Sorry for the disappearance of this post for a time on Friday (or maybe also earlier). I do not know what happened: it just got deselected.
9.29 train from Victoria (9.36 Clapham Junction, 9.46 East Croydon) to Brighton, arriving 10.29, changing there for the 10.41 to Newhaven Town, arriving 11.12.
There are no trains to Newhaven via Lewes today due to an overtime ban by the National Union of Grinches (aka ASLEF). This also affects return trains: see below
Buy a day return to Newhaven Town, which is also valid for return from Brighton (ie, it goes through the ticket barriers there)
For more details of the walk click here. There is a GPX and map, but they are not really necessary: turn left on the main road from Newhaven Town station over the rail line, and follow the estuary around to the left, then up onto the headland and keep to the coast path.
I had a special request for a Brighton walk today (for reasons that will be clear to some of you...) and thought of this little outing, one of the least done walks in the SWC cannon. It is a much more scenic walk than it looks on the map, starting out with a walk over the little-visited (by non-locals, anyway) cliff tops of Newhaven Head.
After 2.8 miles you then hit Peacehaven, an inter-war suburb insensitively plonked on the cliff tops. But actually, the coastal path follows a grassy strip between the houses and the sea, and is not unattractive.
All this is weather dependent, of course. If the sun shines, it can be glorious - an airy walk above the glittering sea. By contrast, if it is wet and windy.... But once you are in Peacehaven there are regular coastal buses into Brighton and you can pretty much stop the walk wherever you like thereafter.
There are possible lunch pubs on the coast road in Peacehaven. The Peacehaven, 4 miles into the walk, is a carvery and pizza restaurant, as far as I can see. while the Telescombe Tavern in another half mile seems to have a fairly basic menu, though some positive reviews. Perhaps the best option, is the the Smuggler's Rest just beyond it, an efficient (if somewhat unsmiling) chain pub last time we visited.
Once you get to Saltdean, 5.6 miles into the walk, you can switch, if you wish, to the seafront promenade, which runs under the bottom of the cliffs past Rottingdean (6.3 miles) to Brighton Marina. Both Saltdean and Rottingdean have seafront cafes, though whether they are open in winter I do not know. If you get as far as the Marina, do take the route through its middle (see map or GPX), rather than just walking along the back. There are more refreshment options here, and again, you can get buses.
If you carry on beyond the Marina, you find yourself at the back of Brighton Beach and get to the Palace Pier in 10.8 miles. If you happen to get here just before dusk (ie at 3.30-3.40pm) you can witness the famous starling murmuration here, with up to 20,000 birds flying in formation before roosting.
Otherwise, if you do not have other commitments, the Mock Turtle Tea Rooms are recommended (Google them). It is a one mile walk from the pier to Brighton station through the North Laines, or there are regular buses.
Trains back from Brighton are not as frequent as usual due to the overtime ban, but still pretty frequent: 10 and 40 past to Victoria, and 25 and 54 to London Bridge up to 16.54, then 17.33 and 03 and 33 past.
*** Services will finish early today though: the LAST TRAINS are the 20.10 and 20.40 to Victoria. The last train to London Bridge is the 20.03.
Please check all the train data on the day, in case it changes at the last minute!
2 comments:
No trains to Newhaven due to flooding. If this train ever gets to Brighton, meet outside Marks & Spencer in station to discuss alternatives- eg doing walk in reverse or bus to Newhaven.
Just n=5 on this walk, a wet and windy weather forecast and awkward train service due to the ASLEF overtime ban probably not helping. Many who were attending the evening event it was posted to coincide with also decided to look around Brighton in the afternoon instead.
Those who got the posted train got stuck on the train just outside Brighton for ten to fifteen minutes and then found all Newhaven trains cancelled due to flooding at Falmer.
But we quickly regrouped (at least 5 of us did: if there were any others on the train we did not see them) and got a number 12 bus to Newhaven, which only got us there about 20 minutes late.
Off we set under grey cloud, though with the rain already cleared through. On cliffs it was certainly windy - enough to make conversation a bit difficult at times - but there was a wonderful wild seascape. And almost immediately the sun started to break through the clouds - initially as silver patches on the sea, then larger areas of blue sky. For the rest of the day it was w=windy-sun-and-cloud.
The cliff paths were a little slippery in places due to their overnight soaking, but otherwise conditions were easy underfoot. The green section at the start of the walk was longer than I remembered, and even when the houses of Peacehaven started to the right, there was a 100 metre wide strip of grassy cliff top.
It seemed a long stretch to the Smugglers Rest pub, but we got there at 1.35pm and had a nice welcome. It had an outside terrace overlooking the sea which would be nice in summer, though of course we ate inside. The food came quickly and was generally of good quality, though one of us was disappointed with his vegetable wrap.
After lunch one got the bus to meet up with his partner. Four of us walked on to Saltdean - after a visit to the rather odd Peacehaven beach (we had thought there would be a continuous sea level path but there was not, so we had to climb back onto the cliffs).
At Saltdean there finally was a sea level path and the choice was to carry on along that or take a bus to Brighton Pier to see the starling murmuration. The sun being out, continuing the walk won. We carried on to Rottingdean and had tea at Molly’s, the seafront cafe.
We then got the bus, and approaching the pier were surprised to see the starlings still flying. We dashed onto the pier to catch the murmuration diving under the pier to roost, and twittering away beneath the fish and chip restaurant as they prepared for bed.
One then got the train home, while four of us went to the evening event, finally catching a delayed 7.10 train back to London.
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