1 Mile Miles walked since starting. . . After a scorching hot and manically busy day working in the visitor centre at Bedgebury I dash home, dive in the shower and we all head off to Brighton.. We drive to Hove, park up near a fish and chip shop and enjoy supper on the beach, we drop a couple of Pokémon Hunters near the pier before parking where we left off the walk several weeks ago. Nigel takes forever to get out of the car.. he then appears and says we have to go back as he's seen a famous person! I walked right past him and didn't [...]

4 Miles Miles walked since starting. . . Park up at the marina (oh no only four hours free parking with no allowance to pay for longer!) and take our while trying to find the exit out to the sea.. It's busy busy because of the beautiful weather.. We meander down the beach towards the pier.. After a while we come across a beached whale - oh no it's a naked man lying on the beach and the three men standing near him looking out to see are also hanging free! It's the Brighton nudist beach - a tiny area flanked with signs giving dirty old men [...]

9 miles Miles walked since starting. . . We’ve spent the night at The Blanch Hotel in Brighton – breakfast was a very nice scrambled egg and smoked salmon in the delightfully decorated basement restaurant. Drive along to Newhaven Fort and try to find the pathway to the cliff A lovely lady at the Fort reception directs us back past the recreation ground and through the little bungalow park. Aided by the local neighbourhood watch we finally find a footpath between the plastic flamingos and twee little fences to the cliff edge walk - what a relief. Leaving Newhaven behind we look back to the sweeping Seaford [...]

8 miles Miles walked since starting. . . Weather forecast checked. Cold for the time of year. Nigel and I wrap up warm, but ever the optimists, we depart for Cuckmere Haven in our open top motor. The car park at Exceat is on the east side of the meandering Cuckmere River, so our walk starts with a wander round the busy road to the far side of the river. It’s a twenty-minute stroll along the riverbank, thankfully this part of the river has been straightened, running perpendicular to the sea. The sea – despite the low grey cloud, the calm sea is oh so very blue [...]

9 miles Miles walked since starting . . . Back to the Martello Tower for the start of what is likely to be the biggest climb of our walk.  We stroll along the promenade – the seemingly never ending groynes stand like a row of dominoes towards Beachy Head.  This really is the sedate, quiet end of this sedate seaside town.  Time to commence our climb up the UK’s highest chalk sea cliff. The climb is definitely a lot steeper than I was expecting and there are more people around than I would have liked but the view from the top is so worthwhile.  There are several wooden [...]

12 miles Miles walked since starting . . . The De La Warr Pavilion is only a few steps behind us when the weather forecast is proved wrong; sunshine turns to rain and we are forced to take refreshments at the Sovereign Light Café – thankfully not for long. Today’s low tide doesn't materialise, therefore our walk continues along the newly landscaped promenade (much planting inspiration!), passed our family beach hut. It's an interesting and varied walk - as Bexhill peters out the railway borders the path to Normans Bay with glimpses into the Sussex countryside. The high tide caused by Storm Katie yesterday has left [...]

5 miles Miles walked since starting. . . On a stunning sunny afternoon in March a friend and I embark upon the short hop from St. Leonards to Bexhill.  We first pass by the demolished site of the Hastings and St. Leonards Bathing Pool – this massive lido was opened to public in 1933, but sadly was not a successful venture for Hastings Town Council.  It became a holiday camp but was later demolished. There are plentiful beach huts along this stretch of stony beach which runs alongside the railway line. As we near Bexhill, just passed the mini industrial estate at Glyne Gap there is [...]

2 miles Miles walked since starting. . . On an extremely sunny Mothers Day having dropped Kirsten at work we speed down the A21 towards Hastings – as this is just a short walk we decide to do it in both directions much to the delight of Victoria and Bryony.  Therefore we couldn’t commence the walk until we had kicked a stone along the beach from St. Leonards to The Old Town. As this was Hastings and we were passing The Dolphin chip shop we had to experience our first ‘Chips’ of this coastal walk and they didn’t disappoint. The ‘actual’ walk commenced on the harbour jetty – wow [...]

 12.5 miles Miles walked since starting. . . Mud Glorious Mud this walk certainly turns into! Our adventure commences in Hastings early in the morning where we park in the Old Town and meet Heather for a lift to Rye Harbour. Having wrapped up with lots of warm layers we set off on the long straight hard path alongside the beach through Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. The sun is trying very hard to break through the clouds and even brings us a slight rainbow. The first half of today’s meander along the coast is flat flat flat... The groins at Winchelsea Beach and Pett Level have always been [...]

4.5 miles Miles walked since starting. . . Only a few weeks after our long ramble on the shingle beach alongside the Lydd ranges I return with an unenthusiastic teenager to complete the stretch from Camber sands to Rye. As the sun was shining and my 40 year old VW beetle, Dougal, hadn’t ‘stretched his legs’ so to speak for many months we took him to Rye Railway Station and caught the bus to Camber. As we wandered along Camber Sands beach the sun was full of promise bringing out many ladies and gentlemen from their winter hibernation. Tourist beaches have such a different sense of place in [...]