Sussex Scrapbook
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Nature walks throughout the year
Saturday 1st September 2007
Eastbourne - Jevington - Crowlink - Eastbourne
We were in dire need of a
seriously long walk to teach us both a good lesson for being so lazy! We also
needed to try again to get to the village of Jevington which lies on the
alternative route of the South Downs Way, near Eastbourne. We had attempted to
get there several times before but something always prevented us getting there,
to the point that we had started referring to the place as the "mythical village
of Jevington".
We had to take the train to Eastbourne as the bike is still poorly and we set off
from the station there at 10:30 and 6 miles and 3 hours later we were at Jevington (which we
can safely say is not mythical any more). The village, we found out, is famous
for 2 things. Firstly it is the burial place of Lord Shawcross, who was the chief
prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials in 1945. Secondly, and possibly more
importantly it is the birthplace of Banoffi pie! Jevington tea rooms are to be
found directly on the SDW.
After Jevington we continued through Friston Forest to Friston, down the
gorgeous Crowlink (once used by smugglers as a route from Birling gap to
Friston) and east along the Seven Sisters. At Birling Gap we headed inland and
walked back to Eastbourne along Long Down. We got back to the station just as the sun
was setting. That was 16 miles of the best walking to be had in the whole of
Sussex and we had a fantastic day.
The bench at Cross Dykes dewpond
A give way sign on a footpath!
Mythical jevington nestling amongst the Downs.
mmmm, banoffi pie.
A Tapsell gate in St Andrew's church Jevington. This type
of swing gate is found only in Sussex churchyards and the church in nearby East
Dean has a similar one.
Haven't been able to identify this chap yet as there are
about a zillion types of beetle.
Don't know what this is either yet. He looks as if he was
designed by Disney.
Early nesting bumblebee (Bombus pratorium)
Carder bee (Bombus pascuorum)
(Porkus smellius)
The view of Belle Tout from Crowlink, which is managed by
the National Trust.