Earth theme Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1:

Out and about on a particularly loose connection to the theme of Earth (land, soil, planet, geology..., anything we fancy really), we went to Hastings, motivated by the fact that the first thing F had thought of as an association with the theme was to go up the cliff on the funicular railway, having that feeling of travelling up through the strata and then standing on the cliff, where the land ends and drops away. I researched a few other theme-related possibilities in the area and we decided a few options we'd try.

So we headed off on the train. F had packed a 'surprise activity', which turned out to be chalk pastels (on-theme, chalk being very much part of the land around where we live) and paper for us to draw landscapes (on-theme!) with. So we did, doing views from the train window and landscapes associated with the theme, e.g. cliffs, different colours of ploughed fields, etc.

When we got to Hastings we headed down to the sea and then along to the West Cliff Railway - unfortunately East Cliff railway was closed for maintenance so we only went up the West Cliff one which gives less of that feeling of moving up through the strata. Nevertheless we enjoyed the Victorian engineering feel of it. 

At the top we paused for hot chocolate and chips and ate them outside on a terrace overlooking the cliff and beach and Old Town. We had a prolonged conversation with and about a seagull, who was very chatty, despite having a limited vocabulary of: 'Want!'; 'whatever' and 'OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!'. The gull occasionally took a few steps out of its designated corner but could be sent back with a few firm words. Good entertainment! We threw him our last chip, but he missed it. All talk.

We then went to Smugglers' Adventure, to be inside the cliff in the caves and tunnels. I've never been very interested in smugglers but this was excellent, actually and I learned a lot. Good interactive exhibits, particularly one called The Smugglers' Secrets, a series of little pictures that lit up when you pressed a button and then changed from a picture of an ordinary 17th or 18th century scene to a picture of the same scene showing where goods would have been hidden. Loads of other button-pressing things and lots of information, so F was quite happy with it. The best bit was the earlier years of the smuggling, which seemed very much one of those phenomena that you can appreciate the mischief of - huge import taxes to pay for wars, the population still wanting their tea and other goods, so a bit of rebellion and no harm done. But later it all turned sour and more violent, so we went through the later bits a bit faster.

Good, although we both felt we'd have liked more about the caves themselves and the chance to just be in a bit of tunnel or cave without the interactivity too. The last cave we visited had a section where all lights were turned off and you could take a moment to imagine living in the caves.

After that we took the funicular back down to beach level again and wandered a bit in the Old Town, discovering various incidental and interesting things such as the large outdoor chessboard at Butler's Gap which was a great find, as F has only recently got interested in chess, so she spent a few minutes being all the different pieces in turn and moving accordingly around the board.

 

It seemed to suddenly get too late to do Rock-a-Nore (geology, fossils) or the museum (ditto), so we went back to the station on very tired legs and headed home.

Day 2:

F and I were doing soil testing today, for Earth theme science, so we went out for a walk to get some soil samples from: Poo Lane (bridle path behind our house); Juggs Lane (chalky downland path up high on windy hill); the allotments and our garden.

On the way we managed to find a geocache that we missed last time we looked for it, which I felt disproportionately pleased about, so am probably on way to being geocaching addict now. 

Juggs Lane was freezing, the wind really whizzes across the top of the hill there, even the sheep were a bit giddy. We stopped to look at a windmill that is being reconstructed there.

Just as we were wondering about it, a man stopped and was able to answer our questions. He said that there had been a lot of public opposition and skepticism about the project, and the fear was that the people building it had only wanted to build themselves a nice house in a place where the only way they could get planning permission was via the windmill reconstruction angle. I hope that the skeptics are wrong, would love to see a 6-sailed windmill turning up there. It's a beautiful building anyway and was great to have a good chat with the man, who was quite knowledgeable and said that the site owners had also promised school parties would be able to visit, etc. It is also intended to generate electricity apparently. Intriguing, will keep an eye on it! Talked a bit more with the man and then he went on ahead.

We hadn't done that walk for ages (long enough to build a windmill in fact, or else it was just not so noticeable before) so it was good, but very cold. We turned back and went down through the horses' field, crossed the footbridge and into the allotments. Who should we see there but the same windmill man and his wife, who then offered us the chance to get a soil sample from their allotment, so we popped in and did. 

After that we wandered home along the winter stream, where F couldn't resist a quick paddle.

Had a quick pop in the local shop and got potatoes for dinner and washing tablets. Then home to do the soil testing, starting with pH. All 4 samples seemed slightly alkaline (chalk I guess?), coming in at about pH 8. We have tests for N, P and K to do too, but leaving the soil in water overnight to settle for those.

 

Have found 2 pics I should have taken off phone to put on blog for the previous post: heart-shaped apple puff and mummy at Egyptian-themed Livewires