A Summer Coastal Classic Eastbourne to Seaford
Book 2 Walk 28 (in reverse): Eastbourne to Seaford t=2.28
The long range weather looks good, the tides look good....so why not? Kick-off the summer swimming season in style....
Distance: 13.6 Miles or 21.9 km for those more metrically minded (with a shorter 10 mile option available by catching a bus at Exceat)
Difficulty: 9 out of 10
Train: Take the 9:46 AM train from London Victoria (stopping at East Croydon at 10:02), arriving at Eastbourne at 11:15. Return trains from Seaford are at 29 and 59 (faster) past the hour until 22:29. Buy a day return to Eastbourne.
This is a challenging coastal classic with lots of ups and downs but can be shorten to about 10 miles by catching a bus at Exceat to Seaford. High tide will be mid/late-afternoon – so there should be good swimming at both Birling Gap and Cuckmere Haven. You can find more information about the walk and download the walk instructions and map here. For instructions from Eastbourne station to Beachy Head, please also see the instructions for SWC 60.
The recommended lunch spot is the National Trust Café (offering light fare) or a picnic at Birling Gap with afternoon refreshments at the Cuckmere Inn in Cuckmere Haven.
The lovely bar on Seaford station is always a pleasurable way to end a nice walk by the sea!
Enjoy the walk (and swims)!
1 comment:
I think there were 12 of us at Eastbourne station and we were later joined by one who had started at East Dean to fit in some extra butterfly spotting: so #13. It was a day of #full-on-sun-but-strong-wind which we were walking against all day, making the walk extra strenuous.
I'm afraid I can't give a full account as we got quite spread out very soon, with different routes taken on to the downs, and two not seen by the the group I was with after the outskirts of Eastbourne. I thought we would regroup at Birling Gap, and indeed about seven of us who stopped for a picnic there did.
The waves looked much too big to swim there, but we had high hopes for Cuckmere Haven. Five of us stopped on the beach there, with another going for tea at the visitor centre. By the time we got there the waves looked bigger but the walk poster bravely ventured in, encouraging one other to follow at the scond attempt. Two more paddled. Meanwhile a big surprise on the beach was the presence of a herd of ponies. As we left the beach they galloped through a gate into the next field. A phone call to a number on the gate established that they should have been on the other side, but “people are always leaving the gate open” and they would be herded back to the correct place next day.
One had departed for Seaford by this time leaving four of us to enjoy a well-earned tea or stronger fare in the gsrden of the Cuckmere Inn (which took ages to order – the staff were not the nation's finest). Refershed, we carried on, discussing the view behind and trying to work out which bumps were the actual Seven Sisters. Fish and chips in Seaford, a couple of swift halves before the 1959, more refreshments for the train, and we were pleased to get a table together for a convivial trip home: a grand day out.
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