Our first day in England

This morning we arrived at London Gatwick Airport at 10.20 am and drove south-east in our hire car to Hastings. After an hour and a half ride, we arrived in Hastings.

Hastings is a town in the south-east of East Sussex with a 5km long seafront where you can go fishing. After we checked in in our hotel, we went to Hastings Castle. This Castle was originally built as a motte –and -bailey castle near the shore, but in 1070 William of Normandy had given orders for the Castle to be rebuilt in stone, together with the St. Mary’s Chapel. In 1287 strong storms battered the south coast of England for many months and the sandstone cliffs were destroyed. Large sections and parts of the Castle fell into the sea. During the next century, more and more parts fell into the sea. In the middle of the 16^th century, Henry VIII commissioned that all catholic monasteries had to be destroyed. This left the Castle in decay for many years. After this, it was bought by the Pelham family and used for farming until the ruins had become overgrown and lost from memory. During World War II, the Castle was damaged very hard, more as Hastings was a target for bombing raids. In 1951, the Castle was purchased by the Hastings Corporation and converted into a tourist attraction.

Tomorrow morning we will start driving along the south coast to our next stop, Eastbourne and then every day the same. After 7 days we will drive back to Gatwick Airport to fly back to our lovely home country Germany.

See you tomorrow evening in Eastbourne,

Greetings from Hastings.