My Day Trip to Hastings

So here's the Hastings day trip video at long last. It did take a while to edit and put together.

And it seemed to come out okay. What was odd though was that I filmed it with my stills

camera using the video option. I do wonder if I'll ever use my actual Panasonic video camera again.

There's definitely something wrong with it. Sometimes cameras come with their own factory settings 

and it's not always easy to adjust them.

So with our Summer running away I had to head for our South coast. And it was either Hastings

or Margate. So I ventured along the front shingle beach then had a look around Hastings Old Town

followed by a gruelling trip up hundreds of steps to reach the top of the Cliff known as the East Hill.

And so while up there I couldn't resit a short coastal walk. And while up there I noticed that the

tricky and steep path to the famous Fairlight Glen Naturist beach appeared to be open. Last time

I was here the path was closed off due to falling cliff rocks.

There are other safer paths to reach the beach that locals know only too well.

But as it was getting late on the Sunday I was recently there I thought it best to climb back

down the cliff and head for the train station and return to London.

So it does possibly leave me the option for a full on visit to Fairlight Glen next Summer.

THIS GORGEOUS NUDIST BEACH IS ONE OF THE BEST IN THE U.K.  

AND IT'S ONLY 90 MINUTES FROM LONDON.

SECRET LONDON

Below:  Some pictures plus a video of one of my earliest videos of when I first visited Fairlight

Glen Naturist Beach.

Below video:  One of my earliest visits to Fairlight Glen 

Naturist Beach in Hastings.

So I actually managed to find some old Video Hi8 footage from one of my earliest visits

to the Naturist Beach down in Hastings. I simply filmed it off a screen using a foggy

filter as well as adjusting the colour, giving it an almost retro film look. Of course

I have a whole draw at home of Video Hi8 tapes that I just never got around to transferring,

most of them featuring hours of footage filmed in Cornwall as well as my half dozen

visits to the U.S.

Plus below some archive video footage taken

in Cornwall on one of my earliest visits

before mobile phones had cameras,

which became a little invasive.

Return to Hastings

Above and below are some pictures from our late Summer trip to
Hastings on the East Sussex coast. And the reason for the visit
during our exceptional Summer was to go and check out the newly
renovated Hastings Pier. It seems like ages since we were last there.
Sadly the Pier was destroyed in a fire back in 2010 but after several
years and at a cost of £14.2m the pier is well and truly back.

But what surprised and slightly shocked me about it was that unlike the
more cluttered and busy looking Pier prior to the Fire, there's actually
not very much on it. Just a handful of local food and souvenir outlets.
And the word that comes to mind is minimalism. And it came as no surprise
to me recently to discover that the Pier won last years Stirling Architecture
Prize as the best building of 2017.
The great swathes of open spaces makes the Pier look like some kind of art
installation. Perhaps in time more local businesses might take up residency on
this iconic structure.

But at least we were thrilled that it's back and that it wasn't just left abandoned
like some of our Piers scattered around the British coastline.

Above: An online Library image of Hastings Pier in 2005.

Below: Hastings Pier - Summer 2018. And you can see a great
difference before and after the renovations.

Hastings Pier from high up at White Rock Gardens.

Lets all go to Hastings Beach and...... look at our mobile phones!

Above: The recently new Jerwood Art Gallery on the Hastings seafront.

Above: Some sporting sparring in the Gardens of White Rock which
overlooks Hastings Pier.

Later that afternoon after some local Fish & Chips we headed off up to The
East Hill and the Coast Path to one of our old haunts, Fairlight Glen
where there is a public nudist Beach, although we haven't been able to get
to it for quite a few years as the cliff edge rocks keep falling in to the sea.
But we thought we'd see if any new paths would lead us there. Unfortunately
we had hardly got a quarter of the way when the path was shut off, once again
and we saw this sign (below image) which told us to go no further.
There was some kind of long winded diversion path to get there but as the
afternoon was getting on we thought we'd leave the coast path and head back
to town. Perhaps we'll try it next time.

Above: The view from the top of The East Hill looking towards
West St Leonards, and beyond that, Bexhill.