ON THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY
In mid-September 2018, I spent a pleasant Saturday with my two grandsons walking the south coast of England. We took the train from London Victoria, then two buses to arrive at our starting-off point, the attractive ancient village of Alfriston (St Andrews Church has Saxon origins). The first part of our journey took us through pleasant pastoral scenes — beside the banks of the River Cuckmere, tiny villages and through attractive, shady forest — to arrive at the estuary of the River Cuckmere, near the Seven Sisters Visitors Centre.
For the second part of the journey we walked above the clifftops of The Seven Sisters (seven cliffs). These soaring chalk cliffs, the highest in Britain, rise up spectacularly from the English Channel and are breathtaking, as are the views out to sea. This must surely be one of the finest sections of coastline anywhere. At Birling Gap we refuelled with cups of hot chocolate, then set off on the last leg of our journey, passing two lighthouses at Belle Tout and Beachy Head to arrive at last light at Eastbourne.
A wonderful journey, highly recommended.
