The day that I had been dreading…the day that I was convinced would be filled with rain and gales…dawned sunny and perfect.

Proving once again that I too often waste time thinking about possibilities and outcomes that mostly are never going to happen. Put another way? Somewhere there might be a lane named after me…

After inhaling a divine big fry-up that included Battle Bangers, we left the lovely Lilac Tree Lodge. The sodden garden flowers of the night before had been transformed and greeted the morning in full glory mode.

Naturally, we got lost within moments of starting out. This, as Martha would say, was a good thing.

Because, after that initial screw-up (which included a bit of a heart-thudding ascent back to the start of the trail) we paid strict attention to the signage and instructions found in Nick Brown’s book, The 1066 Country Walk.

It was certainly not the fault of his excellent descriptions, but rather our collective inability to pay attention to the obvious. These walks, as we’d discovered in Wales, are a wonderful puzzlement of locating the markers and reading the clues to find your way.

So, once we had ourselves back firmly in hand and paying proper attention, the morning’s walk went rather swimmingly. So much so, that we managed to meet Nick Brown within five minutes of the agreed upon time of noon, in a lane near Westfield. We had bashed off close to eight kilometres and had another seven or eight to go.

With Nick as our guide, we cruised through fields, over stiles and beside streams.

We checked into The Strand in Winchelsea, an inn that dates back to the 13th century…you know…just the usual amount of time for your average hotel. The Strand has a resident cat, aptly named Kitty Cat. He too, at 14-years, is rather old. But in spite of this curmudgeonly photo, was actually very affectionate and lovely.

The Strand had a multiplicity of signs advising us to “Mind Your Head”. They weren’t referring to my absentmindedness or aforementioned ‘dumb’ moments, but rather, they were a reminder that the doors and rafters might present a challenge for taller people like Mr. Kevin and myself (shown here as he entered our sumptuous room).

Today, after a gorgeous Strand breakfast, we hiked onward to Rye.

As we walked past the gorse, the fields of sheep and picked the last of the season’s blackberries, we agreed on two things:

1) We would recommend this 1066 Hastings walk to anyone; the landscape, the history, the inns, the people along the way – all add up to a stellar and very memorable route.

2) This walking trip has confirmed what we first discovered on our 300 km trek in Wales… one of our new favourite ways to travel is by walking into the landscape; to not only learn the area’s history but to slow down enough to truly savour the beauty.