9.24 train from Victoria (9.31 Clapham Junction, 9.42 East Croydon) to Lewes, arriving 10.28, changing there for the 10.45 to Berwick, arriving 10.56.
Buy a day return to Eastbourne (or possibly as a cheaper option Berwick, Sussex: see Getting Back below)
This walk starts on the flat, climbs up past the Long Man of Wilmington (a chalk figure) and over the top of the downs to the village of Jevington, where you will find the Eight Bells, your only pub lunch option (serving food to 3pm), since the Giant’s Rest in Wilmington has closed. (The Jevington Tea Gardens may or may not be open also.)
In the afternoon it is back onto the downs for an easy ridge walk to Friston. You can get directly onto a number 12 bus to Eastbourne here (the 9.4 mile version of the walk) or walk a short way down to East Dean (10.4 miles) for the Tiger Inn or Hiker’s Rest cafe.
Alternatively there is a recommended longer ending (13.3 miles), descending to Flagstaff Point, with lovely views of the Seven Sisters cliffs, to then walk over three of the Sisters to Birling Gap. A swim is possible here, if the sea state permits (high tide 4.21pm, and there is sufficient depth for 2.5 hours afterwards). The National Trust Cafe closes at 5pm. There are no buses from Birling Gap at this time of year, so you need to walk up to East Dean (1.5 miles) to get the bus.
Getting back: the number 12 bus goes every ten minutes or so (every half hour after 8pm or so - check on www.buses.co.uk) to both Seaford and Eastbourne. Eastbourne is a bit closer and has direct trains, but if you go to Seaford you could probably get away with a Berwick return, which should be cheaper than an Eastbourne one.
Trains back from Eastbourne are at 06 and 35 past till 22.06, and from Seaford at 26 and 54 past till 22.27, changing at Lewes
2 comments:
One thing about walks starting from Berwick is you have a generous 20 minutes plus to make the connection at Lewes, right? But this train dawdled and dawdled and it was touch and go. Six of us dashed across the bridge. One - unaware of the tight connection - went to the loo. She had a one hour wait in Lewes and still caught up with us mid morning: an Olympic performance.
We also acquired one traveller via Brighton and one from Eastbourne at Berwick, making n=9 happy campers in all. We set off in w=sunshine-but-it-clouded-up-later - though with some sunny periods.
On the top of the downs three went awry and some stopped for sandwiches, but most of us ended up at the Three Bells in Jevington for lunch. Here, in a bout of unnecessary complexity, you had to sit in different parts of the garden depending on if you were ordering from the barbecue menu or the bar menu. Table service was compulsory too (groan!). That said the barbecue food when it came was very tasty.
Though I say so myself (having created it), this is an underrated downland walk, with a gorgeous afternoon of lovely views. When we got to Friston, three of the group had already evaporated, but two did a short route to East Dean and four of us carried on down to Flagstaff Point, over three lovely Sisters (passing police and army dealing with “unexploded ordnance” at one point - what???) and down to Birling Gap. Here on a pleasantly wavy and slate-coloured sea, we had a very nice swim (water temperature still good) and then walked up to the Tiger Inn in East Dean to join the other two for a drink.
Six of us then went to the very friendly Thai restaurant in the former cargo shed at the station and got the 9.06 train suitably fortified with “supplies” and various grades of chocolate. Most preferred the 70%, but a minority (me) liked the 85%
90% for the real hard nuts
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