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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South Downs Way - Alfriston

Having left Pyecombe, I turned right at the golf club and a short way down, facing north, I could make out one of the Clayton Windmills. Both from the 19th century, they are affectionately known as Jack and Jill. Relocated from Brighton, Jill is a working mill with a double-storey roundhouse, whereas Jack is a five-storey tower mill that was converted into a private residence.

I crossed into East Sussex county a mile (1.6km) before Ditchling Beacon. The Beacon is the highest point on the Way in Sussex and is owned by the National Trust. As is the Blackcap Nature Preserve, where I took a sharp right turn and walked through fields and woods to the A27 highway.

Crossing the highway on an overhead bridge, I soon passed beneath a railway via an arched tunnel that opened to a wide grassy valley. Before my 80th mile (129km), I happened upon a wooden fingerpost marking the Meridian Line, demarcating the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Not far from here is the village of Rodmell, where Monk’s House, a 16th century weatherboard cottage, is known to have been the home of renowned author Virginia Woolf.

Swinging right, I walked through Southease and over River Ouse, one of five rivers in the UK with the same name. The name Ouse is derived from the Celtic word for water, making the literal translation as River Water. The Ouse in Sussex, with all its tributaries, runs over 140mi (225km) long and flows into the English Channel.

The trail traversed Ouse Valley, dotted with farms, woodland, and colourful wildflowers spread across the landscape. North of Firle Beacon is Charleston House, where Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf’s sister, resided and worked as a painter. It was here, along with Monk’s House, that the Bloomsbury Group - made up of artists, writers, and intellectuals - gathered to share their progressive thoughts and ideas.

Heading southeast, I arrived in Alfriston village. Its main street had a delightful collection of buildings, with the three local pubs as the most interesting. The oldest building, circa 1358, used to be a butcher’s shop in the 19th century and was owned by Stanton Collins, a legit butcher by day and smuggler by night. His shop was a convoluted maze of 21 rooms, 48 doors, and six staircases to hide the contraband. Smuggling was rife during Stanton’s times, and it was in the shop he and his gang planned a daring raid of a Dutch ship stranded in Cuckmere Bay. Sometime in 1831, Stanton was caught for stealing and promptly shipped off as a convict to Australia. According to records, he served his sentence and returned to England. Eventually, he migrated to New York, USA, where he lived out his remaining days.

Another significant building is the Star Inn. It was built in the 14th century as a religious hostel to accommodate monks and pilgrims on their way to Chichester Cathedral. Two centuries later, it was converted into an inn. Leaning against a wall outside is a red lion figurehead thought to have washed ashore from a wrecked ship and brought to Alfriston by smugglers, which could have been Stanton’s gang.

The third pub, the George Inn, was first licensed in 1397. Its half-timbered façade dates back even further to the mid-1200s. The Inn is known for the network of smugglers’ tunnels leading from the cellars.

Alfriston may be small, but its long history calls for a little more exploration before I move on.



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South Downs Way - Pyecombe

Walking uphill from Amberley, I followed the Way up on the ridge to Kithurst Hill, marking the halfway point of my journey. The trail dropped just before I crossed the busy highway and back up the hill to Chanctonbury Ring. A prehistoric hill fort topped with beech trees, Chanctonbury is famous for legendary tales. According to myth, one must walk around the Ring seven times backward on a dark, moonless night to summon the Devil, who will trade a bowl of milk or soup for one’s soul or wish. Spooky stories have been told where “thudding hooves of invisible horses can sometimes be heard,” or a ghostly lady on a white horse can be seen if the Ring is walked around three times. The tales have found their way into modern times, with UFO sightings recorded at the Ring.

As I approached Steyning Bowl, I passed by a memorial to local farmers, Mollie and Walter Langmead, ‘laid to rest on their cherished Downs.’ A bit further was a triangular cluster of trees called the Bramber Beeches. They were planted to commemorate the Sussex branch of the Women’s Institute diamond jubilee in 1979. The Institute is a century-old women only organisation focused on bringing women together and providing educational opportunities. Held in high regard, several British monarchs were members, including Queen Elizabeth II, her mother, grandmother, and daughter (who is a current member).

From here, I walked through the sleepy village of Botolphs, crossed the Adur River, and climbed onto the Fulking escarpment with views of Fulking village. Next was the National Trust’s Devil’s Dyke. This steep v-shaped dry valley was a trendy destination during Victorian times. Various transport ventures used to take visitors to the foot of the hill, including a funicular, a cable car, and a single-track railway. Remnants of all three can still be seen today. Nowadays, the area is popular with hang gliders and paragliders.Just past the Dyke, I came upon Saddlescombe Farm, another property cared for by the National Trust. Farmed for more than 700 years, Saddlescombe was once in the ownership of the Knights Templar in the 13th century. The farm has several preserved buildings, a blacksmith’s forge, and a donkey wheel used to raise water from the well 50m below. The nearby woodland is home to a 1,000-year-old lime tree and a graffitied beech tree dated 1880, which today holds “the record as the single tallest native British tree in the UK.”

I finished this journey in Pyecombe, a village with two different settlements. The secondary settlement is called Pyecombe Street. The village split after the 1603 plague ravaged London and the surrounding countryside, forcing the villagers to move a quarter of a mile away.   

With little else to do, the Plough Inn, serving travellers and locals since the Victorian times, seemed like an excellent place to rest and have a great feed. 

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