Day 55 - Saturday 6 April 2002 - Eastbourne to Cuckmere Haven

12 miles walked today

652.5 miles walked in total (average 11.86)

Today started off sunny, but very fresh and blustery.  I had a new walking partner today – Sue from work.  I was a bit concerned as I always feel responsible when anyone new walks with me – I want them to have a good day.  I knew that we had a tough day as we were walking the Seven Sisters and it would be hard going with the wind buffeting us.  Luckily, though, Sue isn’t local to East Sussex so didn’t realise that we had seven hills to climb and I didn’t feel inclined to tell her.  Ignorance sometimes is most definitely bliss!

Our first climb was one of 534 feet to Beachy Head – this caused much laughter and gasping for breath as the wind carried us up to the top, where we had to stop for a breather and to find a little sheltered spot to sit and compose ourselves!

We could see the 142 feet high red and white striped lighthouse at the foot of the cliffs and decided that it looked like a “proper” lighthouse, as opposed to the Belle Tout lighthouse at the top of the cliffs a mile away.  This is the structure that was moved back from the cliff edge – a tremendous feat of engineering that featured in “Tomorrow’s World” a couple of years ago.  The whole thing was filmed over twenty-four hours and then speeded up to be shown in a half hour slot on national television on the very day it was moved.

I’ve grinned a lot today and declared the scenery to be fantastic every five minutes or so – luckily, Sue shared my enthusiasm and wasn’t so cheesed off at my cheeriness that she didn’t want to push me over the cliff.  It’s been so sunny and there hasn’t been a cloud in the sky as we scaled the Sisters, named Went Hill, Baily’s Hill, Flat Hill, Brass Point, Rough Brow, Short Brow and Haven Brow.  I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t have “girly” names as they were sisters – something like the women’s names in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers would have been excellent!

We stopped at the Birling Gap Hotel for a coffee and a spot of postcard buying before heading down to the beach for an hour’s lunch stop.  How very civilised.

We carried on for three hours after lunch through the Seven Sisters Country Park and through the Cuckmere Valley.  Although tempted to stop at the Golden Galleon pub, we pushed on out to Cuckmere Haven itself and to a spot where we had a view back on the cliffs that we’d walked – what an amazing and rewarding sight!  After a quick photo shoot, we walked back to the pub for a beer and a cider to celebrate, before heading back to get the bus to Eastbourne pier, where we’d left the car.

An absolutely brilliant day.  And Sue was impressed enough to say she’ll come again!

Day 54 – Saturday 16 March 2002 - Bexhill to Eastbourne

10.5 miles walked today

640.5 miles walked in total (average 11.86)

Sam and I left Epsom at 8.00 am and were ready to walk from the De La Warr Pavilion at 9.45 am.  The sun was shining and it was dry, although the weather forecast hadn’t been good.

From Bexhill, we were on the prom to Cooden Beach, a place I always wanted to live in when I was at Hastings, because the houses were so enormous!  From the beach side, we got to see the back gardens of these houses, one of which had a full size tennis court.

There’s obviously been some erosion along this stretch of coast and we could see a lot of concrete making its way into the gardens to shore things up.  One plant which seemed to have taken over was Hottentot’s Fig, a succulent with bright pink flowers.  (We didn’t identify the name though until looking it up when we got back to Sam’s this evening.)

From the Cooden Beach Hotel, we took the sea road beside the golf course and railway line.  Sam waved at a guardsman on a train just as it pulled into Cooden Beach station, so we had to hide in the shadows of the hotel until the train moved on, just in case they thought we were flagging it down!

A bit further along the road, we soon left the beach to head inland slightly and we had to wait at a level crossing.  Further around the bends, we waited at another level crossing to cross the same line – the tracks ran in dead straight lines, while the road curved. This second crossing was manned because the gates are permanently closed and are only opened on request.

Sam appeared to have let the sea air get to her as we sat on the sea wall for yet another snack break – muffins (cooked by Sam), hot cross buns and sandwiches were consumed on a very regular basis to try and keep the weight of the rucksacks down!  She was telling me a long involved story about Auntie June being cousin Edward’s godmother, but, for some reason – perhaps the sea air had got to me too – I thought she was talking about Sheila.  As Sheila is only a couple of years older than Ed, I thought this sounded fairly implausible.  At which point, Sam declared that, in that case, Sheila would have been his “god toddler”.  Too much fresh air, methinks!

From Norman’s Bay, we were on roads – albeit quiet roads – through the village to Pevensey.  We’ve seen loads of daffodils and primroses today and it certainly felt very springlike, with the warm sun shining on us.  Layers of clothing have been removed and reinstated all day!

As we neared Pevensey Castle, the over riding smell was of garlic – more likely from the Castle Inn, than anything the Normans left behind in 1066!

The road became a main road into Eastbourne, although we passed a lot of caravan parks just opening up for the season and three Martello towers.

Sam’s feet began to blister as we walked into Eastbourne and we had to stop a couple of times for emergency sock and first aid treatment.  When you’re desperate to get somewhere, it never seems to get any nearer and we were a bit fed up until we got back on the sea wall behind the Sovereign Leisure Centre, from where we could clearly see the pier.  We decided to stop there for a cup of tea, before deciding whether we could carry on to Birling Gap.

However, as we approached the pier, the rain came down and it seemed an ideal opportunity to stop and go shopping instead!