On the Road in our Campervan – Canterbury to HMS Victory

After a week in London it was time to hit the road to explore the rest of the UK.  We had rented a modest camper van for the next three weeks to circumnavigate the British Island.  The van was small with minimal facilities but living on boats one gets use to making due.  It was painted an embarrassing pink and there was no way we could go around England subtlety which just encouraged Bob to emphasise our Australianness – G’day Sport! 

Our unsubtle camper van

The front seats turn around, the back seat converts into a small table. There was a little frig and water bottle, a one burner butane stove and the back converted into a double sized bed with a very thin mattress - All the comforts of home - not!

Our first stop was Canterbury to check out the Cathedral.  Sadly we could not get near the Cathedral or the grounds without paying a hefty entrance fee so we contended ourselves with glimpses of the spires and walking around the quaint town and the River Stour.

A view of Canterbury Cathedral over the wall - as close as the public could get unless they paid 20 pounds each

The pretty River Stour

It seems much of England has been turned into a theme park.  The famous towns look like movie sets (or are we in Disneyland?) and all the great attractions require £15 or £20 to see, plus 4 pounds for parking. 

We drove on to Hastings (kept my eye out for Inspector Foyle and Sam) and checked out the beach then continued to Battle where we passed a pub with about 20 Morris Dancers prancing around waving streamers – what a hoot!  We found a layby on a country lane to spend the night and were ready for an early start to explore the town of Battle and its Norman heritage.  Once again the battle site of 1066 was too expensive to see but we did enjoy the Norman church of St Mary the Virgin built in 1080.

Stained glass window depicting the Battle of Hastings in 1066

Tomb of Sir Anthony, companion of King Henry VII, who died in 1548

We next drove by Pevensey Castle and decided to have a look.  This too had a hefty entrance fee but we found out that by joining English Heritage we could get into hundreds of sites for free.  We figured we would have to visit just 3 or 4 sites and the membership fee would pay for itself.  So we paid the £63 for the joint senior membership and were on our way to making old castles the theme of our travels.

Pevensey Castle has a history spanning 16 centuries, starting as a Roman fort against Saxon raideromb of Sir Anthony, then the landing site of William the Conqueror in 1066.  It withstood the Spanish Armada and finally used during WWII with added pillboxes and machine gun posts added.  Great stuff!

Entrance over a moat to Pevensey Castle

Courtyard of Pevensey Castle with the remains of the Keep

Next stop was a quick look at Brighton and King George IV oriental folly.  I liked Brighton.  It has quite a vibrant feel to it and lots of young people from the university. 

Brighton Pier and the shingle beach

King George IV Oriental Folly

The next day we visited the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum.  The museum is on a 40 acre site with around 50 historic exhibit buildings rescued from destruction and rebuilt on site.  The exhibits show over 600 years of English architecture from Medieval homes, working smithy and watermill, 18^th Century market hall, to Victorian cottages.  While there we saw a Spitfire fly overhead and the volunteer we were chatting with at the time told us he regularly flew these awesome machines at his flying club – only in England!

Market Hall and Tudor houses

Our last stop on our third day of touring around was the HMS Victory.  Bob was really looking forward to seeing the old girl again but sadly she is but a shadow of her former glory.  She is undergoing long term renovations and her masts are cut down in half, her magnificent bowsprit gone and the deck is mostly under construction and shrouded in tarps.  Many of the cabins inside were not open.  Still it was wonderful to see a ship of the line – not unlike the US Constitution, but bigger.  The spot where Nelson ‘fell’ during the Battle of Trafalgar was marked on the deck with visitors giving it due reverence.

HMS Victory - a mere shadow of her former self.

Lord Nelson's uniform

So we left the grand lady and made our way through the English rain to Port Solent and a spot to rest for the night.