No trains today, but a bit of a nostagic look around the area, which used to be my “back yard” when I lived in Tunbridge Wells. The target was Rye, an ancient ex-coastal town, which once upon a time was one of the Cinque Ports. It’s always been pretty, but I’d forgotten how much.
But before I got there, I gave myself a bit of a surprise. Retracing some of the Dungeness bit ( but by road this time), I stumbled across Lydd Airport – or more correctly London Ashford International as it’s now formally called.
This brought memories flooding back of family camping trips to France and Spain, using the quick trip from Lydd to Le Touquet with the car, using the Silver City Bristol Superfreighter Service – we are talking here of early 60’s, if my arithmetic is correct.
It now seems to cater mainly for small private and commercial planes, presumably jetting off to European destinations and mega-meetings. I wandered inside (frankly to be nosey…) and came across a couple of big wall panels depicting the old car ferry service, before it became part of British Air Ferries. Nostalgia indeed. The planes used to carry 2/3 cars, with passengers in what were essentially hammocks for seats in the back. We always seem to be on the first early morning flight, when the pilot would warm up those mighty radial engines to such an extent that it rattled the rivets in the whole aircraft. Wow !
On to Rye, via Camber Sands – another old beach haunt. The big tourist attraction is Mermaid Street and the Mermaid Inn. The American novelist Henry James also lived here.
I went “full tourist” and bought the Rye Town Trail map from the Tourist office. Initially somewhat sceptical, I found it very useful for a time-limited look round. Like all these historic places you need a bit more than a couple of hours…….
Rye Harbour itself is now some miles away from Rye town, but still seems to support a bit of a fishing fleet, as per example below.
So, back to camp for me, as I had a date with another train tomorrow at Tenterden and so needed to do a partial tent pack up.