Train: Take the 9:54 AM Southern service from London Victoria (10:01 Clapham Junction and 10:10 East Croydon), arriving Lewes at 10:56. Return trains from Seaford are half hourly at 24 and 53 past the hour. Buy a day return to Seaford.
Distance: 13.9 miles/22.3 km with shorter options available -- see the walk notes.
Difficulty: 7 out of 10
This walk is mainly along ridges and offers superb downland views throughout with an excellent lunchtime pub. The beauty of this walk is that you can see the way ahead so direction finding is fairly easy. In addition to the fine views throughout, this walk offers the reward of a cooling dip in the sea when you arrive at the waterfront in Bishopstone. More information and the walk directions can be found here.
Lunch: The recommended lunch stop is the Ram Inn in West Firle 5.5 miles (9km) into the walk. Please call ahead as it is a popular place!
Tea: Various options in Seaford.....including the lovely pub on the station!
4 comments:
Another place to have lunch on this walk is the Steamworks pub in Glynde station. A month ago some of us had dinner here and were impressed with the food both in price and quality.
As the walk “maintainer” but not planning to travel south tomorrow, I’d be very grateful for any comments on my slightly amended walk directions. I need to do some updates in any case, including to reference the Glynde Steamworks, so feedback is particularly welcome from anyone who visits it.
You might think that with forecast of w=grey-cloud and possible rain, trains to the coast would not be busy. In fact it was like the last train out of Kyiv before the Russians arrived. Lots standing even at Clapham Junction. Walk posters note: there are no more quiet weekend days on trains to Lewes or Eastbourne.
12 of us somehow coalesced out of the maelstrom of eager-eyed youth at Lewes. Four others led by a known SWC walker also went past but made it clear they did not want to associate with us, so I am not counting them. We met a car driver up on the hill who didn’t spurn our company, so N=13 in all.
Up over the Mount Caburn massif in the murk. Car driver went the valley route and later reported seeing a clouded yellow. The rest of us stuck to the ridge as directed, where I lamented the lack of butterflies due to the cloud. The scenery was very fine, however, and my companions declared it “perfect walking weather”.
At Glynde many/most of us stopped at the Steamworks. They got a bit jittery after ten food orders, telling an unfortunate old lady (not in our group: we are not old!) that they would accept no more for 25 minutes. But the two of us still to order remonstrated and got our orders in. The kitchen staff needn’t have worried as they produced the delicious and competitively priced food with commendable speed.
Leaving the pub, we found the Trevor Arms on the other side of the station had also reopened. A quick glance inside revealed plenty of drinkers but only two people eating. No menus were displayed, however, and it had the air of a drinks-only pub.
Having eaten, there seemed no reason to walk to West Firle, so we did the direct short cut up onto the downs. This would have been grand for butterflies had the sun come out, but in fact it got gloomier with some drizzle. But as we walked across the heart of the downs the skies started to clear. Hopes of a swim rose. At one point there was a cornucopia of gorgeously juicy cherry plums. (It has been a brilliant summer for them…)
Approaching Bishopstone beach (which was amazingly empty, given the morning crowds on the train) we expected to find three other swimmers who we assumed were ahead of us, but they were not there. It was still sunny but cloud was encroaching from the west, so we dashed into the sea to enjoy a swim while it was still partly sunny. The waves were lively but not enough to be scary and there was a lovely silver trail to the south west. A strong current to the east meant one made no progress laterally along the beach, however.
After the swim we had tea at the yacht club. Annoyingly the skies now cleared to full sunshine. Over delicious cake we phoned the missing swimmers. They said they were just arriving and going for a swim further down the beach. We went to meet them and the mystery of how they came to be behind us was revealed. It turned out I had blithely led my companions over the downs on the Southease to Seaford route, while the others had followed the actual route for this walk, which was slightly more circuitous.
The second batch of swimmers had had a more lively swim, the waves now having got a bit bigger. I missed this crucial detail, however, and was hankering after a second swim now the sun was fully out. So when the other seven went to the pub by the church, I snuck back to the beach for a second go. This lasted just five minutes, as the waves were now quite menacing and one even knocked me over. Oh well, I am allowed one dumb swim per summer, I guess.
Back to the pub. Some of us then ordered fish and chips from Trawlers and others bought a bottle of wine, and we got the 19.54 train by the skin of our teeth. The train to Lewes was busy but the one to Victoria less so. We didn’t get a table but we got to sit together and annoy the rest of the carriage with our chatter.
A grand day out and thanks to the absent walk poster for the choice.
2 walkers, 1 frustrated by the queue for drinks in "Steamworks", went outside to eat sandwiches and joined another. After, what felt like an age, 1 went inside to see if people were ready to leave and reported that they were "almost" ready. So said 2 walkers set off, expecting others to catch up; this did not happen. Said walkers continued the full route, arriving just in time to catch the train from Seaford, in time to connect
with the (slightly delayed) 18.55 from Lewes to London Victoria.
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