The first week of August 2012 brought me
back to Havant, UK and Hayling Island.
Work brought me here two years ago and work brought me here again. The last time I was here for nearly two
weeks. The only free time I had then was
a weekend. Long days at the facility and
longer nights working at the hotel.
This time around the trip was much shorter
and far more relaxed. I ended up with a
free Monday and made my way into London.
Summer 2012 was an Olympic Summer and London was the host. I was unable to procure any tickets to
events, but I did have a good time taking a walking tour of Westminster.
I took the train into
London, which is not the cheapest. An all-day
pass from Havant to wherever was around $80. At the Waterloo station in
London I had to switch over to the underground to get to Piccadilly Circus
station. That was pretty interesting. Waterloo is a big station,
both national rail and the underground tube all come through Waterloo.
Something like 24 rail platforms and 6 underground. And it is
underground to be sure. Way underground. Twist and turn, go through
three different gates. But it's reasonably well signed. Like the saying goes when hiking the
mountains… route finding skills are necessary.
The idea was to walk from
Piccadilly to Hyde Park where there was an Olympic venue. I planned to just
poke around and obtain some souvenirs. Then, at 11:00 go on a free
walking tour of the royal buildings in Westminster (including my wife’s
favorite Big Ben). Right off the bat I had a problem. I had
neglected my camera at home. I was left
with my phone for pictures, but the camera app froze on my phone. I
pulled the battery, put it back in and found that the battery was almost
completely out of charge, despite having plugged it into the computer all last
night. Well, duh... the computer goes into sleep mode. When that
happens, the power to the USB ports goes off. I was asleep by 19:50 last
night and got up at 06:30. So... no power to the phone and no pictures of
London.
The next problem was that
the Olympic venue at Hyde Park did have a souvenir shop, completely on the
other side of the park. I'd never make it to the end of the park and back
in time. After the tour? Sure, if I hoofed it.
The tour was really worth the time. Free was a bit of a misnomer because
the guides are not paid. Therefore
donations are "appreciated." I had expected that and the
cost was really not much. An energetic 20 year old aspiring actress was
our guide. She clearly loved history, particularly of the royal family,
and was a great guide. The best was the story of Irishman Michael
Fagan. That is an excellent campfire story.
I was the oldest on the tour by 10 years. Most of the 14 people were
under 22. One woman from LA was 33, another from Albany NY was 28.
Everyone else was under 22. Half the group was from the US, with two guys
from Germany, three guys from different places in South America, two girls from
Canada (whom we lost about 3/4 through the tour. They were with us at
Trafalgar Square and then they weren't).
The tour took us past Buckingham palace where we saw a little bit of the
changing of the guard. There were far too many people to get a real view
of it, but saw some stuff. We walked past St James cathedral, Westminster
Palace (where Big Ben lives), Westminster Abbey. A brilliant tour.
The tour was supposed
to end about 13:45, but it went about an hour long. That was perfectly
OK, but made it impossible for me to get to the end of Hyde Park and back to a
station that would get me back to Havant with enough time to shower and get to
work. On the way back to the station I saw signs on a roadside
souvenir shop that said "London 2012." No Olympic stuff, at
all. That can only be sold that at the venues themselves. Souvenirs would have to wait until the
airport.
Rain threatened the whole day, but only a few sprinkles hit us. A
very nice day all in all with the temps around 74 for a high, partly
sunny. To see London, you'd need three days. One day for the royal
buildings, one day for old London (London bridge, Tower, etc.), and another for
museums.
Between walking and the undergrounds, things in London are closer than you
think. However you need to be willing to walk several miles in a day.
Tuesday was a work day, but I was back to
the hotel by 16:30. That still allowed
about 2 ½ hours of daylight. Naturally,
I went for a walk. The Langstone Hotel
is at the very North end of Hayling Island about 400m from the Hayling Island
bridge. The Island is about 6 miles long
and at the North end about 600m wide.
The island grows wider as the further South. At the North end is the Langstone Bridge
connecting the island to Havant. At the
Southwest end is a ferry to Portsmouth.
Two years ago I took the train to Portsmouth and then walked from the
Naval Shipyard to the ferry, up the entire length of Hayling Island to the
hotel. I figured that to be around 12
miles.
The estuary between Havant and Hayling
Island is tidal. At one time there was a
stone walking path through the middle, before there was a bridge. Some of the stone markers are still in
place. The walk to the bridge from the
hotel is along a very narrow footpath. A
shallow ditch covers most of the 1m between the path and road. Nothing covers the space between the footpath
and water. I really do enjoy the walk
back and forth to the facility. A good
way to start and end the work day.
Back to the walk. This was a short walk. I left the hotel without a rain jacket. Not the smartest thing to do while in the UK. Especially that day. The clouds were heavy and within 5 minutes
there was a drizzle. Within 15 minutes
there was a steady rain. I turned back. I would come back tomorrow.
Hayling Island has a few walking paths or
footpaths. These handfuls of paths take
you around and through the Island. The
North part of the Island is the Marina, hotel, and a Texaco. There really isn’t room for anything
else. The middle of the Island is farm
and pasture. The population is on the
South end of the Island. Though, like so
many places in the UK there really is not wilderness (except very very far North). The paths follow narrow roads and farm fields
for the most part. There is a more
established bike and walking path on the West side. More on that later.
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| Estuary outside hotel |
The sky threatened rain with dark, low,
gray clouds. The temperature was
somewhere around 60F. Actually, not a
very bad afternoon but I was glad to have remembered my rain jacket this time.
Northney Rd, at this point has no sidewalk
and each lane is wide enough to contain most of the body of the typical small
cars found in Europe. Straight is not a
word one would use for this narrow paved path.
Within 7 minutes I’d reached Northney
village, a smattering of houses along the East side of the road. Each was a small house with low stone walls
and front gardens. Their front view
across the road was horse pasture, replete with horses. One of the foot paths leaves the road just
before Northney and heads west along the fence line between two of those pastures. I stayed with the road, listening closely for
approaching traffic and making ready to step off into the bushes.
Most inhabitants of the homes had just
made their way from work and were busy moving from car to house or tending to
plants. I walked by without garnering so
much as a glance. I had to chuckle at
that practiced indifference. I nearly
always draw at least a look.
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| Approaching Northney |
 |
| Northney Farm |
Around two or three bends in the road a
small red barn comes into view with a vine covered sign declaring Northney
Farm. The farm is a garden market with
tea rooms and was unfortunately closed at the time or I would have stopped
by. The setup is very quaint with the
barn a mere three feet from the road.
Vines, flowering bushes, and white wood fencing separate the gardens and
grounds from the passing vehicles.
At 16:20 some light sprinkles welcomed me
to St Peter’s church. My trips to Europe
have made me very aware of the short history of the United States. We are proud of being able to claim letters
from relatives in the Civil War, but St Peter’s church was built in
1140AD. This church still operates as
one of the two churches on Hayling Island.
The grounds of the church are full of headstones, most of which have
been wiped clean of any engravings by centuries of wind and weather.
The path I was to choose today leaves the
road in the church yard. Actually, the
path left the road was back in Northney but I missed the turn and followed the
road. I was glad of that or I’d not have
seen Northney Farm and a little more of Hayling Island living. On the North and South side of the grounds
the trail walks through wooden gates and into fields. The South exit follows a foot path for 200m
and then joins a dirt farm road heading west.
The dirt road cuts a straight line through wheat fields turned a golden
brown with stalks at times as high as my shoulder.
Ten minutes of walking along this road,
listening to the litany of crows fighting over left overs, the farm road turns
right and heads south. At this point a
marker declares this to be the site of an old Roman temple. This was also the site of an Iron Age shrine
dating back to around 700BC. This site
is now recently cut wheat field populated by dozens of birds.
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| Site of Iron Age then Roman temple |
This is also a split point for the
footpath. One footpath continues to head
west along the field while the other turns south continuing to follow the farm
road. My original plan was to head down
the South path until it too turned west about 400m. As I walked down the path it became apparent
the turn was going to bring me right through a farm yard. In fact, it would bring me right between crop
storage buildings where four men were working with heavy equipment. I suppose that I would have been fine to have
walked right by with a smile and wave as this is an established and supported
walking path. Being from the US with the
dangers of walking on private property well entrenched, I turned around and
took the West path at the site of the old temple.
The path leaves the farm road immediately
and is simple a moderately used line of dirt skirting a ditch and field before becoming
a three foot wide space between barbed wire fence and bushes. A few minutes of walking in this corridor the
path goes over a fence and into a horse pasture. As I approached the horse pasture there was a
middle-aged couple with their two horses was just leaving on the other
side. A sign on the other side of the
pasture relates that this is a public field where people will bring run their
horses and dogs. I took care to
distinguish between the clumps of sodden dirt and biologically processed horse
food.
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| Footpath |
Having crossed the field I was now on a
residential street and pavement. The
short stretch of Northwood Ln ends at Havant Rd. The time now was 16:55 on a Wednesday and
commute hour was in full swing. A short
walk North on Havant Rd comes to a pedestrian cross-walk across the road. A sign for the Nature Preserve precedes the
cross-walk. If you miss the sign on the
East side of the road, take note to watch for a “Thirst-Aid” store on the West
side. The entry to the preserve follows
an alley between houses. Be sure to use
the button to activate the crossing light or you’ll have to wait a couple hours
to cross the road. The cars come from
both directions with no let-up.
The 200m long alley ends at gravel walk
way that skirts the shoreline.
Portsmouth is in full view across the bay.
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| View of Portsmouth from Hayling Island |
This gravel and dirt walk way is known as
Hayling Billy Trail and covers most of the distance from North to South along
the West shore. The entire area of the
trail is a seashore nature preserve. The
trail is well frequented by locals and tourists alike. Although not crowded there are nearly always
people within view or hearing.
The
sky quickly began to clear and the promised rain never came but for some
sprinkles in a graveyard.
The trail curves along the shoreline
through thickets, thistles and flowers.
A few side paths wind along willows that provide excellent meeting
places for teenagers. Brushing through a
stand of some kind of flowered stalk I walked square into a great dane and his
12 yr old master. The dog, as you might
imagines, met the shoulder height of his human counterpart.
The trail also travels by the old oyster
beds. Hayling Island had been, at one
time, a hub for salt and oysters. The
oyster beds are now part of a nationally protected wetlands as they are nesting
and migration site for some type of rare tern.
The oyster beds also played an important
role during WWII. Portsmouth has been an
important naval shipyard since the British deployed a navy. The Germans were quite keen on destroying
Portsmouth but never succeeded. One
small part in that lack of success was using Hayling Island as a decoy. The lights in Portsmouth would be turned off
and Hayling Island would be lit up like the larger Portsmouth would have
been. The oyster beds were lit such that
could pass for a ship yard. The Germans
were seldom fooled and very few bombs ever fell on Hayling Island. At the same time the Luftwaffe were confused enough
that they generally missed Portsmouth altogether.
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| Oyster beds... or Portsmouth Naval Shipyard? |
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| Hayling Billy Trail |
At 17:30 I reached the end of the trail
and took a seat on a stone bench for a few minutes to soak up what little
warmth the sun was providing. Now at the
North end of Hayling Island again the walk to the hotel was only 5 minutes.
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| End of Hayling Billy Trail / Langstone Bridge |
I never can say where work or pleasure
will take me, but I have had the opportunity to be on this little piece of
historic Europe twice now. The North side
of Hayling Island has a unique feel. In
that short bit of island there are wheat fields, horse pastures, farms, houses,
tidal shoreline, historic churches, and a takeout Chinese store with pretty
lousy orange chicken. If I should chance
to be here again I need to leave the North end to sleeping and explore the
South side of the island.
I need to pass along my sincere gratitude to my hosts at Lockheed Martin in Havant. Bob, Paul and the rest of team have been very friendly and helpful partners in both my visits. I very much hope to see you again whether for business of pleasure.
I need to pass along my sincere gratitude to my hosts at Lockheed Martin in Havant. Bob, Paul and the rest of team have been very friendly and helpful partners in both my visits. I very much hope to see you again whether for business of pleasure.
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