Part 4 - Rye

We had never been to Rye so it was a pleasant surprise to find such a lovely picturesque town. We walked around all the sites and made a visit to Lamb House, a National Trust property.

Novelist Henry James lived at Lamb House, Rye, Sussex, from 1898 to 1916 and wrote several of his books there, in the green room in the winter and in a garden pavilion during the summer. Unfortunately the pavilion was destroyed by a bomb in WWII.




In the back garden of Lamb House.


The Mermaid Inn built in 1156.



There were many interesting front doors throughout Rye, here is one (two) of them (read the names).





This is one of the guns used to repel the French. However they did get through occasionally.

Part 3 - Hythe and Its Surroundings

Staying on the outskirts of Hythe we just had to have a trip on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR)
When it first opened to the public the line only covered, in double track, the eight miles between Hythe and New Romney — the railways main terminus. Owner Captain Jack Howey soon had his eye on extending the line and in 1928 double tracks carried the trains to Dungeness via Greatstone. A fantastic main line ride of 13.5 miles.
As you can see it is not a full sized train.

When the train arrives at Hythe it has to be turned round - by hand!


Close to Dungeness there are a few wooden cabins built on the shingle. Instead of gardens many of them have decorated their surroundings with 'found' objects washed up by the sea. In amongst the one below, which represents a ship, were many types of flip flop. We wondered if the one CarolW lost to the sea in South Africa was amongst them?



Here I am with a sundial on my right.



Close to the caravan site was the Royal Military Canal (RMC). The RMC stretches for 28 miles along the old cliff line that borders the Romney Marsh from Hythe in the north east to Cliff End in the south west. It was built as a third line of defence against Napoleon, after the British Royal Navy patrolling the English Channel and the line of 74 Martello Towers built along the south coast.

The first sod of the RMC was dug at Seabrook, Kent on 30th October 1804. The canal was completed in April 1809 at a cost of £234,000 (£10 million in today's money).

I thought that there was a cycling track all along the RMC, but was mistaken and there is only a short stretch from close to the campsite to Seabrook, about 4 miles. It is possible to walk the 28 miles.

Part 2 - Heritage Weekend

From Canterbury we moved to Daleacres Caravan Site near Hythe. We wanted to be here for the Heritage weekend so we could see the sound mirrors at Denge. As a bonus the The Grand shaft was open in Dover on the Saturday. It is only open three times a year.

The shaft is an ingenious construction of brick measuring 26 feet (8 metres) in diameter and 140 feet (42 metres) in height. It was built between 1806 – 1809. It has three staircases of Purbeck limestone which wind clockwise one above the other down a central brick light and ventilation shaft lit by an occasional window. At the bottom the three staircases meet in the sloping corridor which leads to Snargate Street. There are 200 steps in all separated by several landings.

Here we see Sue on the steps leading to the top entrance of the shaft.



This is a view from the bottom looking up the centre of the staircase.




A forerunner of Radar, acoustic mirrors were built on the south and northeast coasts of England between about 1916 and the 1930s. The 'listening ears' were intended to provide early warning of incoming enemy aeroplanes and airships about to attack coastal towns. With the development of faster aircraft the sound mirrors became less useful, as an aircraft would be within sight by the time it had been located, and radar finally rendered the mirrors obsolete.
Here you can see the 30 foot mirror.




The mirrors did work, but the development of faster aircraft made them less useful, as an incoming aircraft would be within sight by the time it had been located. Increasing ambient noise made the mirrors harder to use successfully, and then radar rendered acoustic detection redundant.
This is the 200 foot mirror which when you are close to it looks huge.




All 141 people listening to the talk from our leader.

Part 1 - Canterbury

When school goes back in September The Buchans go caravanning. The first caravan site was a mile away from Canterbury. It is a lovely site, but it is used by many people in transit to the continent.


Here you can see Canterbury Cathedral, we spent about 2 hours visiting the inside and the outside. As you can see it was a lovely day for the visit.

Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest Christian churches in England and it continues to play an important role in English Christianity.
Dating from 597 AD, Canterbury Cathedral still functions as the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the Primate of All England and leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Canterbury is also a major pilgrimage destination due to the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket in 1170.



Stain glass window in the cathedral.



Canterbury still has considerable town walls, this is the West Gate through which traffic still passes (with difficulty). The River Stour is in the foreground.


By the River Stour.




Sue in the castle.


Canterbury and the area around has lots of geocaches. This was an interesting area close to what was a Second World War II airfield. It was thought that these blocks had something to do with the airfield.



This is classed as the Smallest Fully Functional Cache in the World. It has a log book and pencil inside. I didn't open it up as I didn't want the embarrassment of not being able to put it back together again.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Maggie, Andy and Tara came to stay for the weekend. Here we are at Splash Bridge in the forest. Note the sunny weather, we've not had much of that recently.


A thatched hideaway in the forest. This is close to High Corner Inn where we finished off with a well earned drink.



Namibia has its famous Dune 45 - Moyles Court has its sandpit!



It's the Bisterne Scarcrow time of year again. This one was awarded third place.



This one didn't do too well with the addition!

Summer Activities (in between the showers)

Pat and Sally visited us last Wednesday whilst on their travels. We were lucky with the weather and managed to get out into the garden. It was lovely to see them and to catch up on all their news.

Pat and Stuart, yes it was bright! Unusual for this summer.



Visitors from Cyprus, Doris and Geoff, persuaded me that I should do a Hash (Hash House Harriers). As the venue was nearby at the newly refurbished Tyrrells Ford Country House it seemed like a good idea on a Sunday morning.



The welcome speech for all the visitors. Altogether there were about 40 runners and about 12 visitors. I'm on the right.



Jenny, Alex and daughter Molly. Alex is Geoff and Doris's son and I used to teach him ****years ago! If you're wondering where Sue is, she's behind the camera.

After the run we had a meal at the Tyrrells Ford. We got some funny looks because we weren't exactly dressed for Sunday lunch.

August Weekend

I had heard about this archeological walk from Shireen and David at a New Forest Ramblers walk a few weeks earlier. You can see Sue here with S&D. The actual spot on which they are standing is quite significant. This is an ancient pagan site where about 7 ley lines intersect. This is on top of St. Catherine's hill near to Christchurch.

The walk was guided by Michael Hodges who is very knowledgable about the area and has published a few books on Christchurch and its history.

We have been up St. Catherine's hill before, but hadn't realised how much history there was here. During earlier quarrying, fossils of rhinocerous, sabre toothed tiger and elephant have been found. None of these animals were seen during the walk. There are many barrows here and also the Romans had a lookout post on the top, because they had views for many miles around.

Michael Hodges can be seen on the left of this photo. David Livingstone's double can be seen on the right.




On Sunday we went to Bygone Days at Ibsley. This is an annual fete run by the locals for the locals. Here I am by one of the older cars in the parade.
Sue next to our new caravan, I don't think she realises she has to stand in between the shafts.



We were entertained by three air displays. The first was by the Yakovlevs, a couple of Russian aircraft. The second display was by a local aeromodelling club and the third was by a Pitts special which was a really superb display of aerobatics.



Sue beside one of the vintage tractors.



This notice was seen on the above machine. It doesn't take too much working out, honest! If you can't read it, double click on the photo to enlarge it, or buy some specs (DW)!