday I mentioned we were going to be beside the sea,
well not quite,
we made our way to the station,
through tunnels,
and past fields,
until we reached Ashford International,
where some of the Eurostars stop, and where we changed trains for the Eastbourne coastal train,
to Rye, which was by the sea, and a thriving port, but over centuries the sea moved and the coast is now some 2 miles away, today the doom mongers would be crying out 'global warming' but in the1600s silt built up and the town was insulted by salt marshes,
next to the station,
there was a flea market,
this stall selling local sheeps wool rugs, all around here the landscape is as flat as a pancake and apparently makes ideal sheep rearing land,
lots of clothes,
and other stalls,
and a few plants to look at,
we walked into town,
past many of the old buildings,
although the surrounding land is flat the town is built on a hill,
and being old,
all of the shops look so different to many towns High Streets,
we had not eaten breakfast,
so time to call in here,
and do our bit to help the local community,
there was a huge fireplace in the tearooms,
my turn to be Mum,
we ordered 2 plates of sandwiches, egg and cress,
and smoked ham,
we shared each others, and we had also ordered a cream tea, with fruit scones,
but by the time we remembered to take a photograph of it, this was all that was left,
'Opps!',
back to explore,
the still cobbled streets,
looking up one of the side streets,
there was a church was in the distance,
so up the street we walked,
above the doors of some of the buildings,
their date of building, this one 1475, when the sea was just a short walk away!
we passed the town hall,
looking at more tea rooms,
and restaurants that were in the area,
looking back a few shops,
did I mention tea rooms? the whole area is well on the tourist map, there were scores of coaches in the car park and listening to accents we were the only half British couple in town!
into the church and for £4.00 each we were on our way to the clock and bell tower,
it all started out so well,
do not look down!
then things started to get a little narrow, I could barely squeeze through,
no problems for Diana,
up and up we went,
until we found ourselves the the clock part of the tower with the bell ropes over head,
the clock mechanism,
up again,
looking at the bells, Diana immediately said, the Hunchback of Notre Dame,
to which I replied in the best French accent I could, 'the bells, the bells, Jacqueline, Gabrielle, Guillaume & Big Marie, they all made me deaf you know',
Diana mumbled something about me being deaf without the bells, or similar,
I could have done with following my own advice and not look down,
and then we were there,
on top of the belltower,
looking down,
and across to the train station,
a part of what was once a number if forts to keep out mauraudung French and Spanish raiders, and what gave the town its status as a Cinque Port,
the pigeons were so tame, they all had a cunning plan, as you went in to the tower to go down, they tried to hitch a ride to get inside the pigeon proof door, but the plan had a flaw, how could they get out again to feed?
we walked around,
the steeple,
and I just had to set the camera,
to panorama mode,
and look across the roof tops,
and take a few normal photographs,
in the distance the sea,
how so many hundreds of years ago the locals must have cursed that global warming as the sea shrank away from them!
we made our way down,
past the clock mechanism,
and bellroom,
the stairs looked steeper on the way down,
now on ground floor,
we started looking inside the church,
at one end of which,
was a stained glass window,
as well as one at each side,
I would love to hear Bach's Toccata and Fugue played in full on this,
huge organ,
looking towards the alta,
and then the ceiling,
which somehow reminded me of the ceiling in the hall of the building we live in,
Less We Forget,
outside,
we continued our walk,
around the remarkably picturesque town,
looking at all of the shops,
and buildings,
and this was just the shop we were looking for,
the place we could buy our refrigerator magnet,
going uphill,
there was this neat play on words, from the rhyme,
another truly old building,
for military modellers a neat shop,
with all manner of soldiers for sale,
a look down a cobbled street,
and along the High Street,
where Diana commented the building looked a bit crooked,
along we went,
the street rising,
as I was reminded about Alice in Wonderland,
we were now heading down to the river,
all so nice except the blue rubbish bins that have now seemed to have turned every street in the UK into a stage for dustbins,
looking back to where we had walked from,
and now towards the river,
all so nice,
this door, well the one next door to it reminded me of Harry Potter,
number 44½, like the station 9¾,
what a lovely day to sit in a balcony, a shame we were not hungry!
looking up a cobbled street,
Diana just had to have a pose,
or two,
and a close up,
we continued our walk,
near the river there were a number pf public houses,
some quite an age,
also along the river,
a number of antique shops,
and a huge anchor,
to round off the late afternoon, what better than an ice cream?
a quick look at the river,
now at low tide,
we started towards the railway station, and what could you wish for in Wish Street? a pub of course!
I wonder if there is one in Wish Ward?
arriving back in Beckenham, a quick look at the white peonies,
in the garden of the Gate House,
and the red now in flower,
refrigerator magnet now in place, I am only making the one post today as it is a bit big, but more importantly I have an appointment for a blood test at the hospital so I will be off early, back to yesterday evening, after our evening meal and a couple from Game of Thrones we were off to bed.
