Walk 28 : Seaford to Eastbourne

Main walk: 21.0km (13.1 miles), seven hours walking time, or 23.4km (14.6 miles) via East Dean, seven hours 30 minutes walking time. For the whole outing including travel and meals, allow 16 hours.

Shorter options: Exceat to Eastbourne: 14.8km (9.2 miles) or five hours walking time, Seaford to Exceat 6.2km (3.9 miles) or two hours walking time, Seaford to East Dean: 12.2km (7.8 miles) or four hours 30 minutes walking time, East Dean to Eastbourne 11.2km (7 miles) or three hours 30 minutes walking time

OS Landranger Map 199 (a small bit of start on 198) OS Explorer Map 123

10 out of 10

This classic clifftop walk - one of the finest coastal walks in England - affords stunning (and very famous) views of the white cliffs of the Seven Susters, and the renowed Beachy Head, before ending in the elegant seafront town of Eastbourne. En route, you can swim in the sea at Cuckmere Haven or Birling Gap (provided that the tide is up: and watch out for underwater rocks at Birling Gap). Note however that this is a very strenuous walk. Apart from the start, finish and a short section around Cuckmere Haven, almost none of it is flat, and there are several steep climbs. The very scenic section between Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap in particular is a series of steep ascents and descents, and it is a long, though relatively gradual, climb up to Beachy Head. Note that the cliffs on this walk are eroding fast, and you are advised to keep well away from the edge at all times

A very useful bus, the 712, runs from Seaford to Eastbourne (both railway station and the pier) via Exceat and East Dean four times an hour from Monday to Saturday, enabling you to start or finish the walk at either of these two intermediate stops. On Sunday and bank holidays, when the bus becomes the 713 and frequencies are three times hourly, it also calls at Beachy Head and Birling Gap. In both cases, the last bus from Eastbourne is about 7.30pm. To get up to date details for this route, telephone 0845 121 0170 or 0180 or see www.stagecoachbus.com

Using the bus, you could start the walk at Exceat, giving a total walk of 14.8km (9.2 miles), though missing the fine Seven Sisters views earlier in the walk, or walk from Seaford to East Dean, a walk of 12.2km (7.8 miles). Alternatively the short but very pretty walk from Seaford to Exceat makes a fine 6.2km (3.9 mile) excursion on a summer’s day, combined with a swim and a picnic at Cuckmere Haven.

Last but not least, you could walk from East Dean to Beachy Head or Eastbourne, walks of 6.1km (3.8 miles) or 11.2km (7 miles) respectively. To start the walk at East Dean, cross the road from the bus stop (if coming from Seaford), and walk up the road to Birling Gap: the Tiger Inn is signposted in 160 metres on the right and once there you can follow the directions from [5] in the Detour to East Dean instructions at the end of the main text)

The Martello Tower in Seaford is the most westerly of a chain of 103 such fortresses (the other end of the chain being in Aldeburgh, Suffolk) built to protect the South East coast of England against invasion in the early part of the Napoleonic Wars. It contains a museum of local history, open 11am to 1pm and 2.30pm to 4.30pm on Sundays and bank holidays year round, and on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons in summer.

The Seven Sisters is the name for the undulating cliffs between Cuckmere Have and Birling Gap. They are thought to have been formed by glacier meltwater at the end of the last Ice Age: the meltwater carved steep sided valleys, which were then truncated by sea erosion into the cliffs we see today. The original Seven Sisters are the Pleiades, a group of seven stars which Greek mythology portrayed as sisters. There are in fact now only six Pleiades, one having exploded in antiquity, and from the approach to Cuckmere Haven there seem to be only six humps on the Seven Sisters too. But there are in fact seven: one is hidden from view from this angle.

Belle Tout lighthouse was built in 1834 and had 30 oil lamps shining 23 miles out to sea. But it was often obscured by low cloud and fog, and so in 1902 the present Beachy Head lighthouse was built at the foot of the cliff. Erosion on these cliffs is rapid - up to 40cm a year - and in 1998 Belle Tout was in danger of falling into the sea. In March of the following year, it was moved 30 metres back from the cliff edge on hydraulic jacks.

In 2002, a large piece of Beachy Head also fell into the sea, and the debris from this is still visible. The houses and hotel at Birling Gap are also likely to fall into the sea soon: erosion here is as fast as a metre a year, and pictures in the Exceat Visitors Centre show dramatically just how quickly the cliffs have retreated here over recent decades

Take the nearest train to 9.15 from London Victoria to Lewes, changing there for Seaford. Journey time is 1 hour 30 minutes. Trains back from Eastbourne go direct to Victoria via Lewes.

The 712/713 bus (see Walk Options) is the best way to get back from Eastbourne to Seaford after doing this walk: the train journey involves a change at Lewes. An alternative is to park in Lewes, which has a large station car park, and take the very pretty train to Seaford. Exceat also has a car park (follow signs for the Seven Sisters Country Park on A259 from Seaford to Eastbourne), as does Birling Gap if you want to do short sections of the walk and then take the bus back.

If you are coming by train from London, and thus starting the walk mid morning, Exceat, 6.2km (3.9 miles) into the walk, makes an ideal place for lunch. The recommended lunchstop is Exceat Farmhouse Restaurant and Tea Room (tel 01323 870218) which has a charming open air courtyard and serves a varied homemade hot lunch menu from 12pm to 2pm, and after that sandwiches, ploughmans lunches and teas until around 5pm (or 4pm if custom is light).

500 metres earlier, at Exceat Bridge, the Golden Galleon (01323 892247) is a busy and popular pub, with a garden looking seawards. It has a relatively varied menu, but is very busy at weekends, with people queueing to order at times.

If you are starting earlier from Seaford and want a later lunch, the Thatched Bar of the Birling Gap Hotel (01323 423197), 12.2km (7.6 miles) into the walk, offers a basic menu from 12pm to 2.30pm daily. The rather run down cafe next door also does basic meals with chips, as well as sandwiches.

For the energetic an alternative late lunch stop is the 11th century Tiger Inn in East Dean, which serves moderately gourmet food from 12pm to 2pm. This is also 12.2km (3.7 miles) into the walk, but note that to get East Dean involves a detour of inland which adds 2.4km (1.5 miles) and more hill climbing to the walk.

Almost anywhere on this walk is suitable as a picnic spot.

The cafe in the Birling Gap Hotel (see Lunch) does teas, cakes and even cream teas until about 6pm, but despite its seafront location it is a sadly tatty place - no doubt due to the fact that it could be fal into the sea in a decade or so.

If you can hold on, the Beachy Head pub (tel 01323 728060) is a much better option, serving tea and coffee all afternoon and evening (until 11pm weekdays and 10.30pm Sundays), and offering views back over the walk from its windows. The pub does not serve cakes, but you can order a desert off the food menu. If you can get there in time, the coffee shop next door to the pub serves cakes and cream teas, but this closes at 4pm

Terminal Road in Eastbourne has a range of fish and chip shops and cafes, as does Eastbourne Pier

If finishing the walk at East Dean, the Tiger Inn (see Lunch) is open all afternoon at weekends and serves tea

Start: Seaford Station is near : BN25 2AR. [gmap]

Finish: Eastbourne Station is near : BN21 3QJ. [gmap]

London to Seaford | Eastbourne to London

Starting or Ending the Walk at East Dean [details]

The text above was taken from the 2004 edition of the book, and may be a little out of date. Please check the updates for this walk.