Saturday Walk - Seaford to Glynde (a Book1 walk in reverse)

Length: 22.9 km (14.2 mi) 

Ascent/Descent: 403/397m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours 

Toughness: 6 out of 10 

 

Take the 09.24 Eastbourne train from Victoria (09.31 CJ, 09.40 EC), change Lewes (10.26/10.30), arrives Seaford 10.48. 

Return trains are on xx.15 (change Lewes) and xx.19 (change Polegate, much longer).  
Buy a Seaford return (this should be accepted for the Glynde to Lewes leg). 

 

Everyone's favourite walk in Book 1 apparently, as per the webpage, but only rarely posted… Now in reverse to finish at the re-opened Trevor Arms or at Steamworks on the platform in Glynde

 

Options:

-      Finish at Exceat for frequent buses to Seaford or Eastbourne (a very short walk indeed); 

-      Follow the road into Glynde, involving a (safe) crossing of the dual carriageway, cuts 800m; 

-      Finish in Lewes (adds 6 km and one ascent).

 

Here is the route description the ‘right way round’:

It starts with a South Downs Ridge walk. Lunch is in the picturesque village of Alfriston. After lunch there is Cuckmere Haven (a pretty river valley), and a coastal cliff walk into Seaford.

Near the start, the route goes through Firle Park and then follows the South Downs Way for much of the day, with marvellous views across the lush valleys to the north and down to the sea. There are three lovely villages to enjoy during the course of the day, all with open churches: West Firle, West Dean, and (the suggested lunch stop) the old smuggling village of Alfriston, which likes to call its church a cathedral. From Alfriston the route follows the riverbank through the Cuckmere Valley and through Friston Forest down to Exceat (pronounced Ex-Seat), an extinct village on the edge of the Seven Sisters Country Park, where there is a Visitors’ Centre and a tea room and a pub and a bus stop.

The Vanguard Way then leads through the Seaford Head Nature Reserve – hoopoe, bluethroat and wryneck have been seen here – to the beach at Cuckmere Haven. This is a good place to enjoy a front-stalls view of the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters. You follow the coastal path to Seaford, a seaside town with a long esplanade and reconstructed shingle beach.

 

Lunch: The George Inn, Poco restaurant & wine bar, The Star Inn, The Smugglers, Wingrove House in Alfriston (11.6 km/7.2 mi). Or The Plough & Harrow in Litlington a little earlier. 

Tea: The Trevor Arms and Steamworks in Glynde, plus a couple of cafés in Lewes Station when changing trains.

 

For walk directions, map, height profile, some photos, a video and gpx/kml files click here. T=1.31