Sussex Day 4: Hastings

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Having gone west to Chichester yesterday, today we went east to Hastings, notable for the Norman conquest of 1066 (although the actual Battle of Hastings was some distance inland). We arranged to meet Celeste on the train as we passed through Falmer, where her campus is located, for the hour-or-so trip along the coast. Unfortunately, it seems like it’s an hour train ride to most sights outside Brighton.

Hastings is an attractive and somewhat touristy town, along the Channel and in a narrow valley surrounded by substantial hills. We walked through the town, stopping for a fish and chips lunch along the way, and admiring the small shops in the Old Town. We took a funicular up one of the two hills and had an excellent view of the surrounding terrain. Unfortunately, the ruins of the castle at Hastings were closed for the season.

After returning via funicular, we continued through the town to the Hastings Museum, a well curated (and free!) small museum that was thorough in its coverage of the history of the area, from the Iron Age to the present. It also included an extensive collection from a local family that sailed around the world in the 1800s.

Taking the train back, we had a change of trains in Lewes, which Celeste had visited and enjoyed previously. We stopped at the Lewes Arms pub, but unfortunately (since it was Sunday evening) the kitchen had closed so we couldn’t get food. So Celeste returned to campus and got dinner there, while Kenna and I got take-out chicken sandwiches to eat in our hotel.

Our weekly family Zoom conference is on Sunday evening, England time, so we ate our sandwiches while chatting with other family members back home. It’s so much easier to stay in close touch with family while traveling than it was just a few years ago.

This article is part of a series about our recent travels to southern England. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.