Hi
Everyone!
Miles in the Legs training
is continuing.
Recent Rambles have included:
The Cuckoo Trail: An 11 miles surfaced route
which follows the former ‘Cuckoo Line’ railway track and stretches from
Polegate and on to Hailsham, Hellingly and Horam to end at Heathfield.
https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/media/1264/cuckoo_trail_leaflet.pdf
Devil’s Punchbowl and Waggoners
Wells:
FancyFreeWalks: a great website for
walks in the SouthEast
I was joined by Chris &
Tim.
Coffee
break with The Lads on the Hampshire – Surrey Border
And then there was Pier to
Pier: Brighton to Eastbourne.
www.carfreewalks.org/walks/893/a_pier_to_pier_walk_in_east_sussex
The day started with a quick visit to
TESCO in Western Road for the provisions for the picnic.
Good News: the Pork Pies are in… and
the Tomatoes (honestly!).
I was delighted to be joined once
again by Chris.
By 09.45 we were strolling down
Holland Road, heading for Hove Lawns and the sea.
Rambling with Ric Factoid: In 1651 Prince Charles ( the future
Charles II) was defeated at the Battle of Worcester. He fled - via Bristol
& Yeovil – towards Brighton.
Charles crossed the River Adur at
Bramber and wandered down from Devil’s Dyke and along Cromwell Road
(you see the connection already!) at the top end of the Sussex cricket ground.
Did he stop at The Palmeira before turning right into Holland Road?
He must have done,
surely?
Doubt that any of this can possibly
be true?
Let me show the OS map. The Ordnance
Survey never lies!
Chris & I were soon on the
promenade, passing the old, derelict West Pier.
West Pier in foreground,
Brighton Pier to the rear
At the Marina, we cut up the hill round the back of Roedean school, through Ovingdean and onto Rottingdean, where Kipling (Rudyard, not Mr.!) lived.
A quick coffee stop & then it was
off for the first big climb of the day: up to Ballsdean Farm and high up on
the downs to meet the South Downs Way for the run to Southease.
We had lunch by Saint Peter’s church,
one of only three churches in Sussex to have a round tower. All are
three are in the Ouse Valley and were built in the 12th Century.
We crossed the River Ouse and
then it was up & up again to the Downs and Firle Beacon, our highest
point of the day at 217 metres (712 feet).
Firle Beacon: looking
North East
Rambling with Ric Factoid: The Beacon is a Marilyn, being at
least 150 metres (492 feet) high. There are 175 Marilyns in England.
The name was coined as a punning
contrast to the designation Munro, used of a Scottish mountain with a
height of more than 3,000 feet (914 metres), which is homophonous with
(Marilyn) Monroe.
Daylight was ending as we reached
Alfriston at about 17.45.
We discovered that the Last Bus
from Alfriston is 16.30; we’d "just" missed it.
PlanB: Head to The George Inn to
order a taxi to Seaford & then the Coastliner bus back to Brighton!
Not that
long to wait for the taxi to arrive!
Rambling with Ric Factoid: In 1931 Eleanor Farjeon wrote the popular
hymn Morning Has Broken in Alfriston. The song was later
recorded by Cat Stevens in the 1970s.
The next morning we drove from
Brighton and parked the car at Exceat, from where we walked up the west
side on the River Cuckmere back to Alfriston and then back down the other
side – via West Dean – to Exceat.
We then followed the river down
towards its estuary.
Cuckmere
Haven
At the sea we turned uphill for one of the quintessential walks in England: the Seven Sisters - Cuckmere Haven to Birling Gap.
Great views the whole way.
Always a ready excuse to pause on the uphill
stretches of what is a very undulating 3 miles!!
Seven
Sisters: looking West
After lunch at Birling Gap it was uphill again
passing Belle Tout lighthouse for the climb up to Beachy Head, the
highest chalk cliff in England at 162 metres (531 feet) above sea level.
Looking
East to Belle Tout lighthouse & on to Beach Head
Rambling with Ric Factoid: The ashes of German social
scientist and philosopher
Friedrich Engel, one of the
fathers of communism, were scattered off the cliffs at Beachy Head into
the Channel, as he had requested.
Then it was gently downhill through
Holywell Park and the final mile or so along Grand Parade to Eastbourne
Pier; Journey’s End.
And, at the end of 34 miles over the
two days, some well-deserved Fish & Chips at Harry Ramsdens.
Rambling with Ric Factoid: Eastbourne has become the first
place in the country to boast a population with an average age of
more than 70.
FYI: In 2016 over 1 million people in
the UK will become Septuagenarians, the highest total ever.
My Thanks to Chris to his companionship on the walk.
And - especially - for keeping
up my morale on Day 2!
Pier to Pier: A Good Walk.
A reminder of the real physical test
that the Camino will be for me: 470 miles, averaging 14 miles for 34 days of
walking
And “encouragement” to keeping going
with the Miles in the Legs training.
And with trying to lose some weight.
Next Time:
·
How
did I come to ever hear of the Camino?
·
One
of my Objectives
Hope to see you soon!
Can’t wait for YOU to join me!!
Buen Camino, Ric the Rambler
Follow me on Twitter: @RamblingWithRic
Camino Thought
