Happy Christmas Strollers!

We had wonderful clear (if cold) weather for our Bexhill walk; thanks to the two ladies who were so helpful with directions to the 1066 route.

No walk in December, as all our calendars are full but our projected walks for 2011 are:

January - exploring the town of Rye

February - ditto Winchelsea

March - the delayed Pett Level Walk -

Wide Open: Pett Level to the Military Canal - 27 July 2010

Next Walk - Tuesday, 23rd November - Bexhill Circular Walk

Where does the time go? This walk will not be recce'd, unless someone else volunteers to do so. (Due to tempus fugit!) May need some help interpreting directions at times!

The walk is about 6 miles and includes fields and farmland, hedgerow remains of ancient woodland, and maybe rock pools - need to check the tides!

Meeting time will be 10.30 on the forecourt at Bexhill Station, bus from Hastings is the 99, which leaves Hastings in Havelock Road (or the station) every 30 minutes. I will confirm and get back to you on the minutes past the hour!

*Have done so - see below

Times

Buses: 99 Havelock Road (G) 09.55 Arrives 10.25
98 Havelock Road (G) 09.36 Arrives 10.17 (Goes all round the houses, but enjoyable on a pleasant day.)

Southern service from Ore to Brighton

10:14	Hastings [HGS]	Bexhill [BEX]	10:23	0h 09m	0			2
10:26	Hastings [HGS]	Bexhill [BEX]	10:35

East Hill Walk 26th October 2010

This is a 'not so arduous' East Hill/Country Park ramble, avoiding the up and down cliff steps. Well, once we've climbed the steps as the lift is only open at weekends from now until I think March.

Meet at the bottom of Tackleway steps at 10, trekking sticks a good idea. The 20A bus will drop you at either The Cutter or around the corner at Roebuck St. Walk up The Bourne, take Courthouse Street on your left, and cross over Tackleway to the steps (or come up Tamarisk Steps from The Front. (Avert your eyes from the mess that is currently The Stade)

Arcadia – a new installation about Hastings Pier, from Friday 5thNovember

The recent devastation of Hastings Pier will cast a poignant light on an exhibition opening in Hastings Town Centre in November. Arcadia is a long-planned installation by St. Leonard’s artist, Danny Pockets, exploring the glory and vulnerability of the pier and examines its social and physical architecture. The work is the winning submission to the new Sussex Coast College Art Prize, which is run by Sussex Coast College Hastings with support from the Jerwood Foundation. The show is under construction in the Circle Gallery at Sussex Coast College Hastings. Arcadia launches with a private viewing on 5thNovember and will be open to the public from Monday 8th November.

Hastings Week coming up and we are all devastated!

It is hard to know what to say - we have all been fighting so hard to keep our pier and at last there seemed a glimmer of hope on the horizon - now this. Hastings Pier & White Rock Trust – HPWRT

VIDEO: Firefighters tackle Hastings Pier blaze

VIDEO: Hastings Pier destroyed

CLICK HERE for links to every Hastings Pier story you need

Welcome to The Old Town · Hastings

If you're looking for a shopping experience that offers something a little different pop down to the The Old Town in Hastings where you will find a wide range of indpendent shops, galleries and boutiques offering unique products you just won't find anywhere else.

Add to that the interesting surroundings and bohemian atmosphere and we are sure you will want to keep coming back!

Take a look at what's on offer

and while you are there pop into The Hastings History House, 21 Courthouse Street for historical information, displays and exhibitions, informed talks, enthusiastic chat, local history books and secondhand books, many for 50p.

Open 11 - 4, Thursdays - Sundays and on special occasions

Hastings Week - 9th - 17th October, 2010

HASTINGS DAY - the 944th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings - 14th October

EVENTS - http://www.1066.net/hastings-week/events10.htm

Hastings opens up its history

The Heritage Open days scheme - Thursday, September 9, to Sunday, September 12.

Anne Scott, chairman of the Old Hastings Preservation Society, [History House, 21 Courthouse Street] said: "This town has such a wonderful heritage, both in terms of buildings and characters who lived here, and we have got everything from the Iron Age to Marine Court. This is all about opening up the town's history to the widest possible audience.

"It's important to appreciate our heritage so we can try to learn from it and use the opportunities of history for today's needs."

For a sample of Hasting's attractions check out the Labels below. (or visit Hastings History House, as above)

For more information on Heritage Open Days in Hastings visit www.heritageopendays.org.uk/directory/town/Hastings

September Walk?

Currently there is no walk scheduled for September. Keep checking the blog in case this changes.

If you would like to suggest and lead a walk, please email me

There will be a walk in October to be announced later.

Alexandra Park & Tingles Dingle

Meet at 10.00 at the entrance to the Park (Dordrecht Way).

Bus: 26A at 09.47 from Hastings Station stop B, or Queens Road Priory Meadow Stop K at 09.52.

Join us for a walk through Alexandra Park to Tingles Dingle, a much-loved childhood favourite of mine, otherwise known as Old Roar Ghyll. A steep sided valley running along the upper reaches of the stream, it is a fascinating nature reserve and takes its name from one of the two waterfalls at the head of the ghyll. Today "Old Roar" can be heard and glimpsed but not visited due to housing development, but it is a lovely, atmospheric place, and well worth a visit.

Please bring along your memories too including any photos or postcards you may have. We will stop at the cafe at the end of the walk for refreshments.

Please note: if it is raining the walk will not include Tingles Dingle because of slippery ground conditions.

Tingle's Dingle - Alexandra Park, Coronation Woods & Beyond?

Come join us at 10am ready to explore and reminisce. Bring your memories and memorabilia, let the children tag along and take in the local history of this wonderful green space.

Come stroll with us - or enjoy more energetic walks

We look forward to meeting new people and would love offers to lead walks. Our small start-up group has been depleted by a founding member moving to Scotland.

The next walk, during the school holidays, is an excellent one for introducing your children to the joys of fresh air, companions of all ages and the sharing of varied interests.

POSTPONED - Wide Open: Pett Level to the Military Canal - 27 July 2010

Due to unforeseen circumstances it has been necessary to postpone this walk.

The next walk will now be in August, and will be a ramble through Alexandra Park and Coronation Woods following Old Roar Gill. More details very soon.



Pett Level awaits. The fauna and flora and the wide open skies are there for all to enjoy. Come and join the walk. We'll stroll a gentle 3 miles or so; then there will be a variety of options for refreshments and the bus back.

• Meet at the Smugglers End, Pett Level (Winchelsea Beach), at 10.30 a.m.
  
  
• Bus number 344 leaves Hastings Station at 9.50 a.m. to arrive at the Smugglers at 10.19.

Battle circular using part of 1066 Country Walk

Approx 4 miles Mostly woodland and open views (Hastings Strollers enjoyed this walk on May 25, 2010)

Transport Bus route 304/305 approx hourly from Hastings station/ Warrior Square/ Silverhill Monday to Saturday; route 95 approx hourly Monday to Friday from conquest/ The Ridge. Trains 2 or 3 an hour 7 days a week – but allow for 10 minute walk from Battle Station and the start of the walk.

Note site of medieval bullring laid in centre of “Green.” Walk across front of Abbey Gatehouse (14^th century: one of the best surviving medieval monastic gate houses in Britain – English Heritage) and go down the path as though going to the carpark, noticing on the way the 15^th century Wealden hall house now “Pilgrims Rest” restaurant:

“Originally a guest house outside the gates of Battle Abbey. C15 timber-framed
building of Wealden type consisting of a recessed centre and wings with their
first floor overhanging on the protruding ends of the floor joists. The whole
front is close studded except the north wing which is wholly plastered on the
ground floor .... Casement windows and one oriel window of 6 lights with
transom on the first floor. Pointed doorway with original iron-studded door.
Good moulded crown post roof in hall.” (English Heritage)

continue past the entry to the carpark to the gate at the bottom of the path

Take the solid path heading left following the edge of the wood. Keep going alongside the wood on your left side. There is a well defined ditch on your right for a bit. Pass through a half-gate along the way, then woods on both sides. At the 3-way signpost (marked for the 1066 Country Walk) take the right-hand fork to follow a clear grassy track across the field – lovely views – as it drops down towards woods.

Near the bottom of the slope there is an interesting-looking depression on the left, any ideas?, then the track levels out and reaches a gate and stile. Go through or over into a pine plantation. The path continues through the trees, past free-range pigs, crossing a stream via a small bridge on the way. Then, just before a house called Farthings, take a waymarked stile on your left into a large field. Follow the clear path through the centre of the field making for the stile at the other side.

Climb the stile to enter coppiced woodland. Keep following the woodland track, past Farthing Pond, a large sheet of water on your right. Just off the track to the left are the remnants of water-powered gunpowder works.

Gunpowder mill, first recorded 1676, working until 1874. Pond bay still visible but no remains of buildings visible on the site. The works stood within the wooded area to the east of Farthing Pond. The incorporating mills are believed to have been buried when the pond was reinstated in the 1920s. Until a few years ago two pairs of stone grindling-runners lay on view at the site of Farthing Mill but when the millpond was cleared of mud the stones were tipped over the dam and now lie buried in several feet of mud. (National Monuments Record.) [http://sias.pastfinder.org.uk/news01-41/news31.pdf]

The track takes you over a plank bridge then up a good path, rather steep for a bit. There are some more intriguing lumps and bumps in the ground to the left just before the path reaches the road.

Cross the road and continue going in the same direction up the “private road” to Millers Farm opposite: it is a public footpath. Keep going until you reach the main farm buildings.

On the left is a house called Badger’s Keep. Go through the gates beside it; at the signpost take the left track across the field, passing the house, go over the stile at the edge of the field, and turn right down the path. Keep going: the path leads onto a bank - forming the old pond bay for the gunpowder mill - which carries on until meeting the road/ bridleway by Stone Cottage.

Turn right passing attractive buildings on both sides, including Peppering Eye on the right. Beyond this beside the road on the left is a bridge over a stream, at the site of another gunpowder works.

Known as Pepper-in-Eye Mill and one of a series of 5 gunpowder mills on the Asten stream, which were in operation from 1676-1874. Bloomery (? Roman) at Peppering-Eye? In 1925, during drainage work a solid bed of cinder was found c 3ft thick covered by 3ft of garden soil. A fragment of Samian embedded in a piece of vitrified brick suggests a Roman date. (National Monuments Record)

If you’d like a pretty spot for a sit down, carry on up the road a short while to reach a wood on the left. There are interesting lumps and bumps amidst the trees – possibly ore pits? (David Padgham.) Continue the walk by retracing steps back to Peppering Eye farm oast: Single round kiln oast house, missing the top of tarred conical roof and cowl. (Oast House Archive – though works in progress June 2010 to restore?) and observe just after it on the left a stream and low bank, part of a dam for the gunpowder works.

Carry on the same way past stone cottage until reaching the road junction. Turn left, following the road a short distance to the Powdermill Lane junction; there cross the road and go up the bank crossing the stile to join the path ahead. Follow the path to the top, keeping the hedge on your right.

Go over the stile into the next field, and keep going as the path leads down the slope and up again. There are trees on the right and beyond them views of the site of the Battle of Hastings.

Although the battle has left no visible traces on the landscape nor have any remains been found, its location and the main events are known from a variety of historical sources. (National Monuments Record.)

At the top of the hill you reach the first signpost passed on the way out. Turn right, keeping the woods on your right hand, and walk past curious cows back to the Abbey.

Streets and streams, meadows and woods

We were blessed with glorious weather when we set out on our walk on Tuesday. The company was good, the accumulated knowledge various and willingly shared. We walked uphill and down dale, rested in a field of buttercups, and finished at Eat in the Park.

And no one opted out!

Following a lead, we identified Butcher's Broom (aka Box Holly, Broom, Jew's Myrtle, Knee Holly, Kneeholm, Pettigree, Sweet Broom) growing in Summerfield Woods (whereupon I realised my daughter has it growing in her garden!) Following it up on the Internet, to make sure we were right, I discover that it is recognised as a herb, and has many curative properties.

Like holly and mistletoe, which it resembles, it has separate male and female plants. Flowers are succeeded by scarlet berries which remain through the winter and are often used like holly for room decorations. The name "butcher's broom" probably comes from the old-time practice of using bunches of the twigs tied together to scrub butcher's chopping blocks to remove grease.

Next walk

Pett Levels - Military Canal (3 miles) 27th July 2010

More details, including meeting points and public transport options, will appear here shortly.

See you there?

Tuesday, June 22nd - Walk - Hastings

Parks, Woods & Streetscapes

We assemble at 10am at Hastings Railway Station, by the telephone kiosks on the lower side.

Walking boots and stick are recommended. This is an unusual walk through several of the fine green spaces in Hastings. Although there are places where you are walking in suburban streets, there are also long sections of wood and parkland where you would think you were miles from the town.

Bring sandwiches, or have a well-earned (maybe rather late) lunch at Cafe in the Park, in Alexandra Park.

Four Forays for June 22nd walk!

Walk - Tuesday 22nd June 2010

Yes, four times now I have been out to make sure the route is going to work; I don't have exact timings, but don't let this put you off, there are many points at which you can opt out!

Not that you'll want to, unless, perhaps, it is teeming.

Back in May the first part of the walk was in full Spring bloom, really lovely, it will be interesting to compare. Wasn't all straightforward though, apart from the map misleading me, a path was closed, a tree had fallen across the alternative, and there were all these enticing paths trying to tempt me - but I resisted.

Hope to see you there!

May Walk

On Tuesday 25 May the walk will be on a gentle circular route, about 4 miles, passing through or by old managed woodlands, remnants of the once huge gunpowder industry, attractive farm buildings, the site of the 1066 battle, with some lovely open views.
We meet on Battle Abbey Green at 10.00 a.m. The bus 305 (or it might say 304 on the front - it's the same route) leaves Hastings station at 9.30, Warrior Square 9.38, to arrive at the Green at 10.00. Or the 9.29 train from Hastings will get to Battle Station in plenty of time to walk up the hill to the start point.
Arriving back in Battle after the walk, the 304/305 bus to Hastings goes at 5 minutes to the hour; trains are at 41 minutes past. There are several nice cafes close at hand if there is a wait.

Visiting Hastings?

If you are a tourist in Hastings you are most welcome to join us on a walk. See here for current projected walks

Hastings is a fascinating historical town, which has woods, parks, cliffs and seaside, architecture from mediaeval to 21st Century times, cliff lifts, a pier, (unfortunately closed at present, but we live in hope) and always something going on.

The Old Town is a delight in itself, as is the Fishermen's Beach and then there's the Castle, Pelham Crescent, St Mary's in the Castle, Alexandra Park, a three mile promenade......

See some photos here - http://www.flickr.com/groups/channelhastings/

First Walks

We currently have three planned walks:

1 Battle Walk (see post above) (4 miles) 25th May 2010

2 Hastings - Gothic Groves and Ferny Glens (7 miles) 22nd June 2010

3 Pett Levels - Military Canal (3 miles) 27th July 2010

More details, including meeting points and public transport options, will appear here shortly.