Planes Trains and Automobiles: Hastings

Leaving Paris

Boxing Day - 26th of December, 2016

We caught the Eurostar from Paris Gare du Nord to St Pancras in London - got to experienece the cofort and speed offered by High Speed rail - nudging 300 kph at times.

London greeted us with clear skys

26th - 29th December, 2016

After arriving in London, we drove down to Hastings on the South Coast of England. The short days meant we only had an hour of so fo daylight by the time we got there. We stayed in a row house right on the beach - if you call pebbles a beach!

Ours is the flat with the two lights on - The marketing said 1st floor, but by my count, that is the 2nd floor. A tough challenge when as a family we're lugging around as much luggage as we are.

As predicted by the many memes on the Internet, Boxing day was indeed the day that Hot Cross Buns would appear in the supermarkets.

27th of December

The view from the flat looking over the beach at sunrise the following morning.

As some may know, the 27th of December is Sharon's Birthday - her Auntie Mollie (from whom, Jemima got her middle name) threw a small Birthday party for Sharon - just Mollie and us until Sharon's second cousin NImmi came down with her nephew Henry.

While we were there, we skyped with Sharon's Dad (Mollie's big brother) to allow them to catch up - this was the real purpose of coming to Hastings - family.

Sharon's brother Paul and his wife Vironique and step-son Quentin came down - the first time they'd been together in England since they visited in 1977 as children.

The old part of Hastings is filled with higgledy piggldy streets and homes like this.

Out the front of the flat in the evening. I'd imagine in summertime, it would be very pleasent to stroll along the shoreline in the evening - it was a bit brisk for such a stroll while we were there.

Beyond the village, the shoreline is lined with steep cliffs - legend has it that smugglers used to hide in the caves on the cliffs to avoid the police and Navy.