Grand Tour of England Day 19

We walked from our camp site into Rye to meet Chloe and Graham at the station. They had got the train from London to spend time with us.

We headed across the marshes towards Camber Castle then headed on to Winchelsea, one of the Cinque Ports, as is Rye. Now the sea has gone and they stand on steep hillocks surrounded by Romney Marsh. At Winchelsea we went to the old church to see the grave of Spike Milligan. It is a Celtic Cross and the inscription says “I told you I wasn’t well” in Irish Gaelic as it wasn’t allowed in English. We ate our lunch in his company then beat a retreat into the church as the rain started. We were so glad we went in as the windows were magnificent, designed by Douglas Strachan, who also did a war memorial at Edinburgh Castle and windows in Aberdeen. They were very Pre-Raphealite looking.

The church wasn’t on the map we had - Mr C had only printed off what he thought we’d need - so we got a bit lost coming out of the village. Then the short cut to get back on track took us down such a narrow busy road with high banking so we went round another way, adding a couple of miles.

The walk back was pleasant, through barley and grass along what was delightfully called the sewer path. We got back to Rye in time to have a cup of tea at the station before their train back.

After 9 miles I was eyeing up the Taxi rank. Mr C went to the shop to get me some tissues for my dripping nose by which time the taxis had gone. We went to get a bus but it wasn’t coming for 20 minutes so we walked the 1.5 miles back (uphill). I am aching but there’s tea to cook.

Almost 11 miles and 27,000 steps