Sussex Scrapbook -
Nature walks throughout the year
Saturday 22nd
November 2008
Bishopstone - Tidemills - Seaford Head - The White Horse - Bishopstone
13 miles
A cold but sunny ride
down to Bishopstone this morning and before we'd even arrived we'd seen a
peregrine land on a lamp post near Newhaven station. We parked up at
St Andrew's
church, which is apparently the oldest in Sussex with parts of it built in
the 6th century and with many 17th century graves. Then it was down to the coast through the mysterious ruined village of
Tidemills and then along the
Seaford seafront past the
Martello Tower (tea & toilets
here) to Splash Point.
Then we warmed up by climbing to the top of Seaford Head and taking in the
famous view of the Seven Sisters. The walk from here north along the River
Cuckmere to the second bridge is excellent, with great views, peace and quiet, lots of birds
(including today a solitary swallow) and the White Horse of Litlington to look out for
too.
We aimed to be on top of the Downs by
sundown, and
after climbing 'High and Over' we just made it in
time, which left us an exciting night hike through the hills back to the bike. By
this time the temperature was dropping considerably with the
Met Office even forecasting snow for tomorrow. After riding 40 freezing
miles home, we could well believe it too!
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St Andrew's church, Bishopstone.
They have just spent half a million on restoration work
and it looks great inside.
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The remnants of the village of
Tidemills, where there used to be corn mills
powered by the tide.
Do you see what they did there?
Newhaven Harbour
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Splash Point, just by the Martello Tower at Seaford
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The Seven Sisters as seen from near Hope Gap
A Kestrel by the side of the river
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A picnic spot along the River Cuckmere. Nearby we saw a lone swallow feeding
along the river.
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Newhaven in the distance from up on the dark Downs