To the South Coast - Battle

On Saturday morning, David - Lyn's cousin - picked us up at Waterloo station to take us to Bexhill on Sea where his parents (Lyn's uncle and aunt) live. They are well into their 80's and moved here from South Africa in November last year (just when the heavy snow started, which was the first snow he - at 88 - ever saw, he is ex Rhodesia).
The first thing that struck us is how long it takes to get out of London by car. The traffic, even on a Saturday morning, is quite heavy and this city is really enormous. It took us about 2 hours to get to Bexhill, which is close to Hastings. We had dinner with uncle Grenville and aunty Nan and slept on the sleepr couch in their lounge. They live in a small house in a 'mews', a sort of retirement complex. On Sunday we went to a place called "Battle", where the battle of Hastings was fought in 1066. They have a very well organised setup there, with an audio tour around the battleground, giving a detailed account of the battle (between the Normans under William the Conquerer and the Anglo Saxons under King Harold II). Obviously William won (otherwise he would have been called 'William the Loser). They also give the whole background to the battle and there are also the ruins of the Abbey that William built there in honour of Harold (whom he respected even though he beat him) and as an atonement for the bloodbath (7000 people were killed in a single day battle and the battleground is not large either!). Afterwards, we went with the family, now including Allison, David's sister and Roxy, her daughter to a pub for lunch.
After a 2 1/2 hour drive (traffic!), we got back to Richmond.
We dont have any fixed plans for the rest of the week, probably some more walking and then on Friday we have lunch with Cynthia Eloff from Cape Town and her son John who lives here. Early on Saturday morning we go back to the boat in Monickendam. As the flight is at 7.30 (the 8.30 was 100 Pounds per person more expensive!), we need to leave here at 5. At that time there are no trains on the underground District line yet, so we'll take a bus to take us to a Piccadilly line station where we can catch the first train to Heathrow.
When there is anything to report, the blog will be updated!