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.

Summer Ends!

So the Summer finally comes to an end and our clocks go back an hour on what
was our first cold day. Even the snow arrived in Scotland today.
But there's no denying that it was our best Summer in a long while, although it
might have been a little uncomfortable in some parts of Europe during July and
August with record heat temperatures.
Does this mean that we are about to have a bad Winter? We'll have to wait and see.
They say that most Summers end around the end of September but this year it seemed
to go well up to the end of October with an unusual amount of sunny cloud free days.

Above: one of my favourite Autumn pictures taken on Hampstead Heath on the
last day of October 2015.

Views of London from The Monument

Having returned to St Dunstan Church to re-shoot the short video last weekend,
we thought we'd have a walk up to the top of the nearby London Monument.
The building designed by Sir Christopher Wren became a structural marking
point to commemorate The Great Fire of London in 1666.
And just close by is the actual infamous street where the Great Fire broke out
from a little Bakers shop in Pudding Lane.

The Fire started on the 2nd of September 1666 and continued devastating the City
right up to the 5th of September, destroying over 13,000 homes as well as 87 Churches
including the nearby St Dunstan in the East. And it's not surprising that the Fire
spread so quickly when you learn that most of the houses back then were constructed
of straw and timber. And the devastation left over 70,000 people homeless.
When the houses were rebuilt most of them were quite sensibly built with bricks.

But the visit to The Monument was interesting, although the walk up to the top, all 311 steps
was exhausting but worth it for the views of the London skyline. Also the spiral staircase
itself is quite narrow and as you make the climb up in such a small space, you have
to make way for the people coming down to leave the tall narrow building. But 
the base of the structure is very impressive.

More can be found out about The Monument at.....

THE MONUMENT HISTORY WEBSITE

And from there you can watch the official video.

THE MONUMENT WAS CONSTRUCTED AND DESIGNED BY ROBERT HOOKE
IN CONSULTATION WITH SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN DURING 1671 - 1677. 

Only 311 steps to climb to get to the viewing platform.
And it takes around 4 to 5 minutes to reach the top.

Above: The oddly shaped building 20 Fenchurch Street, or as it's often called
The Walkie Talkie Building.
The top floor viewing platform known as The Sky Garden is a must see place
with it's spectacular views of The City, day or night.

Above: St Paul's Cathederal

Below: Tower Bridge and The River Thames

Below: Back down to Earth and once again we find ourselves
down by Tower Bridge and The River Thames.

The Church Ruins of St Dunstan....... The Video

Above is a short video that I re-shot over this past weekend of the Church ruins
 at St Dunstan in the East.

The full blog post with pictures can be found in the
following post below  HERE.