This is the first episode we see Floki without any eyeliner
If the war was near Repton, then the distance is 153 miles to Winchester. Not the short distance the episode alludes to. The journey on horse and by foot would have taken over a week.
As Ecbert says goodbye to his family, he talks to his grandson, Albert, and tells him "To take care of your brother". The brother, Aethelstan, is older, and surely would have known his grandfather just as well if not better than Albert. Aethelstan is not even mentioned by name.