Date: August 16, 2014
Location: Sussex, England
The South Downs Way is a UK National Trail, a 100 mile public footpath that makes its way along the southern coast of England, and traverses some incredibly picturesque stretches along dramatic chalk cliffs. On this footpath, I walked from Beachy Head to Birling Gap and thence atop the Seven Sisters to Cuckmere Haven, from where I walked inland towards the Seven Sisters County Park Visitor Centre. This is a classic coastal walk, encompassing great natural beauty in a 7 mile stretch, and one that I would love to repeat some day.
The trip was easy to do via public transportation. I caught a train from Victoria to Eastbourne at around a quarter past eight in the morning and was in Eastbourne around quarter to ten. I intended to catch the 13X bus to Beachy Head (which runs on summer weekends); the first one being at 10:30 a.m., I whiled away the time by briskly walking down to the seafront, past the stores of the Arndale Center and various Saturday Market stalls, and then back. It is a 15-20 min ride to Beachy Head, and from the upper level of the bus, one gets an excellent view of the surroundings. From Beachy Head, I started my walk. The SDW is not clearly marked at that point, but that does not pose an issue since one simply has to follow the seafront. Further down, one does come across trail markers.
It was a gorgeous day, sunny but cool due to the wind (which became quite gusty as the morning progressed). The next four hours will count as amongst my most memorable walks...incredibly scenic, and with such a wonderful juxtaposition of colors, as I made my way to Birling Gap (where I briefly went down to the beach) and thence over the Seven Sisters to Cuckmere Haven. Here I headed inland towards the Park Centre, where I caught a 12X bus to Brighton.
P.S. (August 30, 2014): While reading Part IV of Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, a book I had been midway through when I did this walk without knowing it referenced this stretch of coast, I came across a description of a walk in which he passes through Cuckmere Haven and which I cannot resist partially quoting here:
"An hour before dusk I stood on the summit of a small chalk bluff, from which I looked down onto Cuckmere Haven, the point at which the river reaches the Channel. It is a wide bay of flint shingle with a shallowly sloping foreshore, formerly guarded by slumping pillboxes. Coastguard cottages perch on the high ground to its west, and to its east the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters are strung out like a line of washed and pegged sheets.
......for a hundred feet away from the shore, the water was the colour of greeny milk. The water had sluiced chalk from the foreshore and cliffs, and the sea was holding the particles in a glaucous and letterless suspension.
I walked down onto the shore and along the tideline, which was cobbled with flint boulders....
...I looked out over the channel, over the dissolving margin of chalk in the waves. The white ribbon of the path, the snow-white of the flints, the blinding white of the egrets."
P.P.S. (August 31, 2014): I was glancing over my copy of Paul Theroux's The Kingdom by the Sea and checked if he had walked the stretch of the Seven Sisters. He had...starting from Birling Gap and turning inland at Cuckmere Haven as I did, but he crossed the bridge and went on to Peacehaven where he caught a bus. Disappointingly, he does not say much about this segment beyond commenting on the crumbly nature of the cliffs, and the rabbits he sees (though he does call them "one of the most beautiful cliffs on the coast"), likely a reason why I had no recollection of having read this.
Location: Sussex, England
The South Downs Way is a UK National Trail, a 100 mile public footpath that makes its way along the southern coast of England, and traverses some incredibly picturesque stretches along dramatic chalk cliffs. On this footpath, I walked from Beachy Head to Birling Gap and thence atop the Seven Sisters to Cuckmere Haven, from where I walked inland towards the Seven Sisters County Park Visitor Centre. This is a classic coastal walk, encompassing great natural beauty in a 7 mile stretch, and one that I would love to repeat some day.
The trip was easy to do via public transportation. I caught a train from Victoria to Eastbourne at around a quarter past eight in the morning and was in Eastbourne around quarter to ten. I intended to catch the 13X bus to Beachy Head (which runs on summer weekends); the first one being at 10:30 a.m., I whiled away the time by briskly walking down to the seafront, past the stores of the Arndale Center and various Saturday Market stalls, and then back. It is a 15-20 min ride to Beachy Head, and from the upper level of the bus, one gets an excellent view of the surroundings. From Beachy Head, I started my walk. The SDW is not clearly marked at that point, but that does not pose an issue since one simply has to follow the seafront. Further down, one does come across trail markers.
It was a gorgeous day, sunny but cool due to the wind (which became quite gusty as the morning progressed). The next four hours will count as amongst my most memorable walks...incredibly scenic, and with such a wonderful juxtaposition of colors, as I made my way to Birling Gap (where I briefly went down to the beach) and thence over the Seven Sisters to Cuckmere Haven. Here I headed inland towards the Park Centre, where I caught a 12X bus to Brighton.
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| Eastbourne as seen from Beachy Head |
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| WW2 Memorial at Beachy Head |
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| Beachy Head Lighthouse comes into view |
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| Dramatic view of jutting chalk cliffs with the lighthouse beyond |
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| Amidst the beauty, there is sadness for many: Beachy Head is known for the many suicides that occur here. Remembrances left by family/friends can be seen here. |
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| Close-up of a cliff face |
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| Close-up of the lighthouse |
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| Sweeping panorama |
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| Grass swaying in the wind |
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| Approaching Tout's: a place selling snacks |
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| A marker for the South Downs Way |
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| Descent into Birling Gap; Seven Sisters can be seen beyond |
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| Birling Gap |
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| Beach at Birling Gap and the Seven Sisters cliff faces |
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| Down at Birling Gap Beach |
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| Sign for Crowlink |
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| The undulating stretch over the Seven Sisters |
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| Looking back at Birling Gap |
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| Gate on the way |
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| Cuckmere Haven |
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| Mouth of the Cuckmere river at Cuckmere Haven; note the grazing sheep on the far meadows |
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| Oxbow lake formed by the meandering Cuckmere |
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| Looking across the Cuckmere |
P.S. (August 30, 2014): While reading Part IV of Robert Macfarlane's The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, a book I had been midway through when I did this walk without knowing it referenced this stretch of coast, I came across a description of a walk in which he passes through Cuckmere Haven and which I cannot resist partially quoting here:
"An hour before dusk I stood on the summit of a small chalk bluff, from which I looked down onto Cuckmere Haven, the point at which the river reaches the Channel. It is a wide bay of flint shingle with a shallowly sloping foreshore, formerly guarded by slumping pillboxes. Coastguard cottages perch on the high ground to its west, and to its east the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters are strung out like a line of washed and pegged sheets.
......for a hundred feet away from the shore, the water was the colour of greeny milk. The water had sluiced chalk from the foreshore and cliffs, and the sea was holding the particles in a glaucous and letterless suspension.
I walked down onto the shore and along the tideline, which was cobbled with flint boulders....
...I looked out over the channel, over the dissolving margin of chalk in the waves. The white ribbon of the path, the snow-white of the flints, the blinding white of the egrets."
P.P.S. (August 31, 2014): I was glancing over my copy of Paul Theroux's The Kingdom by the Sea and checked if he had walked the stretch of the Seven Sisters. He had...starting from Birling Gap and turning inland at Cuckmere Haven as I did, but he crossed the bridge and went on to Peacehaven where he caught a bus. Disappointingly, he does not say much about this segment beyond commenting on the crumbly nature of the cliffs, and the rabbits he sees (though he does call them "one of the most beautiful cliffs on the coast"), likely a reason why I had no recollection of having read this.
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