Eastbourne - Sussex England

We left our London hostel, caught the Tube and picked up our hire car at Marble Arch. 

Leaving YHA London

The trick was to get out of London on the ring route and head south to Eastbourne.  Again, Marilyn’s expert navigation got us onto the M25 and heading to the south coast without any trouble.  Marilyn loves maps, even navigating a shopping centre car park requires a topographical map.  I follow directions out of sheer curiosity.

A couple of hours later we reached the outskirts of the village of Eastbourne.  Little did we know it’s a city of 100,000 people;  a minor error on my part.  The next trick was to find the hostel and Marilyn without a map is a fish out of water.  After asking directions of the friendly locals and a few missed turns, we arrived at the Eastbourne YHA. 

View from YHA looking towards Eastbourne

A great little spot, but bunk beds and I was smartly ordered to the top bunk.  The hostel had a self- catering, commercial kitchen, so it was off to the local supermarket for supplies.  We then headed to one of the local pubs, the Lamb, built in the 1600’s, for a sustaining pub meal.  What a great little place, wooden beams, bric a brac from the past few centuries and friendly staff.

Phil - Seven Sisters walk

Lighthouse at Beachy Head

The next day it was an early breakfast and off to explore the beautiful Sussex countryside.  Our first hike was along the spectacular coastline of the South Downs Way, which is part of the South Downs National Park.  This stretches from Hampshire to the white, chalk cliffs of Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, a distance of 160 km.  It also includes 20 km of heritage coastline, the iconic cliffs of the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head.  Heading off from Beachy Head, we walked about 8 km to Birling Gap.  Not an overly strenuous walk, but a good test of the cardio.  Feeling a bit peckish, we walked another 2 km to the beautiful little village of East Dean and another great pub lunch at the 300 hundred years old Tiger Inn, a former drinking spot for smugglers and pirates, many were still at the bar. 

Village of East Dean and the Downs

After suitable sustenance, we asked a local lady about the bus timetable back to Beachy Head. She kindly drove us back to our car. 

A well earned wine

A sunny morning greeted us.  After breakfast we drove to the Seven Sisters Country park to start our trek.  We followed the Cuckmere River to the coast and walked the coastal cliffs known as the Seven Sisters to Birling Gap, about 12 km and of course another country pub meal at the Galleon Hotel.

Marilyn dodging the incoming tide and the Cuckmere River

Exhaustion

Chalk cliffs  - Beachy Head to Birling Gap

 It was then a short drive to the historic village of Alfriston and back to the hostel for a gourmet meal of packet soup.

Another sunny day and it was off to Friston Forest for more hiking.  This is a huge forest, perfect for walking, orienteering and horse riding.  We hiked for two hours (about 10 km), up hill and down dale without getting lost on the vast network of tracks. 

Friston Forest

The Forest Nymph

At the end of our trek, we headed to the little village of Jevington and the 400 years old, Eight Bells Pub and another great lunch. 

The Eight Bells Pub - Jevington

Later in the afternoon, we returned to Eastbourne and a walk along the very attractive seafront, however, not quite the attractive beaches as in Australia; pebbles of various sizes to challenge the hardy English beach goers.

Eastbourne Pier and beach

Icecreams by the seaside

The next day we farewelled Sussex and headed north to Lincoln.  We loved this part of southern England; the beautiful and rugged coastline and it’s ancient history of Celtic tribes, medieval villages and Norman Towns.  What particularly impressed us was the genuine warmth and hospitality of the locals, always ready to chat, particularly once they identified us as Australians.  One of our great experiences was to meet a local and his daughter with their Border Collie at the Tiger Pub and chat for a couple of hours.  They had been taking their dog for a walk and stopped off for a pint.  We also found that just about everyone we spoke to had been to Australia or had relations living there.

We drove toward London on the country roads, through Sussex and the garden county of Kent and then onto the London ring route, the M25.  England’s roads are always congested and the drivers not all that flash.  At 4.00 pm we arrived at the beautiful city of Lincoln and the Holiday Inn on the Brayford Wharf, a perfect location.