950th Battle of Hastings, Senlac Hill, Battle

Glorious weather! ... till about 16.30, but that was okay.

The Night Bus (think Harry Potter) was late because of a bridge under construction on our A27, so we ended up leaving at 23.45 from Breda.  The drive to London was uneventful.  I was thankful, though, that I had the plaid and pillow as I managed to keep warm on the ferry.  We arrived in London at sunrise and witnessed the sun come up near the Shard, a magnificent view which I couldn't shoot as the angle from the bus was not comfortable.  Managed to get some shots of Big Ben (as usual) and Parliament buildings, plus Trafalgar Square, which I recall driving by with hubby 30 years ago but had no time since then to visit with previous day trips.  Actually, the reason I ended up there was because I had to look for a station where I could buy train tickets (had to ask for extra info as well) and Charing Cross was the only one where the ticket counters were open.  I had already looked up and noted down info from the net but an update is always useful.  Arrived at Battle at about 11.30 and walked to the abbey with all the other ticket holders.  Cars and SUVs driving around while large signs told the public 'SOLD OUT'.  Funny enough, there were a number of Brits on the train who asked aloud if anyone had any extra tickets to sell, while all the foreigners had pre-booked.  I met several from France and Germany, but there were also Americans, Chinese, Poles, and Czechs.

Before the re-enactment itself began, I discovered that many of the hired mercenaries were also from France and Germany, just as they would have been in the Conqueror's time.  Isn't that curious?  Still going on today, for re-enactments but also for real wars.  I was also observing the crowd during the show.  Loads of applause for Harold II and a lot of boos for William and when he finally won, as we know he did, still not much enthusiasm, although the shower was probably a factor.  Couldn't help but wonder about the 'crowd reaction' during the referendum -- was it/is it so easy to influence public opinion for a particular moment, knowing that under normal circumstances, many wouldn't have really cared about the outcome?  I cheered loudly for William (the EU?) afterwards, and a mother hissed to her child right behind me, "But this is all just a game, you know, as we've never really liked him."  Does making Britain great again mean returning to the Anglo-Saxon era?  Very speculative to spend time wondering how England would have developed had Harold survived and William been killed, and by speculative I also mean that many probably don't even give it a thought.  Bought hubby a bottle of local cider and myself a Hastings 1066 DVD.  It would have been great if he had come along.  This was my second trip here; the first time was in 2007, around this time, too.  I also took the opportunity to place an order of treacle tart with clotted cream and a pot of tea, with warm memories of Mad Hen ... haha!

The train left Battle at 17.00 and arrived in London at 18.30, which gave me 45 minutes to run back to the Embankment to meet our bus, which was to arrive at the meeting point at 19.15.  It was pouring so it was a rather brisk but wet walk.  I arrived at 19.20+ while the driver was already counting passengers.  30 seconds after I sat down, we drove off, and the London traffic delayed us quite a bit so that we missed the midnight ferry, but by then no one was in any hurry.  I napped without a problem, both in the bus and on the ferry and my head was clear by the time I got back behind the wheel in Breda and drove home.  Arrived at my front door at 05.20.  A cup of tea and then transferred my shots to the laptop and posted this.  How fast is that?

The extra is of the Shard, which I took just before boarding the train at London Bridge station.