England – Page 9 – Where is Phil now?

Some fairly pathetic snow, but snow nonetheless

Tuesday February 09 2021 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

An email brought unexpected good news late on Wednesday night. Eleanor has been granted an indefinite partner visa for New Zealand, Yay, Yay and Yay again! While we (mainly me) expected this to be the case we were taken aback by how quick the application was processed. We didn’t expect to hear anything until at least May or June. This means we can now start to plan a move to Auckland, where most of my family are, for at least the short term.

This is very exciting, but also a little terrifying at the same. There is a lot of thinking and planning to do and I definitely need to get through the emotion of it and start thinking practically else nothing much will happen. I will do a separate post on this at some point. I think.

I took Friday off work as it was forecasted to be the only nice day of the weekend, it is also a non-working day for Eleanor so we could hang out and talk free from the constraints of work. We walked along the seafront under a weak winter sun to Hastings and started to formulate a plan and think about some of the things we need to do, which seems to be an awful lot. The big question for me is whether I keep the flat and rent it while we are gone, or sell it now as the market appears to be good and I will make some money. I have a real estate agent coming to value it on Wednesday, much as I should be led on this by my heart; I am going to be led by the pound.

[edit] I am writing this on Saturday and the estate agent has advised me my flat is worth a little more than I expected, so at this point in time I am going to sell, more on that decision soon, once it is made. [/edit]

Sunday

I have been following the weather forecast all week as there has been a promise of snow for some time, and today is the day, with falls expected to start around 3 or 4 AM. I was excitedly up and out of bed at 7, pulling up the blinds to check outside; then making coffee and going back to bed. Rain. Bloody St Leonards.

However, the snow did come soon after we got up, then continuing to snow lightly all day, though not enough for it to stick around. Still, we wanted to get out for a walk and feel the snow so we didn’t linger in bed too long and were outside by 9. Not bad for me on a Saturday.

When we left home the snow was barely falling and it wasn’t too cold, though it got colder and the snow fall got slightly heavier while we were out. There were hints the snow would start to settle later in he day by the time we got home 90 minutes later. We walked down to the seafront via the lovely St Leonards Gardens, which are just along the road from my flat. The snow was falling a little heavier now, but the ground is so wet and warm that none of it is settling.

I am about to send a letter to mum with some photos of the grandkids and one of El and I. As we don’t have any recent photos of us I decided to try and take some using the self timer on the camera. It took a couple of goes to get it right.

Rather than walk the seemingly traditional way towards Hastings we chose to walk in the opposite direction towards West St Leonards. As is often the case I was surprised at the number of people out, we even saw two people taking their daily dip; one of them wasn’t even wearing a wetsuit. Hardy folk on the coast.

The wind started to pick up and the snow was coming down a lot more heavily and it started to get cold so we looped back up the hill to home and watched the snow falling, but barely settling for the rest of the day. This was as good as it got, and the first time I have not hated these view blocking trees in my neighbours garden.

Monday

A small amount of snow fell overnight and with yesterdays colder afternoon followed by a much colder night a small amount had settled on the ground on Monday morning. I took a photo out of the bedroom window, over my neighbours and down the coast towards Bexhill and Eastbourne.

I was out the door soon after, and back to the park, yet again disappointed at the lack of snow on the ground. I took a couple of photos as this really was going to be as much snow as we will get this winter.

There was a little more snow on the seafront promenade and I was surprised to find about a dozen people on the beach and in the sea.

Tuesday

To my surprise there was a little bit more snow overnight, and a little bit more on the ground inthe morning. Today I avoided the park and went straight to Milk and Hustle, our friendly neighbourhood coffee shop for a takeaway flat white. Since we have been living here a number of places have opened selling coffee, but Milk and Hustle are by far the best, and they are really nice people too. Like all good coffee shops, a flat white is the same price here as it is in central London.

On non-rainy days my routine is to get a coffee and walk along the sea front a short way while drinking the coffee, then back up the hill for breakfast and (sadly) work. On rainy days my routine is to stay in bed longer. I often take a photo on my phone and post it to twitter, but this morning I brought the camera for the last of the snow photos for the winter.

The Black Arches

January 30 2021 – Hastings.

The first month of 2021 has come to its natural conclusion, though it seemed like an extension of the last month of 2020, which in itself felt like an extension of November, which felt like…, well you know what I mean. The only real difference between the days of the last three months was how short the day was and whether it was or wasn’t raining. The days have very much blurred into one big long dreary period of not doing much at all.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Gareth Rees, a local author, tweeted a picture of some small caves on the East Hill in Hastings, so I asked him a question regarding the location of the Black Arches, which are also on East Hill. I had read about the Black Arches in one of his books and have had a couple of attempts at finding them, neither successful. I wrote about one of those attempts here.

Gareth replied with some very good instructions and as the Arches are best found in winter when the scrub on the hillside is well down I decided to attempt to find them today. It was cold and windy with a very fine freezing drizzle, a perfect day for some local exploration.

With eyesight much better than mine the Black Arches can apparently be seen from West Hill, their location near the top of East Hill means they look like a church built into the cliff face. This photo has been taken off the internet and shows the ‘church’ quite clearly, on a sunny day when the council cleared scrub from the hillside, obviously some time ago. They do look very much like church doors.

There are virtually no references regarding the Black Arches on the internet and the single item I found links to a deleted page on a local news website. All there is is a small reference to note that the Black Arches were a deliberate prank, probably created by a local hoaxer, John Coussens’, in the 18^th century to fool people into thinking there was a church on the opposing hill. It seems like a lot of work for a prank, maybe he, or someone was robbing those that made the journey over the valley?

I have been intrigued by local mysteries and was hoping today was going to be the day I found the scene of one of them.

Eleanor and I set off late morning under a thick grey sky and into the face of a windblown icy cold drizzle. Eleanor wasn’t joining me on the walk and I left her at the bulk foods shop in St Leonards as I carried on to Hastings, I had a book to collect from one of the local independent book shops and some fresh cod to get for dinner tomorrow. The fish shop is very close to the bottom of the steps up East Hill.

As this was a photo mission I had packed the big camera, which in hindsight was wise as it is weather sealed and while it wasn’t properly raining the air was very wet and I was pretty thoroughly soaked by the time I got home.

East Hill has a few memorial benches, the instructions from Gareth had me look for a path after the final bench, this one is by the side of the steps on the way up (or down) the hill. I was intrigued enough by the ‘9 TOES’ reference to take a photo.

There are hardly any people about, on a non-rainy winter day the Hastings seafront will still be busy, particularly in these Covid times when people are allowed to travel for exercise. I am sure some take the travel to extremes and drive the fifty miles from London down to the coast. On my way up the hill and on the top I didn’t see anybody.

I stopped at the top of the stairs to take a photo over the roofs of the old town and towards the houses that crowd the West Hill slope.

I also took a few photos from the top of East Hill, it looked like there was only one lone person on West Hill as well, I wonder if they had a camera and took a photo of me? I love the look of the old town and came very close to buying a flat there, though suspect it would be quite noisy at night. Unlike my flat which is dead quiet, or it is now that we have moved back into the big bedroom.

As per instructions, just passed the last bench on the hill, there was a small path heading down the cliff edge, so far so good.

I came across the back of a large rock and got quite excited thinking I had found what I was looking for, but no, when I made it around to the front it was just a large rock, with a mystery carving and Wolf in yellow spray paint.

I scrambled down a path through some brambles and dead fern, almost going over once on a slippery patch, tearing my leg through my trousers on a stubborn bit of bramble. Fortunately only raising a tiny scratch when I got home to inspect it. There was nothing there. Turning back I took another path and BOOM, there it was, the Black Arches. Found!

Yes, I know they are not very exciting. Still, it is quite amazing that anyone would go to the effort to carve those three arches into a rock face, then paint the inside black, just to fool the good people of Hastings. I appreciated his effort, less so the efforts of the graffiti folks.

I had a look for detail, trying to find the oldest legible carving, and the best I found was 1847. This face is very much straight into the prevailing wind so I imagine carvings get blunted quite quickly.

I was very happy to have finally found the Black Arches.

I walked back up to the top and then back down the steps towards Hastings, stopping to take a photo over the very quiet fishing beach. Not really a day for tourists.

Walking back through the old town I heard The Only Ones absolutely fabulous ‘Another girl, another planet’ blasting out of this pub, I stopped and listened for a moment, taking a quick photo before carrying on.

There had been a bunch of photos pasted on this hoarding at the end of George St, but they have all come down apart from one, I had not had a chance to see the rest unfortunately. I should have taken the opportunity when we walked near here last weekend.

I chose to extend the walk a little and head up and over West Hill again. I really like Croft Rd, one of my favourite streets in Hastings old town. I particularly like these gates and doors in the walls opening on to staircases that head up to the gardens of the houses above. I am guessing they are not regularly used anymore. From West Hill, I walked back to the sea front and home, to warmth and dry clothes. It was a small adventure, and very enjoyable.

Raising the ceiling, after removing the old one.

January 10 2021 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

2021 and the new decade started off pretty much as the previous year and decade finished, with Brexit shitness added on for flavouring. The UK has now left the EU and the transition period is over. Bring on the unicorn filled sunlit uplands of ‘sovrinty’ and blue passports. As I write this post the Brexit failures are being masked by the appalling UK Covid statistics; over 1500 dead today alone. The UK (and the USA) is not in a good place right now, and while we have the great news of vaccinations on the horizon, the grim statistics will be with us for a few more weeks yet.

Eleanor had a medical appointment in Walthamstow last week so I used the opportunity of her not being at the flat to get some very messy work done. While she was away she received an email from NZ Immigration, the first communication we have had from them since they acknowledged receipt of our partner visa request. The email was a request for a lot more information regarding our relationship, fortunately it has all been fairly straightforward to collect. We both hope this is an indication that we have a case worker now working on our case. Our fingers remain firmly crossed.

A few months ago a crack appeared in the Victorian lath plaster in the master bedroom, and it has been getting longer and wider, with an ever increasing sag, ever since. In December it got to the ‘I now need to be concerned’ stage, so I arranged to get plasterers in to replace the wall/ceiling, before it collapsed by itself.

The bedroom is in the roof space so there is more ceiling than wall.

Even though we are in lockdown 3 (the crappy sequel) in the UK the rules allow for contractors to continue working as long as safe practices are maintained. I had a long conversation with the plastering company and decided to go ahead with the work. There is every chance the rules could change any time, and if the ceiling did collapse, it could be months before I could get someone in, and the room would not be habitable as there is only roof tiles between it and winter weather. It was also a good opportunity to get insulation put in as the bedroom is the coldest room in the house.

A couple of weeks ago we moved our bed and the dresser and set ourselves up in the spare room, it is quite cosy in there and seeing as we are really only in the bedroom at night we have decided to see how it goes and make the room swap permanent, making the master bedroom the spare room and Eleanor’s work space. I moved all the rest of the furniture out over the weekend.

The guys started on Tuesday morning, there was five of them at various stages during the day and they used hammers to break the old plaster down. I was working in the room below and it was a hell of a racket. I cannot believe the amount of dust that covered the house.

The work went on all day and at the end of it, and with a significant amount of moaning, they carried about two tons of rubbish down the four flights of stairs.

I ate dinner huddled in the lounge surrounded by bedroom furniture and a washing hung all over the place as I attempted to clean up some of the dust. It was bad.

The guys were back Wednesday, less of them than previously and they stuffed a pile of insulation into the wall space before lining with plaster board and then laying plaster over the top. It took all day, but was significantly less noisy.

I was certainly glad when it was all over, and it is looking pretty good.

On Saturday I drove up to Walthamstow to pick up Eleanor and we spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and putting the house back together; setting up the old master bedroom as an office and spare bedroom and keeping our bed in the smaller, cosier room. Everything in hear was covered in dust, each book, CD and picture were taken down and cleaned before being put back.

I think it makes sense this way, it is a big room and though it has the best view in the house it did seem a shame for it just to a bedroom. The plaster is almost dry and I will soon think about what colour to paint it, though will wait for spring when we can have the windows open again and not let the wind and rain in.

I snuck a picture of Eleanor working in the new space.

We will see what happens when spring and summer come around and we miss those mornings with coffee in bed looking out over the sea.

2020

December 2020 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

Twenty Twenty, what a year, eh? I am pleased that it is (almost) over, but being perfectly frank with you dear reader (and please keep this to yourself) I am not yet overly excited regarding the prospects for twenty twenty-one. At least ‘we got Brexit’ done, whatever that means, and who knows what it will cost us; as a nation, a continent and as individuals next year and into the future. Hopefully I will never have to hear politicians babble on about the glorious unicorn filled sunlit uplands it promised again.

Not wanting to sound utterly selfish, but in the main Covid has passed me by. I know I am incredibly fortunate. I have a decent enough job, work from my home near the sea which I share with the person I love very much, and we are both relatively fit and healthy and are not physically or financially struggling.

Until a few days before Christmas we knew very few people who had been sick with Covid; then this new strain appeared and BOOM, all of a sudden we know a dozen infected people, directly and intimately. Eleanor’s youngest son got it, probably while teaching, and passed it on to his girlfriend; one of my workmates got sick then three of our neighbours. For the youngsters it seemed the worst passed quickly and they were not overly ill, one of the neighbours was sicker and for longer, but thankfully no-one ended up being hospitilised, or even worse.

This new strain continues to ravage the south east of England. A few days ago we were put into Tier 4, essentially a lockdown, and, as the right-wing papers, rather hyperbolically screamed ‘Christmas was cancelled’. Except of course, it wasn’t cancelled, it was just different. It meant we didn’t go back to Walthamstow, which was disappointing, though we had a perfectly good Christmas here in St Leonards, sharing gift opening and games via Zoom. Again, we are lucky, we were not one of the many who were forced to spend Christmas alone or with people we did not want to be with.

On the positive news front, New Zealand, and the parts of Australia where my family live are not in lock down and they can do all the things they would normally do at Christmas and new year and I am extremely happy for them, and of course rather envious. Our hope is to join them next year, but this is now a cautious hope and whatever happens will happen.

I will wrap up 2020 with a non-political pros and cons starting with the cons so I can end on a more positive note.

Cons

My mental health definitely suffered; not massively, thankfully, but recently I have had more down days than up I am not as optimistic as I usually am, though it is winter so this is somewhat seasonal.
I am fatter than I was at the start of the year.
I drink and eat too much. This could be seen as a positive as I like these things.
We didn’t get to do our 10 day rail trip through five European countries due to Covid. This very much contributed to the above mental state.
I only went to two gigs.
Not being able to go out and do things.
I lost interest in taking photos and am still struggling for motivation.
I worked too much and didn’t enjoy much of it.
I absolutely missed seeing people; friends, work mates.
I missed my ‘local’ bar.
I wanted to start writing a novel, but didn’t. I did buy a notebook to write plot lines and it does have some words in it.
Arsenal are crap I hate watching them. Though, I have to admit they did play magnificently in winning the FA CUP and Charity Shield.

Pros

We have spent seven months of this year living in St Leonards, which is so much more than I expected and we have made a number of small improvements to the flat during that time.
Eleanor and I have survived intact being together pretty much 24/7. (I have had the occasional sulk)
My family are all well, though I am immensely jealous of their freedom.
Eleanor applied for a partner visa for New Zealand. We have yet to hear anything yet, but that was expected.
I listed to a lot of music and bought a lot records;
- There was some great music released in 2020. New records by Wax Chattels, Die! Die! Die!, Hey Colossus, Spectres, Bedroom, Wicketkeeper, Thurston Moore, Caroline and Deathcrash to start with.
- I bought a few things on Discogs, old punk records and others to fill holes in my collection.
- I bought my first reggae record in about 35 years and will listen to more ska, rock steady and dub in 2021.
There was some great TV; The Queens Gambit, The Mandolorian, Stranger Things, Swedish Dicks, Fear the Walking Dead, Homecoming, The Boys. We have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer from the start which has been fun.
I read a few books, not as many as I would have liked, but I enjoyed them all.
I mostly finished writing a first short story. It took a lot longer than I would have liked (a con) but it is largely done. I am not sure what to do with it now.
I had a photo in an exhibition in Hastings which should have inspired me to do more, and it did for a brief period.
It is sunny outside, or it was when I started writing, it is now 4:30 and dark (see above).

Anyway, enough, I wasn’t going to do a blog, so this is at least something and I am now going to make a cake.

Here are some sunset photos taken from the bedroom window in November and December, setting the sun on 2020.

All the best for 2021.

A walk to the west of Bexhill

November 22 2020 – Bexhill-on-Sea.

A further week of lockdown has passed without incident. We cannot really do anything much so passing without incident was to be expected. The weather was good the last week. It has not been too cold, nor has it been too windy and wet; not compared to last Sunday and the storm anyway. I even managed to get out for three 30 minute lunch time runs, which was the second time in the past few weeks. These are the first runs I have done in an absolute age and they were not particularly pleasant. I intend to do more in the coming weeks…

We have had a good weekend; not that we did much with it, but we enjoyed it nonetheless. We decided to go out of town for a walk today. We walk the Hastings and St Leonards seafronts most weekends, and often during the week, so it was nice to stroll somewhere, at least slightly, different.

We have walked to and from Bexhill a number of times, the walk along the seafront only takes 90 minutes. However, we have never walked westward out of Bexhill towards Pevensey and Eastbourne. It is a different type of walk and I would call it a lot more ‘local’. Rather than a touristy seafront of flats, guesthouses, hotels and shops there are houses hidden behind fences and buildings on behind walls on top a small ridge over the sea front. There are some of the best and the widest range of beach huts I have seen.

There is nothing specific here to visit, so I suspect most of the many other walkers lived nearby. There were a lot of dogs and small children about, which suggests that. We much enjoyed the walk. There were a couple of properties behind walls that made them look like Second World War fortifications, or maybe cold war bunkers. These were definitely my favourite. Concrete was king when a lot of these were made.

I wasn’t intending on taking photos, though I did have the little camera in my bag, just in case. I ended up taking quite a few, it was that sort of walk. The variety of beach huts and the walls leading up to houses were fabulous, the light was wonderful and the clouds played their part in some lovely afternoon scenery.

An off-the-cuff walk in a place that most people won’t bother with. This is what I do and love. I should do more of it.

Stormy St Leonards seas.

November 15 2020 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

And so, just like that, another month has passed. More time that didn’t go anywhere, but gone nonetheless. Lockdown 2, the not quite as good sequel to Lockdown, started on 5 November. Given the country’s feeling on going back into lockdown I am a little surprised the events of 1605 did not come back to haunt this government. I suspect they were taking the mickey locking us down on Guy Fawkes night. Maybe they just hate fireworks as much as I do.

We went for a walk into Hastings yesterday, Saturday, to pick up some fresh fish and a few bits and bobs as I wanted to cook something different for dinner; Malay fish with black bean sauce. It was as good as it sounds. It was a nice day for a walk, even though it was windy and autumn, the sun was out and it was not cold. It was jacket and t-shirt with no jumper type weather.

I noticed that it was just past high tide when we walked and as the weather was turning stormy over night I started getting a little excited about the possibility of another windy high tide photo walk in the morning.

When we woke up the weather had not disappointed and it was howling out there. YES !!!

Wrapping up for the rain I packed the 5d camera and a couple of lenses and we headed down the hill to the sea front. I was very excited, child in a sweetshop excited as we walked down the hill and I could see the sea was roaring angry. In my head I was wishing Eleanor to pick up the pace, though it is only a short walk from home to beach. Patience is not my middle name in circumstances like this.

Last time we had this weather I walked up towards Hastings and into Bottle Alley, this time we chose to walk in the opposite direction towards West St Leonards and into the face of the howling wind blown rain. We were drenched in minutes. It was great. I used both the 70-200ml and the 16-35ml lenses, though changing lenses was a fraught affair.

We were both surprised and not surprised at the amount of people out walking and taking photos. These storm and high tide combinations are magnificent and there were a lot of Instagram images later in the day. There were a number of runners as well which was more of a surprise, it would have been hard work!

Photography was hard too, the rain was heavy and wind blown, so I was constantly wiping the lens clear, the wind was not helping with steady images either. I didn’t get as many good photos as I wanted, but I did get a few that I liked. My favorites are these three taken from inside one of the shelters on the promenade as the worst of the rain hit. The sea was very close!

As we were walking up the hill towards home I noticed I could clearly hear everything that Eleanor was saying to me. The thunder of sea, the howl of the wind and the rain hammering on our coats and the ground made it quite difficult to hear anything as we were walking just a couple of hundred of metres away. It was great being able to share the joy of the experience as we walked.

I loved having the big 5d camera back; all clean and repaired, except for a broken USB connector which means I cannot download the photos off the camera. I have ordered a CF card reader, but it is not due to arrive until later in the week so it was a little disappointing having to wait really see the photos I took. I very much enjoyed taking photos again.

I quite like this rather abstract image of the roof of the house below and on down to the sea taken out of my closed bedroom window at the end of the day, with the window reflecting back the yellow light of the room.

Taken out the open window with no light reflection.

Upnor Castle

October 13 2020 – Upnor Castle, Kent.

I love a castle and this is the first opportunity I have had to visit one in quite some time, and not just due to Covid. After the disappointment of not being able to get to, let alone get in to, any forts yesterday I was quite excited when I found that Upnor Castle was actually open today, the second of my two day road trip around the Isles of Grain and Sheppey in Kent.

There were plenty of Covid restrictions in place; masks must be worn in all areas, some things were roped off so you could not touch them and there were crosses and arrows all round advising of the correct path to take around the castle and its grounds. I was the first visitor for the day, and for most of my visit had the place largely to myself. A situation I particularly enjoy.

I parked above the village and had a short, but nice walk down this cobbled street to the river front, more reminiscent of Devon and Cornwall than Kent.

The construction of Upnor Castle began in 1559 under the order of Queen Elizabeth I. It was built to help defend the Chatham Boatyards on the other side of the River Medway. As you would expect the fort has undergone many changes and expansions over the years, and was finally called into action in 1667 when the dastardly Dutch sailed up the Medway to attack Chatham and the English fleet that was sheltering in the river. The military action has been described as the worst naval defeat the English navy has ever experienced, with a large number of vessels being destroyed. Upnor Castle was one of the few highlights of the action and the Dutch were finally sent packing.

After the action the English government decided to build further and stronger forts along the coast out toward the North Sea and the castle ended up becoming a storage magazine for gunpowder and shells. It was owned by the military until the end of World War 2 when it became a museum and was opened to the public.

It is now run be English Heritage, and I was pleasantly surprised it was open on an autumn Wednesday.

This graffiti from 1596 was discovered during WW2 when a German bomb landed nearby, causing the plaster to fall off the wall revealing what was hidden behind.

One of the features I love in an English Heritage museum is the mock up.

The castle is pretty small and there is not a huge amount to see and neither is there a spectacular view from the ramparts. It looks out on blocks of flats and cranes on building sites for more blocks of flat on the other side of the river in Chatham, but I did enjoy the 30 minutes I spent walking around, all masked up.

I really liked this stairway, leading down to a lovely dank and mossy tunnel.

The curse of Grey Dolphin

October 13 2020 – Minster Abbey, Minster, Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

“Make much of your steed. He has saved your life but he shall yet be the means of you losing it.”

Cursed the witch upon the head of Sir Robert De Shurland as he rode his favourite horse, Grey Dolphin, ashore at Scapgate on the Isle of Sheppey, after being pardoned by King Edward I for the killing of a priest at nearby Minster Abbey. In an effort to thwart the curse, Sir Robert drew his sword, thrusting it deep into the neck of Grey Dolphin, killing the horse immediately. He left the corpse to rot where it lay on the beach.

Three years later, while walking on the beach, Sir Robert came across the sun, wind and sea-bleached skull of Grey Dolphin, half sticking out in the sand. In a fit of grief-filled anger he kicked the partially exposed skull, badly breaking a toe in the process. A blood infection caused by unhealed bone fragments took his life not long after. The witch’s curse was fulfilled…

As I was driving from Sheerness to Shellness I spotted a sign for Minster Abbey. I had not heard of it before so a visit was not on the plan, as I was doing a ruin-based road trip. I love an abbey it so seemed remiss to not take the short detour to the highest point on Sheppey. It is not that high. There has been an abbey on this hill in Minster in some form or other since 664.

There is not much left of any of the various abbey structures that preceded King Henry VIII ordering the dissolution of the monasteries between 1536 and 1541, but it is a lovely and quite space; and right next to the working men’s’ club. The museum was closed so I took a walk around the outside instead.

The buildings have been renovated beautifully and are in wonderful condition. They look fabulous in this weak autumn afternoon sunlight.

I am guessing the year on this stone reads 1826, though it could read 1226. Who knows, who cares? Whatever. I love how one number has been worn by footsteps so much more than others, yet it is a number in the middle. Why?

I was mainly interested in the grave stones, which have all been moved to the perimeter, lined up in some order or other. I wonder what has happened to the bodies that these stones marked? Are they still where they were buried, broken down into dirt by time and nature, or have they been dug up and relocated with or without their head stone. Are the curses of old still placed upon those long passed?

Why a skull? Was this a plague grave or do they mark the burned or drowned remains of a witch buried here in this consecrated ground? A warning to those who came after to not disturb this ground.

I could not make out from the writing as it has faded too much, if these two joined in death by the vines were joined in life by other ties.

I wasn’t here long, and would like to go back and visit the museum which was closed on this autumn Wednesday. Apparently there is a great view from the roof, and that is rumoured to be in memory of a horse named Grey Dolphin.

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As usual, as I started writing this post I researched the building and location to at least get some of the historical facts right. Normally I rely on Wikipedia as an (un)reliable source of information, though this abbey appears to be so insignificant that no one has bothered to create an entry for it.

There is a very detailed history page on the abbey website, and for such a small place it has a fabulous and long history and it is worth reading.

http://www.minsterabbey.org.uk/3.html

I also carry an immense burden of guilt as my cousin Roger, lives on Sheppey and I know he works with the churches on the island. In my research I saw that he is the treasurer of the abbey. I have not been in contact with him for quite some time. I am terribly negligent in contacting family, I keep meaning to be better, but…. well, there is always another excuse.

Shellness, Sheppey.

October 13 2020 – Shellness, Isle of Sheppey, Kent.

The Isle of Sheppey, yes, I went there. On purpose, and for no other reason than going there to see it. No one made me. I think that is somewhat unusual. I even went to its furthest south-eastern tip, probably as far from anywhere you can get in Kent, a county that rubs up against London on its western flank, so it is hardly remote.

This is day two of my isles of Kent road trip, and Shellness, at the fore mentioned south-eastern tip was the final location to visit before driving back to St Leonards. The attraction, a lone second world war bunker sitting on the beach, the final relic of fortification to see and photograph on this trip, the newest and only one built in the 20^th century. Its purpose; to guard the entrance to The Swale, the river that makes the Isle of Sheppey an Isle.

It is an isolated place, people come here to fish, and possibly in these difficult and austere times, to live in campervans and other, less suitable vehicles. Away from people, problems and maybe those who represent the law.

Past the fishing spot, the public car park and the golf lies the settlement of Shellness. It is accessed by a rutted, pot-holed single lane road that could well be below sea level. A high seawall runs along one side and swampy fields the other. At the end of the road, next to the fenced off houses of Shellness lies the Swale National Nature Reserve.

Parking the car I donned my jacket and gumboots, (I am so glad these were in the boot of the car), and walked down towards the beach. It was blowy and not particularly warm, though the sky was bright and the light savage. I wasn’t here for birding or dog walking like the few others I saw early on this Wednesday afternoon. I wanted to see the old bunker which sat small, alone and forlorn in the distance.

This is a strange place, swampy, marshland, odd coloured foliage that I have not seen before, a long ditch dug, to protect the wall.

On the other side sit a few houses, old and new; gated, fenced and warning-signed away from you and I. Strange and unwelcoming.

I liked the old bunker, perhaps because unlike most of places I attempted to get to over the past two days I could actually get to it; or perhaps because it is just there, all alone, with nothing much around it. Brutalist in a completely different way to what is a beautiful, but possibly quite brutal environment. I would not want to be out here on a stormy night.

Walking around to the front I was pleasantly surprised to be confronted by a painting by the street artist ATM. I faintly recalled that he had painted this, possibly around 2013/14 when I stopped being interested in street art. It suited this environment perfectly.

More so than the rest of the spray painting.

As you would expect the interior of the bunker was a complete mess; smashed bottles, dozens of empty drink cans, an old mattress and signs of a long history of camp fires and parties. It was not out of place and sort of added to its alien and alienated beauty. The view out of the bunker over The Swale to Whitstable.

I did not stay long, I walked around took some photos of the bunker and with spirits lifted after a frustrating couple of days walked back to the car. I was looking forward to going home.

Ruin hunting.

October 12 2020 – Isle of Grain, Kent.

Holiday.
Day one of two.
Raining.

It was totally predictable to be honest; I take two weeks off work, and plan to go away with my camera for two of those 16 days. Firstly my main camera is broken, at least this time it is repairable, but it is in the shop for at least two more weeks. Secondly, the first full day of drizzle and rain of my two week break is day 11, the first of the two day road trip.

The Isle of Grain has fascinated me, admittedly in a fairly minor way for a while now, the main attraction being the Grain Tower Battery, a fort built in 1855 as part of the defence systems for the rivers Thames and Medway. The fort is about a hundred metres off-shore but is accessible at low tide, it does look pretty cool. In my pre-travel research I also discovered a lot of other forts and castles around the north Kent coast, so planned on a two day excursion to the area. Day one focusing on the Isle of Grain and the Thames estuary and day two the Isle of Sheppey and the River Medway.

But first, I had Oare Gunpowder Works in Faversham to visit. I liked it, just the sort of place that appeals to me, especially in this drizzle and gloom. Lots of overgrown brick work, quicky things, mould and bits broken off. There were a few other people there which was almost a shame as it would have been much better to have been there in complete peace and quiet, alone.

I was relying on Google Maps to guide me around the confusing mess of small roads in and around the Isle of Grain, though it just did not cope with there being a couple of closed roads. My first stop was to be Shornemead Fort. Was to be. Google Maps took me on a four mile loop to get around this closed road, just to put me back right here again. I saw two vans at least three times going in the opposite direction, to me obviously as confused and lost as I was. They were trying to escape, I was trying to get in.

Eventually I managed to get on to the single road that goes to the fort, only to find it fenced off where it appears to go under a railway track. OK. Plan B. Drive to Cliffe Fort and then walk back along the seafront. The road the Cliffe Fort was much easier to find, except it is a private road belonging to an aggregate company that seem to be digging most of this part of Kent. The Fort is on the edge of the Cliffe RSPB reserve and it appears to be a mile long walk to Cliffe Fort. It was raining and later than I wanted to be because of the traffic, the wet roads and the faffing while Google Maps drove me round in circles, plus I was getting hungry having not had lunch and it was now early afternoon.

Next stop. Slough Fort in Allhallows. In a positive turn of events I actually managed to get to the fort this time, sort of. It was closed off the public with a nice high barbed wire fence surrounding it and a locked gate barring access. I am not sure if it is actually open to the public on other days. Maybe the next stop….

The next stop was to be my last one for the day, The Grain Tower Battery, and I knew this would not be fenced off. It is in the sea.

I finally stopped at a convenience store in the town of Grain and grabbed a couple of sandwiches before driving off to find somewhere to park on the seafront as close to the fort as I could get. The worst of the rain had abated, a leaving a fine light drizzle.

There were some friendly horses in the field opposite where I parked my car, next to a stinking factory. I had no idea what they were making way out here but it did smell bad. Not horse bad, chemical bad.

I had timed things right and arrived as the tide was on its way out. The fort is about 100 metres off shore, and there is a clearly defined stone path out to it. Thankfully, that mud was very sticky and mid gumboot deep. I am glad I had the gumboots in the car.

I am not sure what the thing is on the tip of the Isle of Sheppey on other side of the River Medway, though I do attempt to get closer to it tomorrow.

Reaching the fort I soon realised that I would not be going to try to get up and in. There is a rickety old ladder, tied on and together with bits of rope. If I had been with someone else I would have gone in, but I was not prepared to take the risk on my own. One slip, and well when the tide came back in I could be in serious trouble. Next time.

I took a walk around the outside and took a few photos,

then headed back to shore, and the safety of firm land.

I walked along the sea front a bit as I had seen another interesting looking thing from the road, the roadside being heavily fenced off and very deeply buried in bramble. The sea-front side was surrounded by water as. I didn’t bother trying to get in.

I was really pleased to get to the Grain Tower Battery, it was the primary reason for the trip. However, it was a disappointing day, the weather and driving conditions were not fun, the bizarre directions I was given by Google Maps didn’t help with how I felt on the road. That most of my objectives were to be unattainable left me a bit disappointed. I was also a little unhappy with the quality of the photos I got on the small camera.

I stayed in a hotel near the M25. I wanted to spend some time finishing a first draft of the short story I have been working on for weeks, seemingly never getting the time or the right mood to write. Happily though, tonight it all came together. There is a way to go but the story is, I think, coherent and complete.