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Hastings



Hastings is best known for the battle of 1066, where King Harold was killed with a long pointy stick to the eye by the invading Normans. This was the beginning of the reign of William the Conqueror.
Almost a thousand years later and Hastings is a tourist town with museums, a Ferris wheel and a funicular railway.  It is also a working fishing village. It is the last of its kind where fishing boat are kept on and launched from the beach. 
On a grey morning we spent a couple of hours walking through the boats, tractors and piles of fishing paraphernalia soaking in the smells and atmosphere. 
Boats are unloaded, then winched up the incline of the beach to the level ground past the high water mark. 
When it is time to fish again, the boats are returned to the water. Tractors are used to push them into the sea at high tide. The boats are fitted with metal skids that keep them upright when out of water. The skids also allow the boat to be pushed over the stony beach surface.

 Along the foreshore esplanade is a series of tall black huts that were once used to dry fishing nets. Today these huts are used to smoke fish and some contain shops selling the daily catch.


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