Piper Nuelle

This move to the sunny town of Eastbourne seems to be doing me a whole lotta good for exploring, seeing historical sights and enjoying a kind of travel writing phenomenon. I never thought my blog would end up with travel writing pieces intertwined within it. Not only have I made a great friend in another local author, but… I have been able to see and experience some truly awesome things… such as this… The Nao Victoria, a replica ship of the ship by the same name, which first sailed around the world and becoming famous for enduring such sea filled adventures of all time. The original ship left Seville in 1519 and sailed the seas reaching I believe as far as Japan and then returning home. It was actually one of a group of ships and is said to be the only ship to survive the three year expedition around the world to open up trade and spice routes.

The original crew endured many hardships along the three year journey, and some sailors lost their lives. The Nao Victoria replica ship was built to be exactly like its original predecessor and it also had a crew that decided to sail the same shipping route the original took and do it as the crew of the first expedition would have done. It could not have been an easy task to sail a ship as beautiful and as large as this without all the modern mod cons that boats and ships have today. Even today sailing can be treacherous if you hit storms or if someone falls ill etc, but the crew done it and are now touring it so other people can see it, feel it, and experience the ship in its full glory.

Me, my husband and our friends were very lucky to be able to go and see and experience this momentous piece of history that managed to wash up to our shores because after watching the local news I saw that people had come in their droves, hundreds if not thousands of people came to see it. The ship came to Eastbourne’s sovereign harbour and we managed to visit it on the first morning it had arrived. The ticket prices to go aboard and see it were not too steep, it cost £18 for both me and my husband to go aboard, so £9 each give or take a few pence because I think it was just over the £18 mark but I can’t remember the exact amount. But, for it to help to keep the maintenance of the ship and to pay the crew, I don’t think that is too steep and for a once in a life time experience it was well worth it.

Onboard the ship we were met with some displays of some of the old items that would have been used aboard the old original ship. We got to see the captains cabin and see the writing tools he would have used to document his findings on their travels, we saw the sleeping quarters below deck where there were small compartments which could have been beds, the black painted wood that seemed to keep the summers day heat in and maybe I guess work as a protection from the salty water of the sea and the salty sea air gave the ship an eerily old vibe, not like the white and polished plastic fibreglass we see everywhere today. We saw their eating compartment where barrels of food would have been stored, and if I’m honest it wasn’t actually that big, they must have had to make a lot of pit stops to re-fill their supplies. It was absolutely stunning to see and I’m so pleased we managed to experience it.

Of course with me being a writer I loved seeing all the old handwritten notes, the old style of writing is beautiful and I wish I could write like that, with the pretty swirls and gorgeous calligraphy. Seeing this ship as well was also fuel for a writing idea. I’d had an idea many moons ago about a person who was lost at sea and taken on by pirates, but modern day pirates and then sets sail to take revenge on the person who pushed her aboard, but as I didn’t know enough about the sea, ships and boats I felt unsure but kept my idea written in a notebook… Maybe seeing this might bring the idea back out to play and maybe… Just maybe I will write it… Especially seen as my late Grandad was a boat and ship enthusiast and would have loved to have seen this! Maybe writing a book about boats in his honour and memory would suffice for him missing out.

I know I have written this blog post a few weeks after seeing it, but I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to document all my travel writing as well here on my book blog, but I thought why the hell not, I don’t have time to do a dedicated travel writing blog alongside this one, plus I already pay for this one I don’t want to pay for more lol. But, my reasoning is this is my author blog, and these days out and experiences are my author-y goings on, and so I guess you can use it to keep up with what ever shenanigans I’m getting up to.

Hope you enjoyed it, and let me know, were you able to visit it and go and see it?

Xo Piper Xo