Sussex Coastal Walk - Stage Five - Spectacular and Glorious
So this was the big one.
The stage of our walk that we have been looking forward to and, just a little bit anyway, secretly dreading. A walk over cliff tops so well known and so spectacular that we only need to say “Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters” for most people to know exactly what we are talking about.
And it was as good as we had hoped.
In many ways I should probably write less about this stage than the four that have preceded it as everyone knows so much about it.
We started nice and early once more, leaving the car at Cuckmere Haven, our planned end point, and took a bus through to Eastbourne. With the sun shining I felt able to again look out at the beautiful sea view as we started walking along the promenade and think of the Mediterranean. This has become a repetative but welcome theme to most of our stages to date.
The walk along the sea-front was beautiful until we came face-to-face with the climb up towards Beachy Head. We knew it would be steep but, wow!
There is steep and then there is this.
We had to laugh as we started the ascent and kept stopping every few minutes to take a look behind us. It was, of course, to take in the ever improving view rather than gasping for breath.
Once we had got over the initial climb we quickly got into our step. Beachy Head was actually not too far away and it felt a little strange to suddenly come across the place as we turned a corner on the footpath.
There is so much already written about the place and its sad and tragic history as well as the spectacular scenery. I noticed flowers left at various spots, often near the cliff edge, and it is almost impossible not to give some thought to what might have happened in the past. Whilst not really wanting to research this side of the place in too much detail, there are many people who head towards the top of the cliffs when they need help and I did see the Chaplaincy team out in their vehicle as we passed by.
The footpath along the top of the cliffs continued off into the distance and we got a great view of the climbs we had in store. We passed the Belle Tout lighthouse, made famous a few years ago when the whole place was moved away from the crumbling cliff edge. It was also the location for the well known BBC TV series “Life and Loves of a She Devil” .
We had to keep remembering to stop and look behind us. So many wonderful views would be missed without these tactics.
We took a break at Birling Gap, as the name suggests, a gap in the cliffs along this part of the coast. With a beach, of sorts, only a short climb down, it is clearly a popular place with visitors as the car parks were full.
Next came the gradual climb up to the Seven Sisters. Interestingly, every time we got a good view of the cliffs Ii was sure that there were eight rather than seven. It was challenging and repetitive but without doubt a beautiful place. I kept stopping to take photographs and then finding even better views at the top of the next climb. I did try to count the climbs and, perhaps surprisingly, still came up with eight!
There was an audible sigh of relief when we realised that we had completed the last climb. The view down onto the beach at Cuckmere Haven was stunning and we decided to stop a while and take it all in. With the sun shining there really was nothing to beat this view.
The steady walk down onto the Cuckmere flood plain was nice and easy, something that we appreciated, and it convinced us to reconsider our planned finishing point. Much as we had done on stage three, we both felt quite good and had plenty of time in hand so we decided to take on Seaford Head in addition to the big names already mentioned.
The track along the other side of the river was a little rough and also longer than we had expected. If I am being honest, both of us questioned the decision to continue as we found this the toughest part of the walk, even though it was pretty flat. However, the views when we reached the coast guard cottages and started to climb were wonderful. Whilst not as steep as the earlier hills, Seaford Head was beautiful and provided us with lots of new views. Unexpectedly, the descent into Seaford town was really steep and offered more wonderful views, this time of the very long beach and the entrance to Newhaven harbour. In fact, as we walked down we noticed one of the Newhaven to Dieppe ferries on its way into port.
The final part of the walk, along the Seaford promenade, was also a little longer than expected. But we found our way to the railway station and didn’t have to wait for too long before a bus took us back to the car.
Without doubt this was a really beautiful walk, made just a little bit better by the good weather. It will be difficult to follow this in so many ways. Interestingly, we compared this stage to the Hastings part of our challenge, stage two, from a few weeks before. As we chatted, we both agreed that, despite the reputation and the glorious views, it was Hastings that had been the tougher walk with the steeper climbs.
Stage 5 – Eastbourne Pier to Seaford Station
Date of walk - 20th July 2020
Distance walked 13.23 miles / 21.29 km
Floors climbed (using Apple Health app.) 99 floors
Ongoing totals 47.23 miles / 75.99 km / 246 floors
