Day 167 – Newhaven to Shoreham-by-Sea: 16.0m: 5.4h

The Bar & Restaurant does the admin for the Greenwich Rooms, but in most other ways is a separate operation. By way of example, it doesn’t open for breakfast. However, having established that the Pantry Café just along the road opens at 8 o’clock, we’ve arranged for a cab to pick us up at 7:15 to take us to Newhaven so that, by the time we’ve walked the almost 3 miles back to Peacehaven, we’ll be able to sit down for brekker at the Pantry. Our cab arrives on time with a driver who is more measured in his approach to the job than his colleague yesterday. He is also a keen walker and is currently in training for a hike around the Hebrides with his brothers later in the year (a project which, disturbingly, seems to be of some interest to John!). He is also in a position to tell us that, in places, the route over the hills from Newhaven to the front at Peacehaven runs very close to the cliff edge which strongly suggests that there will be another early parting of the ways. And having left the cab and climbed up to the fort, an evaluation of the track in front of us confirms this. John and Mike accordingly set off along the track while Ben and Gary try to find their way to a parallel path further inland. This does not prove to be a straightforward task. Various dead ends in a nearby housing estate result in several about turns, and eventually the path is only located by returning to the road leading from Newhaven to the fort. As a result, they arrive at the Pantry nearly half an hour after John and Mike who have had more than enough time to consume their apparently excellent full English. Gary opts for a swift bacon sarnie and a cup of tea but Ben, who has been experiencing a dodgy tummy over the last 36 hours, gives brekker a complete swerve. It's a short walk from the Pantry down to the sea front, and we’re under way again at 9:15. Light rain which has been falling off and on since we left Newhaven is still in the air, along with a fresh breeze coming off the sea. After walking another couple of hundred yards, we cross the meridian back into the western hemisphere. A monument marks the spot, and its location in relation to the Greenwich Rooms makes us realise how close to the meridian we must have been sleeping last night. Indeed, it is only now that the writer has made the connection between the name of our overnight accommodation and the meridian! As we continue along the coast towards Saltdean, there are few gentle climbs and descents which aren’t too close to the cliffs and so we are able to remain a foursome. Eventually, we reach a point where we can take an undercliff path which runs all the way from Rottingdean to Kemptown on the outskirts of Brighton and then, after a climb and short stretch alongside a cliff top road, we rejoin the sea front at Brighton Marina. There had been a possibility that Ben’s daughter Jen, and her boyfriend Nick, would join us somewhere in Brighton or Hove for the remaining few miles to Shoreham. However, ostensibly deterred by the wet weather, they have perhaps sensibly decided to get to Shoreham by a method not involving shanks’ pony and to meet us in a pub near the station which has now been identified as the Buckingham Arms. In fact, although we’ve continued to encounter a few squally showers since leaving Peacehaven, the rain has stopped as we go through Brighton and it remains dry for the rest of the day’s walk. Our route continues along the sea front through Hove until, just before Portslade, we reach a narrow peninsula running between the River Adur and the sea, and which is the home of a number of steel, timber and other depots of businesses which use the services of Shoreham Port. I don’t believe that any of us had previously been aware of Shoreham Port, let alone the apparent size of the operation there. We walk for about a mile and a half along a road through the peninsula and the various depots to our right stretch for almost the entire length of the road. At the end of the road we cross to the north side of the river via two sets of lock gates. There’s a short wait at the second set to allow a small vessel to pass through into the river basin, but we then reach Southwick and, from there, have a 30 minute walk alongside the A259 to get to the centre of Shoreham. It’s only about a quarter of a mile from our finishing point to Shoreham station. We arrive at the Buckingham Arms at 1:45 and are joined a few minutes later by Jen and Nick. After two pints of Harvey’s, John, Mike and Gary leave to catch a train back to London, whilst Ben (whose tummy now seems to be in better shape) lingers for another hour with Jen and Nick. Despite this, and then travelling solo on a later train, he reportedly does not fall asleep on the journey home.

Day 166 – Eastbourne to Newhaven: 16.5m: 6.1h

British Summer Time began over the weekend. We are taking advantage of the extra daylight which this will afford in the evenings by catching a later, off-peak (i.e. cheaper) train to Eastbourne than would otherwise have been practicable. However, its 9:54 departure from Victoria still requires John to leave home at 6:15 which is a mere 3 hours earlier than Ben and Gary who both board the service at Clapham. Mike has again travelled from Taplow and joins the rest of the team at East Croydon thus enabling him to reminisce – not too gushingly – about his journeys to what was the location of Nestlé’s UK head office. We arrive in a bright and sunny Eastbourne, wander back to the bandstand and set off along the promenade soon after 11:30. For much of the first 9 miles, the coastal route is along the high cliff tops of Beachy Head and the Seven Sisters which Ben has decided to avoid. The consequent parting of the ways occurs after half an hour, with Gary accompanying Ben on an inland route. John and Mike take the most direct path up to Beachy Head which is also the steepest climb and proves to be a considerable challenge for both of them. Once at the top, and having experienced some amazement at the sight of an intrepid (i.e. foolhardy) group having a picnic on the edge of the cliff, they move on to deal with the ascents and descents of the Seven Sisters. Again, these provide one or two challenges, but they pale into insignificance compared to the final descent into Cuckmere Haven. In order to ascertain tide levels as close to the shoreline as possible, John decides that the descent should be assayed not by the conventional marked route, but via a more precipitous and less well defined chalk path. In places, Mike concludes that the safest way of achieving this is on his backside – something to which the resulting white marks on his trousers and rucksack bear eloquent testimony. However, the two of them do reach the foot of the cliff where they discover that the water in the Cuckmere River is not at a sufficiently low level for a paddle. Instead, they walk along the east bank of the river to the bridge at Exceat and stop at the Cuckmere Inn for a glass of refreshment, and to wait for Ben and Gary who turn up 15 minutes later. Their journey has perhaps been less eventful, but no less enjoyable. It has involved several climbs to get up to and across the South Downs, initially through a series of fields to reach East Dean and Friston, and then through wooded areas to Westdean (featuring two ladies training a couple of Icelandic ponies) and on to Exceat. With the team reunited, we set off again around 3:15 down the west bank of the river and then turn to climb and continue along the coast towards Seaford. However, it immediately becomes apparent that the coastal path is still going to run quite close to the cliff edge, and so we split once more into our by now traditional cliff top and inland pairings. On this occasion, the split doesn’t last too long. After no more than an hour, we all arrive at just about the same time at a point where a couple of paths meet on the edge of Seaford Head Golf Course. We watch a couple of men coming down what we assume, given the proximity of the clubhouse, to be the 9th or 18th hole. They seem to be pretty decent players and, based on the amount of time they spend on reasonably short putts, rather competitive. Having sunk the putts, they don’t shake hands and so, being charitable souls, we conclude that they must have been playing the 9th hole. The route from Seaford to Newhaven is along the sea shore. At the entrance to Newhaven Harbour, we turn up towards the town, cross the bridge around the ferry port and continue back down towards Newhaven Fort. The day’s walk concludes just shy of the fort and only a couple of hundred yards away from the Hope Inn where we’ve arranged a cab pick up for 6:45. Our arrival at 6:15 gives us time for just the one leisurely pint of Harvey’s, and the presence in the pub of a large and excitable dog (with an owner who looks as though he could turn equally excitable) doesn’t serve as an incentive to linger. Further excitability is provided by a driver in the car park who appears to resent our cab picking us up in a place which blocks and delays his departure by almost a whole minute, and then by the speed with which our driver takes us to our overnight stop in Peacehaven, the Greenwich Rooms (with Burger & Bird Bar and Restaurant). Thankfully, no further excitement materialises during the rest of the evening. Just good showers, sustaining burgers with bacon cheese and skin-on chips, a bottle of white, a bottle of red, double stickies for all except Ben, and finally up to our rooms on the second floor for well earned kips.

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.

Day 163 – Dungeness to Rye: 16.5m: 5.4h

Gary arrives for 7 a.m. breakfast feeling none too chipper and announces that he will not be joining the walk today. His intention is to catch a bus to Folkestone and take an early train back to London from there. However, as the  brekker and a couple of cups of coffee take effect, a degree of chipperness returns which indicates that perhaps he was simply feeling the effects of getting practically no sleep during the course of the night. Accordingly, when the team reappears to check out shortly before 8 o’clock, he’s changed his mind and is ready to be driven with John, Ben and Mike back to the Pilot by Helen who is planning to stay in New Romney for much of the morning before a lunchtime rendezvous in Rye – or at an earlier bale out point if the weather becomes too challenging. She will also be transporting our luggage, thus ensuring the availability of dry clothing which all the weather forecasts suggest will be needed.

However, the initial challenge when we set off from the Pilot at 8:15 is the wind. As we continue our walk south towards the Dungeness headland, it is very strong and directly in our faces. Fortunately, having ticked off an extra hour from New Romney yesterday, we only have to endure the headwind for around 30 minutes. We then turn west to walk along the southern boundary of the Dungeness nuclear power station. But as we reach its western end, the rain sweeps in and, even when it isn’t too heavy, the continuing strong wind makes it feel such. We trudge across a stretch of land which is essentially shingle interspersed with occasional clumps of grass, before reaching a small construction site near Jury’s Gap where work is being carried out to a jetty. The route along the coast comes to an end here and we have to turn inland and follow a series of paths past another set of rifle ranges and a large watersports area to arrive in Lydd which subsequent research reveals has the distinction of being the most southerly town in Kent. We’ve been walking for just over two and a half hours, and any restorative effects of Gary’s morning coffee must have worn off because he is now feeling distinctly weary and rather cold. A phone call is accordingly made to Helen asking her to meet him in Lydd whilst the other three continue along a roadside path towards Camber where they’ll hopefully meet up with Helen and Gary and decide whether to continue on to Rye.

Helen duly collects Gary from an accommodating post office in Lydd where he’s been able to shelter. The rain is getting heavier and, a mile or so along the road to Camber, they spot three familiar and bedraggled figures on the adjacent path. Conveniently, a lay-by is available at which to stop and confirm that the walkers are going to continue at least as far as Camber. John also takes the opportunity to get into the car and change his walking boots – a process which takes nearly 15 minutes and, by the time he sets off again, Ben and Mike are a good half mile further along the path. Helen and Gary arrive in Camber shortly after 11:30. Having established that nothing is open near the beach, they drive to the Camber Sands Holiday Park which, despite its name, is on the north side of the coast road. Among the various facilities available, at the back of an amusement arcade, is the Boat House café and bar which provides a very welcome and warming cup of coffee. Gary is also able to retrieve his rucksack from the car and change into some dry clothes. Helen notifies the others of our whereabouts, and Ben and Mike appear just after 12 o’clock. However, a few minutes later, we hear from John that he’s at the beach. Helen goes to collect him and the team are briefly reunited at the Boat House where the walkers indulge in a bit of drying off (and Ben indulges in a glass of red wine) before announcing that they will complete the remaining few miles to Rye.

We drive back to the beach where John, Ben and Mike set off along the sands, and Helen and Gary continue on to Rye. When they arrive, it’s still raining so any ideas of a sightseeing stroll are quickly shelved. Instead, they park at the station and spend quite a bit of their waiting time completing Helen’s Sunday Times crossword. The others appear not long after 2:15 and, during a short break in the rain, are able to effect a goodly measure of clothes changing in the car park. John and Helen then begin the long drive home while Ben, Mike and Gary buy some sandwiches at the station and catch an earlier train than originally planned to Ashford International. The resulting longer wait there for the service back to St Pancras enables them to complete the walking year with a couple of small bottles of wine each in the platform café.                      

Day 162 – Folkestone to Dungeness: 17.5m: 5.8h

Helen is a very welcome addition to today’s starting grid. She and John drove to Kent yesterday and stayed with friends overnight. This morning, they make their way to Folkestone, leaving their car en route at The Captain Howey in New Romney which will be our resting place this evening. In the meantime, Ben, Mike and Gary return to Folkestone Central from St Pancras – and incredibly find that the distance between the station and the esplanade seems to be considerably shorter than when we trudged the other way five weeks ago.

We rendezvous at a café near the bandstand and wend our way down through Lower Leas Gardens to the sea front with John sporting a very smart new jacket. He spent part of yesterday near Dover attempting, without success, to trace the one which was attacked by the brier on our last walk. It looks as though the waterproof qualities of the new model will be put to the test tomorrow which is due to be a day of heavy rain and strong winds. The weather today, whilst cloudy, is dry with just a gentle breeze.

We set off along the sea front around 11:10. As we approach Hythe, we meet Wendy, a friend of John and Helen who also knows Ben and Gary. She lives near Canterbury and has travelled to Hythe to join us for at least part of today’s walk. Shortly after passing Hythe Golf Club, and just over an hour after leaving Folkestone, we have to divert away from the sea front in order to get round the Hythe Rifle Ranges which stretch for a couple of miles or so along the coast. For around 30 minutes, the diversion follows a very attractive tree-lined route by a canal. We then have to walk along a couple of residential streets before reaching a point where paths diverge. One leads south to a road which borders the western end of the rifle ranges and is signposted as being the England Coast Path. The other continues west along the north side of a small lake and, according to John’s map, should rejoin the official coast path at the end of the ranges where the road gets back to the sea front. John, Helen and Mike decide to trust the map and take the lakeside path so as to avoid the road, whereas Ben, Gary and Wendy take the official route which is, in fact, slightly purer. It also transpires to be about 5 minutes quicker when we are reunited on the sea front with neither trio having encountered any navigational (or any other) difficulty. Indeed, the lakeside group has witnessed a maintenance train on the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railway and the road group – or at least the one member of the group tall enough to see over the fence – has witnessed squaddies firing very proficiently at distant targets.      

The shoreline now turns gradually southward, and we’re able to follow it through Dymchurch and St Mary’s Bay to New Romney where we arrive shortly before 4 o’clock. This marks the end of the walk for Helen and Wendy. Helen walks half a mile or so inland to the Captain Howey, and Wendy catches a bus back to Hythe. It’s less than half and hour until sunset, but the rest of us want to get a bit further along the coast so as to reduce the mileage in the anticipated bad weather tomorrow. Our aim is the Pilot pub in Dungeness which is just over an hour away, but the final section should have the benefit of street lights so we hope the gathering darkness won’t be a problem. And our hopes are realised. After a bit of beach action through and beyond Greatstone-on-Sea, we walk over the shingle to the road where the illumination is such that the head lamp which John has brought with him is hardly needed. As we approach Dungeness, John phones Helen to let her know our ETA at the Pilot so that she can collect us there, and also to take her drinks order. Our arrival time is just before 5 o’clock and, despite the relatively early hour and the remote location, the Pilot seems to be doing a reasonable trade in both drink and food. We restrict ourselves to just the one drink before driving to the Captain Howey and having another. The bar there is nowhere near as popular as the Pilot but, when we reconvene for supper later, the food is good, wine (and stickies) are available at reasonable prices, and the service is efficient and friendly. We learn from one particularly chatty waitress about her adoption of stray or injured animals, to include cats, tortoises and birds. An entertaining evening.

Day 161 – St Margaret’s at Cliffe to Folkestone: 13.7m: 5.4h

Almost all of today’s coastal walk will be along cliffs, so once again Ben will be taking an inland route with Gary for (alleged) company. The Parkdean has certainly exceeded expectations, but it doesn’t serve breakfast until 9 o’clock. The four of us are therefore making an early start, and aiming for a breakfast rendezvous around 8:30 in Dover which is about 4 miles away. For John and Mike, early means 6:30. However, they first need to return to St Margaret’s Bay so Ben and Gary (whose route starts immediately outside the holiday park) feel that they can delay their departure time until 7 o’clock. Both sub-teams leave on schedule and so are able to witness a beautiful sunrise at exactly 7:11. (We spent several minutes at the Smugglers last night establishing that this was probably one of the joint earliest sunrise times in the country today.) The French coastline is also clearly visible. Indeed, as was the case yesterday afternoon, John and Mike are sufficiently close to France that the clocks on their phones move forward an hour and Mike receives a message from his service provider informing him of conditions of continental data use.

The first couple of miles of the inland route take Ben and Gary directly westward along a minor road/cycle path which fortunately isn’t very busy. It goes past Swingate Down (which was used by the Royal Flying Corps at the start of WW1 as its final landing ground prior to crossing over to France) before reaching a point which gives views of Dover Castle to the right and Dover Ferry Terminal to the left. Also to the left, the cycle path leaves the road initially in the direction of a Coastguard Station but then, it would appear, down into Dover itself. Given that this is towards the Dover side of the National Trust entrance to the White Cliffs, it’s a reasonably safe bet that following the cycle path will involve no cliff tops, and so it proves. The path zigzags gently down the hillside and eventually goes under the elevated main road into the ferry terminal to reach a narrow lane which leads into the town and, at a junction with the Marine Parade, a Premier Inn. It is quickly determined that this provides an “unlimited cooked breakfast” for £9.50 and this news is immediately communicated to John and Mike. From messages exchanged earlier in the morning, it is assumed by Ben and Gary that the cliff duo’s arrival will not be long delayed, but it transpires that they have encountered a few problems finding a route from the cliffs into Dover. These have included narrow paths at the edge of steep drops, signs warning of danger and closures ahead, attempts to navigate areas covered in briar, and reaching a point very close to the elevated ferry terminal road where the path has come to an end with no route under, over or across the road. They eventually join Ben and Gary at the Premier Inn around 8:40 and we settle down for a relaxed breakfast.

But although the breakfast is relaxed, it’s clear that the navigational problems which John and Mike have just faced were anything but. For example, their attempts to get through or around the briar have resulted in one or two scratches and also in the briar effectively pulling open John’s rucksack. Indeed, as we prepare to leave, John discovers that his jacket is no longer in the rucksack. After a few minutes thought, he decides against retracing his steps in an attempt to find it, and we set off for our next and final rendezvous point today, the bandstand in Folkestone. John and Mike haven’t been deterred from continuing along the cliff top, whereas Ben and Gary walk along a couple of streets, past Dover Priory station and then, via a narrow residential lane, to a long and steep path which takes them into some fields and woods above the north west edge of the town. There are hardly any direction signposts but, on a track through the very aptly named Long Wood, reassurance is given by a couple walking in the other direction that “civilisation” will soon emerge in the form of a field with the village of West Hougham on the other side. From there, it’s just under 5 miles to Folkestone via Capel-le-Ferne and a brief stop shortly after Capel-le-Ferne at the Battle of Britain Memorial.

The road down into Folkestone leads to the harbour, and thankfully it transpires that John and Mike have encountered no further problems and are only 5 or 10 minutes away. Ben and Gary resist the temptation to wait for them in the Harbour Inn and instead continue along the sea front, past a non-operational funicular to a small amphitheatre in Lower Leas Gardens where a zigzag path leads up to the bandstand on the road above the gardens. John and Mike duly emerge from the zigzag path a few minutes later. It’s almost 1:15 and our intended train back to London doesn’t leave until 3 o’clock. However, we decide to get the 20 minute walk to Folkestone Central out of the way before finding a pub, and fortunately not much searching is required. Almost opposite the station is the Park Inn where John initially spends almost as much time considering whether to take an earlier train as he spent in Dover considering the jacket retrieval question. Once again the decision is no, and we have a couple of refreshing pints and packets of crisps before purchasing sandwiches from the nearby Co-op (or in John’s case from the station) and then catching the train to St Pancras.