Paying Lip Service To The Sea, Old Town, Hastings

The beautiful weather returned today so we decided to venture to Hastings as we hadn't been in a while. The journey there was a bit of an adventure. The first half as far as Tenterden involved going through no less than seven sets of roadworks and left us frustrated and on the edge of a bit of road rage. However, for the second half we chose a different direction than normal to get to our destination and this worked out much more smoothly. We passed through the following wonderfully named villages - Winchelsea, Icklesham and two Guestlings, Thorn and Green.
By the time we arrived we were really thirsty so we headed to the Old Town and selected the Hasting Arms for our cold pints. It had a lovely courtyard out the back where we sat in the fresh air beneath a surreal metal sculpture of a piranha, part of which was made of old rusting tin cans!
The Old Town was so beautiful and atmospheric and unlike the rest of Hastings it was buzzing (being the middle of May many of the rides and entertainments along the seafront were still closed). There also seemed to be quite a big contingent of foreign students as well and as I was passing a bar with a pair of ruby red lips etched on its window I took the main image of them walking past in the reflection of the glass. I really loved they way they appeared silhouetted by the strong light. The first extra is another interpretation of the same place from a different viewpoint.
We then headed to the beach where the fishing vessels were pulled up onto the shingle and that's where I took the last extra of this gentleman sunbathing next to one of them which had the rather brilliant name of Conquest Diver!
We had an ace time in Hastings and both took a bucketload of images. We will definitely go back again soon. On the way back home we stopped off in Pluckley for a quick drink and to give my brother a bit of a rest from the driving.  A thoroughly enjoyable day was had.