Walk 34. Cliff End to Fairlight Glen

Today’s walk will take me over the cliffs through Hastings Country Park.

Although research suggests that it is possible to walk along the base of the cliffs all the way to Hastings, it would seem to entail a lot of trudging over pebbles and clambering over boulders! So I’ve decided to take the easy option and follow the English Coast Path along the top!

There is a short walk along the road through Cliff End to start, then the path is signposted to the left…

 

It heads uphill between the back gardens of Cliff End and is a bit muddy…

In less than ten minutes I’m through the village and into the woods on top of the cliffs. There is a nice view looking back at Pett Level…

Shortly the foliage thins out and I see the village of Fairlight ahead…

The path goes downhill into Fairlight, then climbs again through the village…

Eventually it emerges back on the cliff top…

Another ten minutes or so and I reach Hastings Country Park where there is a handy information board! I find I am in the Fire Hills, and yes, the views are pretty good…

It’s a nice easy walk along the cliff to the old WW2 era radar station. It apparently closed in the 1960s, but  doesn’t look derelict from what I can see!

From here, the path drops quite steeply into Warren Glen. It is wooded and muddy and slippery in places, but I make it to the bottom where I find a small stream…

Now the fun begins! It remains wooded and muddy and slippery as I climb out the other side of the glen. It is also quite steep in places!

After a stiff climb, I reach the top and find that I have to repeat the whole process down into Fairlight Glen! I slither down to the bottom and find another, slightly larger, stream…

At this point I’m a bit hot, hungry, and knackered! So I decide to make this another mini-walk like the last couple and call it a day here. I find myself heading back up the steep hill and turn off inland toward the visitor centre and the Bale House cafe for coffee, a fat sausage roll, and cake…

Walk 33. Winchelsea Beach to Cliff End

Today I set off from Winchelsea Beach in lovely Autumn sunshine, although it is a bit breezy! 

The path runs along the top of a big shingle bank at the back of the beach. Walking over pebbles is a slow and tiring process, but as it turns out, this surface is well compacted and a bit of a doddle to walk on!

Once past the holiday chalets of Winchelsea Beach, to the landward side is a sheep-filled Romney Marsh…

It’s at about this point that I see orange flashing lights in the distance and men in hi-vis, and I realise I haven’t seen any traffic on the coast road. Turns out the road is closed while work is carried out. Bugger! The bus I was planning to take back to my car runs along this road. So I decide I’ll only continue to Cliff End and walk back to the car!

The tide is high and looks on the turn, so the waves are crashing onto the beach in a picturesque manner…

I come across an information board about the Anne which was wrecked in 1690. It is only visible at low tide though, so nothing to see at the moment.

Reaching the little settlement of Pett Level, which seems to blend in to Cliff End, the road closure is very obvious…

The path is now a concrete sea wall and I pass some boats and some pricey-looking beachfront properties…

The beach runs out at Cliff End so it seems a good place to finish today. Next time it will be over the cliffs to Hastings!

Walk 32. Rye Harbour to Winchelsea Beach

Today’s walk is just a short one I managed to fit in!

Starting at the Martello Tower at the end of the last walk…

…the nice tarmac path follows the bank of the River Rother down to the sea. 

Most of this walk today is around Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, which is a large area of mostly salt marsh. Surprisingly it has been built up by the sea over the last couple of hundred years - the Martello Tower was built on the shoreline of the day!

Beside the path is a Discovery Centre with exhibitions, loos, cafe, etc.

Here is the view across the wetlands…

A couple of minutes further on is this distinctive hut…

Apparently the ‘red roofed hut’ is a bit of a local icon and is a privately-owned fishing hut. It’s age is unknown but it dates to sometime before 1900.

Also down here are a couple of WW2 pillboxes…

Reaching the mouth of the river I get an excellent low-tide view of Camber Sands where I walked last time…

From the river mouth I turn right along the path that runs between the beach and the nature reserve. The beach curves away into the distance and the cliffs that are between Fairlight and Hastings.

A short walk down the path and I come to a bird hide and some birds in a lake. I consult the handy notice board and am reasonably confident in identifying them as cormorants! Possibly.

I think this may be the first actual wildlife, that isn’t a seagull, that I’ve seen in a nature reserve on this entire journey!

Anyway, moving on. 

Five minutes later I come across a ruined building. As I approach I think it might be another pillbox, but there is an information board that identifies it as Gasson’s Ruin - named after the family that used to own it. Looks like it might be a bit bleak living here in the winter!

Another five minutes on, I arrive at another building. This one is just derelict, rather than an actual ruin! It is an old lifeboat station that once housed the Mary Stanford lifeboat. As the info board explains, this was the scene of the worst disaster in the long history of the RNLI…

I continue along the path for another twenty-odd minutes which brings me to Winchelsea Beach and my finish point for today, the splendidly-named Dogs Hill Road!

As I said, just a short walk today, but plenty of things to see!

Walk 31. Jury’s Gap to Rye Harbour

So here we go - the first walk into Sussex. 

I’ve decided to ignore the modern Local Authority areas of East and West Sussex, along with the Brighton and Hove Unitary Authority, as each section of coast would be fairly short. So I’m treating it all as the traditional county of Sussex!

Readers of my last post will know that I have already done the first mile or so of Sussex at the end of my last walk. This is due to the county boundary being inconveniently located inside an army firing range!

The start for today is the Broomhill Sands car park. If you want to visit this area, this is a great place to park as it has loads of space and is free!

I set off along the sea wall past a ‘surfer dude’ place…

It is a short walk to Camber where I pass some very nice beach front properties…

Ahead lies the busy beach of Camber Sands. As well as a large sandy beach backed by dunes, there are all the seaside amenities you would expect such as cafes and loos and stuff. Despite the slightly chilly stiff breeze, there are loads of people here and I spend the next twenty minutes avoiding sand castles until the crowds thin out!

Further along it is much quieter…

The dunes area is quite extensive…

At the far end of the beach I reach the river Rother. It may not look very wide, but it is quite deep as some sizeable boats have to navigate through here.

To cross, I have to turn inland and walk up the riverbank to Rye where there is a bridge.

The path is a pleasant stroll past a golf course on the right…

In about ten minutes I come to the fenced off harbour and the Harbour Master’s office…

The path continues to the right of this lot…

Behind the harbour buildings is a small green building. This used to be a station on an old Victorian tramway, there are still some rails embedded in the ground…

The route of the old tramway from here crosses the golf course to Camber. Although it is a public right of way, apparently the golfists aren’t keen on people actually using it!

The path to Rye continues along the old tramway route that has been turned into a narrow road…

There are some nice views of the harbour with Rye in the distance along here…

At this point I encounter a small glitch. The path follows the riverbank all the way into Rye, but is closed while work is being done…

According to the map, the golf club access from the road is only a hundred yards or so to the right. So I ignore all the stern golf club signs and escape to the road that way!

The road is quite narrow and quite busy - not ideal for walking! Luckily I spot a gap in the bushes over the road…

On the other side I find a footpath/cyclepath…

A few minutes later the path crosses the road…

…and continues across the fields to Rye.

The path emerges handily at the bridge over the river Rother!

Rye is built at the confluence of the river Brede and the Rother. So in order to go back down the other bank of the Rother to the sea, I have to walk through Rye to cross a bridge over the Brede. It seems an interesting little town…

Half an hour later I come to this turning which leads down to Rye Harbour…

Just round this corner is a Sluice gate for the Royal Military Canal, which we last saw all the way back in Hythe!

The road to Rye Harbour is over a mile long and is fairly dull, passing a bunch of industrial units.

Eventually I reach the village and my finish point for today’s walk at this Martello Tower.

So that wraps it up for today. A nicely varied introduction to Sussex, I thought!