RYE SMILES

Sussex Border Path Leg 11

Despite cutting short the previous day's walk, we set out early next morning (after a full English breakfast of course) before it became too hot again. So, back to Ewhurst and off across more orchards

and fields of crops, some with clear paths,

some without.

And there's Northiam. Could we have walked that bit yesterday?  No, I think we'd had enough.

 Then, to emphasise the slightly cooler weather, we even had a shower of rain. 

Part of a very old hedge.

The path then led through an abandoned orchard,

across a meadow,

over a stile with a superfluous notice,

across a stretch of desert,

and then over a stile, with the most helpful waymark I've seen,

 to our key objective, the River Rother, which flows down to Rye.

A bee on a teazle.

We were expecting a nice 6 mile stroll along the river bank into the town.  But it was heavy going.

A boat graveyard.

The river runs into the Royal Military Canal, the lower part of which is tidal.  Unusual to see sheep without grass.  Maybe they were trying to cool off?

The canal was built as protection against invasion from France.  I thought it was kind of the local council to provide a notice explaining that - in French.  But it's a boring stretch of bank and water, so no pics.  Never the less, at last we were walking down Mermaid Street towards the Mermaid Inn.

The inn was rebuilt in 1420.  The cellars date back though to the 12th century.  And here we are!  Yes, grounds to celebrate.  150 miles in only 18 months!  And thanks to Jeffers for his direction.

Not one of my pics (obviously).  Here's one of mine though of the inn's entrance hall.

AD NORTHIAM

Sussex Border Path Leg 10


We decided to complete the rest of the Sussex Border Path in one go, overnighting en route to avoid constant awkward travel to and from this isolated part of the world.  The idea was to walk from Flimwell to Northiam, stay the night nearby in Battle and then return to Northiam the next morning for the final leg into Rye.  Of course we chose the hottest day of the year to start . . .

After several trains and a bus journey, we set out from Flimwell along a farm track,

passing an oast house with amusing weathervanes. 

There were a few wooded sections to shelter us from the sun, 

But there seemed to be an awful lot of exposed trudges uphill.

 

We were definitely though in Kent, the Garden of England - vineyards

and orchards.

 

At one point the path passed through someone's barn

and across their garden.  I haven't come across that before.

Hot and, more importantly, thirsty, we came to the Eight Bells at  Hawkhurst. 

Although somewhat early in the day, we decided to take a break.  The Eight Bells turned out to have the best hospitality of any of the pubs we have visited so far.  It also had a meal deal for lunch and Sussex Best Bitter.  What more could you ask for?!  But we had to press on.

We decided to climb the bank at this point.

A whimsical notice.  Why 'not exceeding' I wonder.

More of these though.  It was now 32 degrees and very high humidity.  But over the hill . . .

 
we saw Bodiam Castle.

As Jeff put it, if you ask a child to draw a castle, this is what he would draw.

It's hard to imagine that this was once navigable, bringing up imported timber for transshipment.

There is also still a steam railway.

But we were grateful that there was also a tea shop! 

And then, after more trudging through the heat, we came to the White Dog at Ewhurst Green.

That was it.  We went no further.  Northiam would have to wait until tomorrow.  And so, after rest and  refreshment, we took a taxi to Battle for the night.  While cooling off on my hotel bed, I held my camera out of the window; this was the view (Battle Abbey, by the Battle of Hastings battlefields).