Day 165 – St Leonards-on-Sea to Eastbourne: 14.7m: 4.9h

Alexander’s is run by Keith and Francesca. After a comfortable night, we come down for breakfast to find Francesca available to provide teas and coffees, but cooked breakfasts are slightly delayed due to Keith not becoming aware of our readiness until almost 10 minutes after our arrival. Not a major problem. The breakfast is good, we check out at 7:45, and wander over the road for what proves to be a short wait on the promenade for a bus. The older members of the team were hoping to be able to use their Freedom Passes for the return to St Leonard’s, but it transpires that this isn’t possible before 9:30. Our total fare of £8 is therefore slightly more than yesterday’s cab fare would have been if Mike hadn’t been so generous! We’re back at St Leonards’s around 8:05 and set off shortly afterwards. It feels as though it’s going to be another chilly day, even though the breeze isn’t as strong as it was yesterday. For the first couple of hours, the route is straightforward and flat. It takes us along the coast through Bexhill and on to Cooden by which stage we’ve completed just over 6 miles and there’s no indication that, as we continue towards Eastbourne, our pace will be affected by climbs such as those which we encountered yesterday. The only relatively minor issue is whether significant inland diversions will be necessary just after Pevensey Bay and/or at Sovereign Harbour on the approach to Eastbourne. For the moment, we do have to turn slightly away from the coast at the very smart looking Relais Cooden Beach Hotel, and walk for a short distance alongside the Hastings to Eastbourne railway line. However, we soon turn back towards the shoreline, pass through Norman’s Bay and Beachlands, and eventually get to Pevensey Bay. Here, we do have to spend 15 minutes or so walking along local streets but, as was the case at Cooden, we get back to the coast pretty quickly and no significant diversion is required. And this is also the case when we reach Sovereign Harbour around noon. We are able to walk across some lock gates at the harbour basin and are left with less than 3 miles along the sea front to reach Eastbourne’s bandstand where we finish at 1 o’clock. It's no more than a 15 minute walk from the bandstand to Eastbourne station. Once there, we call in at a Wetherspoon’s establishment immediately opposite but, because we’ll be catching a train just after 2 o’clock, there’s only time for one leisurely pint of competitively priced Ruddle’s (£1.79) before we get some sandwiches at the station café and wait for the train. It leaves on time, Mike gets off at Haywards Heath to continue his carefully researched journey back to Taplow, Ben and Gary change at Clapham Junction for their homeward trains, and John considers standing for remainder of the trip to Victoria so as to reduce the possibility (or probability) of falling asleep….again.

Day 164 – Rye to St Leonards-on-Sea: 15.0m: 5.7h

We assemble at St Pancras with Mike having travelled from Taplow where he and Irene have been staying for the weekend with friends. It’s a February resumption to the walk but the weather seems to be set fair for the next couple of days – relatively mild and, thankfully, dry. However, when we arrive in Rye, it’s soon apparent from the brisk westerly breeze that it’s still going to be a three-layer Monday. We set off along the west bank of the River Rother shortly before 11 o’clock and reach the coast at Rye Harbour. Underfoot conditions are favourable and, despite the breeze being in our faces, progress is good. We pass the Harbour Nature Reserve, continue to Winchelsea Beach and, after a couple of hours, have ticked off over 6 miles. The pace slows slightly towards the end of the third hour following a climb to reach the cliffs above Fairlight Cove, a climb which is sufficiently far and/or fenced off from the cliff edge to be of no concern to Ben. And having walked down from the cliffs, we then encounter a series of four more ascents and descents in the space of 4 miles or so which reduces our pace to the funereal. Mike, with his bionic hip, is relatively sprightly, but it does become a bit of a struggle for the rest of us. This seems to become a particularly chastening experience for John as he gradually realises that his pace on the climbs is practically the same as Gary’s. Anyway, this 4 mile stretch takes nearly 2 hours to complete, but we then have the welcoming sight of a flat – and seemingly lengthy – promenade leading into and beyond (hopefully well beyond) Hastings. Our accommodation for the evening, Alexander’s B&B, is on the Hastings sea front, but we decide to walk the extra mile or so to St Leonard’s to reduce the distance to be covered tomorrow. Just before 4:40, we arrive at a point which Ben suggests (with perhaps uncharacteristic vehemence) would be a good place to stop, because it’s quite close to the Horse and Groom, a pub which he frequented with the family when spending a few days in St Leonard’s last year. Our route there isn’t exactly a beeline, but the few minutes spent in locating the street in which it can be found prove to be worth the effort. A very welcoming local serving excellent beer (Harvey’s) which we all sample twice before leaving. Our intention is to catch a bus to Hastings but, as we walk back towards the promenade, a taxi appears and is duly hailed. The driver doesn’t seem particularly enthusiastic to take us the short distance involved, but cheers up considerably when we arrive and Mike supplements the £5.50 fare with a £4.50 tip. We check in at Alexander’s, establish that breakfast can be made available at 7 o’clock tomorrow, place our orders and repair to our rooms to get ready for supper. John has booked a table at Rustico which, being an Italian restaurant, is unlikely to have fish and chips as a menu option, but it does have the great advantage of being only a few minutes away. As it turns out, the menu is essentially a pizza and pasta offering – and with side orders of chips available. However, the food is pretty good, and definitely filling. Indeed John’s choice of starter, a supposedly small calzone, is large enough to result in him not finishing his main course of pasta and meatballs (with chips!). But he does contribute fully to us finishing three bottles of wine, and then goes with Mike to a local bar for a sticky whilst Ben and Gary return to Alexander’s.