South Downs Way - Eastbourne

I left Alfriston and started the final stage of my journey. I walked for about a mile (1.6km) beside Cuckmere River to the quiet village of Litlington. Pretty cottages and cottage gardens lined the narrow streets. A little out of town up on Hindover Hill was the Litlington White Horse, a chalk horse figure cut into the hillside in 1924. Cared for by the National Trust and regularly maintained with volunteers’ help, the horse measures 93ft (28m) long and 65ft (20m) high. An earlier cut from the 19th century existed on the same site, believed to have been done to commemorate Queen Victoria. The cut was fully covered by the early 1900s due to a lack of maintenance.

Southbound, I veered away from the river onto the clifftop to enjoy the lovely views of Cuckmere Haven. But as I inched towards the clifftop edge, I was met with the most beautiful sight - the chalky sea cliffs that this region is resoundingly known for. Referred to as the Seven Sisters, these series of cliffs on the English Channel coast are sea-eroded sections of the South Downs hills, and the dips in between are remnants of dry valleys. Each crest and dip has been individually named by locals. An eighth cliff is being created as a result of sea erosion.

The English Channel is the busiest shipping channel in the world, with shipwrecks across the centuries in the thousands. However, the most intriguing project I discovered was by the Maritime Archaeology Trust. Since 2019, the Trust has been researching and documenting the shipwrecks from World War I. They have mapped over 1,000 sunken ships off the English Channel coast. Many of them are fragile and extensively deteriorated. The Trust’s aim is to turn attention to these lesser-known wrecks and tell their story before they disappear.

One such story is of the wrecks HMS Nubian and HMS Zulu. Nubian was struck by a torpedo, blowing off its front section, but the rear remained afloat. On the other hand, Zulu had its rear blown off by a mine. Both were towed to the Chatham dockyard, where the two ships were joined together to make an entirely new one. With the names also joined, the new ship was launched as HMS Zubian.

Following the coastline, I climbed to Beachy Head, where the lonely red and white striped lighthouse stood in the shallow water below. The builders and construction materials had to be lowered from the clifftop by cableway to build the lighthouse. Erected in 1902, today, it is a popular visitor location and a terrific subject for keen photographers.

Arriving in Eastbourne, the east end of the South Downs Way, I was pleased to complete my walk in this seaside resort town. The shoreline was a beautiful mix of Victorian hotels, townhouses, and military fort. A 19th century pier was lined with entertainment venues and tea rooms. The pristine beach was a little chilly but a wonderful place to conclude my trip.

Cheerio.



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