Length: 23km (13m)
Toughness: 8 / 10
Transport: Take the 8:54 from London Victoria, change at Lewes for the 10:15 to Glynde, arriving at 10:21. Return trains from Seaford at xx:25 and xx:53.
A classic from book 1: From Glynde via Firle up onto the South Downs and then down to pretty Alfriston for lunch. Continue through the Cuckmere valley and then up to a magnificent viewpoint across Cuckmere Haven before descending to Exceat for early tea and finally walking along the cliffs into Seaford. I don't know if it is possible to swim at Cuckmere Haven since you will reach it at about low tide. Seaford might offer a better swimming option.
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Don't forget you can have tea at Litlington Tea Gardens, just slightly off the route when you get to Litlington village after Alfriston.
7 SWC regulars assembled at Lewes for the train to Glynde, and we took under our wing a solo walker from Canada who was armed with the instructions, making #8 on a #beautiful-sunny-day-with-an-occasional-cool-breeze.
After passing through Firle and admiring the plentiful orchids on the way up to Firle Beacon, we were in for a bit of a surprise as we started to see a long continuous line of people heading along the Downs. They were doing the "mighty hike" walk from Brighton to Eastbourne for Macmillan and there were literally thousands of them (somebody told us 2,000). We were immersed in a human river of green T-shirts all the way to Litlington. Three of us paused at the long barrow to have a snack and take stock. We regrouped at the green in Alfriston for a picnic lunch, then rejoined the stream of sponsored walkers for the walk along the river to Litlington. At that point five of us went for an early tea at the Litlington tea garden recommended by Sylvia, certainly a beautiful spot but maybe a bit early for the sumptuous cakes provided.
On to Exceat via the charming forest route, which was pronounced more hilly than the "High and Over" alternative. Great view of the horse though. One got the bus from Exceat having an evening engagement (as did one of the non-tea-drinkers I hear) and the rest proceeded along the river, with sponsored walkers still streaming along the opposite bank, to Cuckmere and then Seaford. We met our ace swimming and nature correspondent there, who reported that the sea was too wild (and indeed no-one was swimming) but he had seen some tortoiseshells. Five of us repaired to the excellent Steamworks which was quieter than usual, before getting various trains.
Although I've walked a lot on this route, it's the first time I've done the whole walk from Glynde to Seaford as described in book 1 so it was great to have done that especially on such a lovely day with great company.
Just beyond Alfriston six girls doing D of E gathered round something in the grass. “It is a bumble bee!” said one. Her friend then stamped on it. The young. All that effort we put into taking them on school trips to nature reserves to see “mini-beasts”. Biodiversity will be safe in their hands….
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