Day 60 (18th August 2022)

 My last day on the Germinal CCXXIV Road Trip. The day started with rain, but that was kind of matterless as I had some laundry to do and by the time I'd finished, the weather had improved. 

First stop of the day was above the town of Dover ... stop #139

STRAIT OF DOVER

So you have to look beyond the quay sides to get to the Strait. It is a very busy sea lane and I can't help but be full of admiration for anyone who undertakes this journey in anything less than a ferry. These people really do deserve our compassion and care, and the guts it must take to get in a boat and try to get across this most busy of sea lanes...

 I was really tempted to visit Dover Castle but when I read that most people who rated their visits there wished that they had had more than four hours.... 

No chance. One day I will definitely return, as from a distance it looks bloody stunning. Seriously.

I made my way along the coast quite happily until I encountered a young lad, I'd guess he was about 14. He was on a bicycle and he had right of way so I pulled up in front of the parked cars on my side of the road.  He had at least 2 metres of space to get through, but he stopped in the middle of the road and stood his ground. I didn't quite understand why he had stopped, and after a few seconds, I moved a little bit forward, lowered my drivers side window and motioned him forwards. He then demanded that I reverse. I said to him that he had a huge amount of room to get through, but he started shouting at me that the rules had changed (as if I didn't know) and that I had to reverse. Unfortunately I now had traffic behind me and to be totally honest he had enough room to let a double decker bus through, but he wasn't having any of it. I hate situations like this where I know what the rules are, but he was trying to prove a point that I knew I was wasn't breaking.  I tried reasoning with him but it got to the point where he started swearing and giving me rude gestures. I kept my calm, although I did call him juvenile at one point, because he really was behaving like a petulant child. Other cars started beeping their horns, and eventually he gave way, but the whole experience really upset me, partly because, being a cyclist I am well aware of the law regarding space between cars and bicycles. I really wanted to talk to him about his attitude and that if he tried that sort of behaviour with less civilised drivers, he may well end up getting punched. I stopped shortly afterwards and rang Guy as I was really quite upset by the whole thing.

I decided to decompress by visiting the Turner Contemporary art gallery in Ramsgate. 

 

My next stop was my latest Carrion 7" acquisition... stop #140 

RECULVER

Prior to buying this particular 7", I'd never heard of Reculver before. Turns out it was first a Roman Fort before a Saxon church was built there, and then another church was built.  But with the increasingly destructive tide, the church was abandoned and demolished leaving only the towers as a navigational aid remaining. 

Very impressive. 

My next stop was also pretty impressive in a funny kind of way. The land I drove through was seriously industrial, full of concrete and pylons and barron land before arriving at a coast line that really does look pretty grim. Stop #141

ISLE OF GRAIN 

This part of the country is so ... I don't know  ... weird. There are acres and acres of empty  land and in between there are acres of land covered in huge industrial oil related stuff. Way beyond the comprehension of people like me.

I decided I needed to get back to old stuff, things like ancient cathedrals for example, and on my way there was one that I had never visited before. Rochester Cathedral. What a delight. 

Once again  I was thrawted in trying to reveal their misericords. I have a plan to sort my misericord problem out - it will involve my friend Caroline and her husband Charles... not that they know this yet, but there must be some way of getting access to the country's amazing selection of medieval treasure of misericords. 

I only had one more stop to make. It wasn't a Germinal CCXXIV place but a place mentioned in one of Sea Powers most loved songs...

my final stop #142

ROTHERHITHE 

From Scapa Flow to Rotherhithe... well, yes, I've done that journey and more. I was feeling really quite weepy at this point, but I was also desperate to get home. Although the sat-nav said 30 minutes, after 30 minutes I'd only moved less than a mile. Today London was hit by another rail strike (UP THE WORKERS!) and traffic was pretty  much at a walking pace. It was so weird, to be so close to home and yet so far after all this time.

I got home in the end, of course.

What can I say, words fail me right now.

I have had the most amazing experience and I owe it all to a band that was recommended to me by someone I only know as "Ollie" in the summer of 2003 - He said they were the best indie guitar band in Britain right now. I bought their album and fell in love with them straight away. I saw them supporting The Strokes at Ally Pally and decided there and then that I would never miss the opportunity to see them live if they were in my neck of the woods.

It took me years to pluck up the courage to speak to fans I saw again and again at gigs. During 2006 my partner Bernie was dying of a brain tumour so despite buying tickets for all their gigs (including the first EotR festival) it wasn't until a few years later that I finally started to make friends amongst the most amazing and lovely people that make up the Sea Power fanbase. You know who you are, and you are the most special fantastic bunch of humans I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

You have been so supportive and caring, and I couldn't have done this journey without knowing that there are a lot of people out there that totally get what I'm doing. 

To the band - I thank you so much for giving me the inspiration for this crazy trip. It has been one of the most incredible times of my entire life, and I really can't thank you enough.

To the people who have followed my blog, cheers and I hope we can catch up very soon, be it at Krankenfest or at future Sea Power gigs - hopefully I will be at all of them!

Finally I have to thank Guy so much, who has put up with my infatuation of this band, and my incessant talk of the Germinal CCXXIV Road Trip since 2016. He has been an absolute Saint and many times, well, seriously "grounds for divorce" springs to mind, although those bastards stole the Mercury Prize off Sea Power in 2008.

I'm so emotional right now.

I love you lot! Bring on Krankenfest, I can't fucking wait!!!!

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out for the last time.

Day 59 (17th August 2022)

 I have just finished late lunch / early supper at my last campsite on this most wonderful Germinal CCXXIV Road Trip. As I sat down to start this there was the most impressive rumble of thunder so I suspect I'll have to take cover before I'm finished.

Thanks again to Rachel & Ashook for hosting me and the Alphard for the last two nights. Their life is super stressful at the moment so I am exceedingly grateful to them for fitting me in.

I headed back to Bexhill-on-Sea for one last try at getting a half decent picture of stop #135

ROYAL SOVEREIGN 

OK , so I know it looks like a row of beach huts (which it obviously is) but there is a tiny speck on the horizon between the second and forth huts in the right of the picture...

My sister had been trying to get a last minute boat trip out to sea, even volunteering to come with me despite suffering from truly appalling seasickness, but the cost would be the same as a weeks all inclusive to Lloret de Mar so much like my Bishop's Rock  effort, I had to settle for a distance shot. What is particularly annoying is that I timed this trip so I would be here in August, which was when there always used to be two busy boat trips, one that took you to Beachy Head and the other out to the Royal Sovereign. You can only try your best.

Having already confused people with my picture of the Saxon Shore Way yesterday (where I put the word 'finish' in brakets referring to the path from where it starts to where it ends) I bypassed Hastings and headed in the gloom to stop #136

DUNGENESS 

Now I wanted to take the pic from the top of this impressive beast of a lighthouse, but they now ban any type of backpack, and I didn't want to have both hands full walking up a zillion stairs so instead I stood outside. I also managed to leave my black marker pen behind.

I could have taken a train journey to the next destination which I have written on the back of one of my 7" Carrion copies ... stop #137

ST.MARY'S BAY

but I didn't know how much time it would take to go there and back again to collect the Alphard, and the weather really was starting to look decidedly gray.

Next stop on the Germinal CCXXIV trail was another place that is owned by the MOD and is therefore out of bounds to the likes of me. Stop #138

DYMCHURCH REDOUBT

I could have got a lot closer to be honest but as I was approaching the old Napoleonic Fort, I heard gunfire. A lot of gunfire. I'm so used to seeing those red flags (Donna Nook, for example) but this is the first time in my entire life I've actually heard guns being used. I knew I wasn't in any danger per say, but I suspect someone had already clocked me walking around with my phone on a stick!

Well, that was pretty much it for the penultimate day of Germinal CCXXIV wanderings. As predicted earlier, rain is now falling so I have retreated into the Alphard with a glass of Prosecco to celebrate my last night away from home. 

A demain for the very last Germinal CCXXIV Road Trip day!

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out 

Day 58 (16th August 2022)

 Bit of a shorter entry today. Had a bit of a lay in (aka hangover) this morning after a late night catching up with Rachel & Ash.

I started the day sorting out the Alphard which to be honest was in a bit of a tip so that took a while. We had about 45 seconds of rain but all that did was increase the humidity so even though the temperature was a few degrees lower than of late, it still felt oppressively muggy.

Headed out to the far side of Hastings for stop #134

SAXON SHORE WAY (FINISH)

Apparently this is the end of the Saxon Shore Way, not that there is any sign post, information board or anything really. I got all my info online so I can only assume I was in the right place. This part of Hastings is the old town with loads of old black fishing huts. Also loads of people selling fish, so I supplemented my fruit-filled packed lunch with some cockles. 

Yum.

I was still unable to get a photograph of the other Germinal CCXXIV place around this neck of the woods. Drove back into Bexhill-on-Sea to see if it was any better there, in fact it was worse. But there was a pop-up record shop in the De La Warr Pavilion so I bagged a couple of reasonably priced albums by Sam Amidon and King's of Convenience. 

I then headed in land to one of the most delightful and beautiful ruined castles in East Sussex - Bodium

Came back via the coast. No good. Hopeless in fact. And then when I checked my messages, discovered that I'd been issued a speeding ticket from Dorset police. My first ever speeding ticket at 57. Oops.

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out 

Day 57 (15th August 2022)

 As my sister was up even earlier than I ever had to get up for an early shift, I thought I'd do the same and was out the flat by 7am. My first stop was another cliff edge so brace yourself for another scary edgy pic  - stop #130

BEACHY HEAD

Obviously Beachy Head is the cliff directly on top of the lighthouse. I'm at the point where many people who don't know the area very well throw themselves off which is unfortunate as there are quite a few ledges up to about 20 feet down. In my last few weeks as an ODA (Operating Department Assistant) at Eastbourne District General Hospital, we had a young man who jumped here and slammed into one of the ledges and survived, albeit with terrible injuries.

I had a little think about two people I knew who jumped, one a patient on one of the wards I worked as a student psychiatric nurse, the other one was Louis who jumped after a man broke his heart. Rest in peace.

Anyway, enough of suicide for which Beachy Head is probably most notoriously famous for. There was a sleeping pigeon right next to my while I was getting ready. It was tempting to pick them up and see if they were tagged but I resisted on the grounds of possible bird-flu. You can't be too careful these days.

I took the zigzag road to the top of Meads / start of the South Downs Way. So many memories here, I went to school for a while and had some of the worst times of my childhood. Somewhat gladly, I felt very little as I drove past. The road to my next stop was closed off - something to do with the upcoming annual airshow they have in Eastbourne. I was also a bit distracted by the Ferris wheel. It is huge. Anyway, parked a little further away than I planned to for stop #131

THE WISH TOWER

I have never been inside this particular Martello Tower despite those years spent either at school or living here. I also don't know why it has the name it has. It is also known as Tower 73, and that's much easier to work out why.

They have changed the garden around the tower to a peace garden dedicated to all the civilians who were killed by bombs dropped on Eastbourne during WWII, so I was frankly horrified to see a brass frame with the name of the headmaster of the school I went to on a plaque. This is a man who favoured the strong and assertive child over the meek and shy, and as a result the culture of bullying was pretty rife. I had a brief thought of vandalism but then just walked away. Shame that any feeling of peace vanished so suddenly when I saw it.

I really couldn't see my next intended Germinal CCXXIV place so instead drove across the town to my next stop #132

FORT FUN

Fort no fun. It has closed its gates and the rides are falling apart with weeds everywhere. 

Weird, this, because the last time I parked around here a few years ago, Fort Fun was in full swung, and the smaller, older kids theme park (Treasure Island) looked closed and dilapidated. There has been a reversal of fortunes it seems.

I'd had quite enough of Eastbourne by now, so headed up the coast to stop #133

PEVENSEY BAY

Famous of course as it is where William landed his invasion fleet on the 28th September 1066. Although this sweeping bay that runs from Langney Point to Bexhill-on-Sea looks pretty awesome and I can just picture 700 ships off-loading thousands of men and horses, the sea shore looked nothing like this back then. There was a natural harbour (like a mini Poole harbour) where the ships were far more sheltered.

I learnt most of this from my next stop which was Pevensey Castle, yet another place I'd only driven past all those years spent living around here! 

There was a lot more to it than I was expecting. For all those years, I thought it was just made up of a perimeter wall with big chunks missing. I had a lovely time walking around and I certainly learnt a thing or two.

It was impossible for me to not visit the Church at Westham which lies just beyond the perimeter, and which just manages to retain some of its Norman origins.

As it always seem to do, one visit to a church invites another, and there is a ruin of one near to my friends Rachel and Ashook who live on the outermost regions of the lovely Bexhill-on-Sea. We rented a house in Bexhill-on-Sea for a couple of months between stints of living in Zambia and The Gambia, but in those days the De La Warr pavilion was closed and unloved, and 70% of the population were retired. In fact, one day in the mid 1980s, Melvyn and I were hanging out and play-fighting in one of the parks one hot summers day, only for a woman who was probably closer to her 90s than 70s came up to us, wagging her index finger and shouting "You'll get thrown out of Bexhill if you don't behave!". I just stood open mouthed (well and truly gobsmacked, you could say - oh the shame of being banished from Bexhill) but Melvyn said a few choice rude words which had her walking backwards and repeating her dire warning. It became our go-to phrase whenever we visited.

Jeeze, where was I? Oh yes, my next visit was to Battle Abbey.

Another glorious ruin not ruined by the fact that practically nothing of the Abbey itself remains. The vaults under the dormitory block are spectacular and worth the price of the admission alone. The hill to the south, where the Battle of Hastings took place looks so peaceful today, it's hard to imagine the horrible carnage that took place then. I knew roughly what had happened having seen the disturbing scenes on the Bayeux Tapestry, but trying to envisage it on the field in front of me was impossible. 

It was high time to get myself over to Bexhill. I promise to behave this time.

Allons-y 

Douglas Germinal CCXXIV Brain over and out