Glynde to Seaford walk

Join us on a thrilling Saturday hike through the South Downs Ridge at Cuckmere Haven, UK, and experience the breathtaking beauty of one of the country's most iconic trails. This hike will take you through the rolling hills and spectacular cliffs of the South Downs National Park, where you will witness the stunning views of the English Channel and the lush greenery that surrounds the area. Along the way, you will also have the chance to explore the charming village of Alfriston and learn about the history and culture of the UK's rural communities. So, pack your bags and get ready for an unforgettable adventure that will leave you with memories to last a lifetime!

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Distance: 23 km (14.3 miles)

Grading: Intermediate/Challenging

Rating: 8/10

Ascent: 740 m

Hiking time: About 6.5 to 7.5 hours of actual hiking

Everyone's favourite walk. It starts with a South Downs Ridge walk. We will visite the picturesque village of Alfriston. After that there is Cuckmere Haven (a pretty river valley), and a coastal cliff walk into Seaford. You can swim at Cuckmere Haven or Seaford!!

DOG

Dogs can use this trail as well, but must be on a leash.

HIKE DESCRIPTION

There are three lovely villages to enjoy during the course of the day, all with open churches: West Firle, West Dean, and the old smuggling village of Alfriston, which likes to call its church a cathedral.

During the walk, you get a good view of Firle Tower, a watchkeeper's residence. Firle Place was the seat of Sir John Gage, who helped Henry VIII with the dissolution of the monasteries, despite retaining the old religion himself.

The Alfriston Clergy House was the first building to be acquired by the National Trust, in 1896, for £10. A Wealden hall house with a thatched roof, contains a medieval hall and has a cottage garden with some rare specimens.

The chalky cliffs of the Seven Sisters developed under the sea, 70 to 100 million years ago – the chalk is mainly made up of microscopic fossils. Later the chalk cliffs dipped beneath the sea again and came up covered in silt and sand, still visible as the top layer.

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© Club Hiking in London. Ltd (CASC) in collaboration with Saturday Walkers Club.

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Glynde to Seaford walk | The South Downs & Alfriston

The best walk in the book! A South Downs ridge, picture postcard Alfriston, Cuckmere Haven (beach), and cliffs with views of the Seven Sisters. Long but worth it.

Length: 23km (14.3 miles), 7 hours. For the whole outing, including trains, sights and meals, allow at least 12 hours.

Toughness: 8 out of 10.

History

Firle Place (tel 01273 858567) was the seat of Sir John Gage, who helped Henry VIII with the dissolution of the monasteries, despite retaining the old religion himself. During the walk you get a good view of Firle Tower, a watchkeeper's residence. The House is open to visitors (2020) from 07 June to 27 September from Sundays to Thursdays from 2pm to 4.30pm. Its licensed tea room (no charge for entry) is open on House opening days from 12 noon to 5pm, serving light lunches, cakes and teas. Admission to the House (2020) is £9.50.

The Church of St Peter, Firle, contains an alabaster effigy of Sir John Gage wearing his Order of the Garter and lying beside his wife Philippa. It also has a John Piper stained-glass window in warm colours, depicting Blake's Tree of Life.

Alfriston was once a Saxon settlement. In 1405, Henry IV granted the town the right to a market, hence the old market square cross (though now without its crosspiece) which was supposed to help ensure honest and fair trading. The narrow streets are lined with fourteenth and fifteenth-century houses. In the early 1800s, smugglers would run contraband via Alfriston and Cuckmere Haven, with farmers driving their sheep to help cover the smugglers' tracks.

The Parish Church of St Andrew, Alfriston – known as the 'Cathedral of the South Downs' – was built about 1360, all at one time and with no later additions. But because there were no local squires and manners, the church is rather bare inside, with few memorials. It has a basin and ewer on the Sepulchre at the north side of the chancel that came from the Holy Land.

The Alfriston Clergy House (Tel 01323 870 001) was the first building to be acquired by the National Trust, in 1896, for £10 (which makes the £6.60 entrance fee - 2020 - seem rather steep). A Wealden hall house with thatched roof, it contains a medieval hall and has a cottage garden with some rare specimens. It is open from March to the end of October weekdays (closed Thursdays) from 10.30am until 5pm and in winter on Saturday and Sunday from 11am until 4pm.

West Dean Church has probable Saxon elements, and next door to it is a medieval parsonage with a colourful garden. The parish priest from 1891 was the Revd George Lawrance, who believed in captive audiences – it is said that he used to lock the church door before delivering his sermons.

The chalky cliffs of the Seven Sisters developed under the sea, 70 to 100 million years ago – the chalk is mainly made up of microscopic fossils. Later the chalk cliffs dipped beneath the sea again and came up covered in silt and sand, still visible as the top layer. There are also layers of flint – the supercooled liquid leached out of chalk to form globules. The Except Visitors’ Centre has an exhibition on the development of the cliffs and river.

Seaford Museum in Martello Tower No 74, on the front at Seaford, is the most westerly of a chain of 103 similar fortifications running from Aldeburgh on the east coast. It was built in 1806 against a threatened Napoleonic invasion and houses the Seaford Museum of Local History. The Museum is usually open on Sundays and Bank Holidays from 11am to 4pm, and in summer also on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2pm until 4pm. The Museum closed in October 2017 for refurbishment and reopened in October 2018. Entrance fee (2020) is £2.50.

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© Club Hiking in London. Ltd (CASC) in collaboration with Saturday Walkers Club.

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This walk is described by some as the best walk in Book 1, and it is certainly a contender, but, like 'Roses', it's difficult to chose one...

This is the first walk, however, that this walker has repeated, but that decision was mainly due to the poor quality of the first mobile video.

Around 14.5 miles long, it passes briefly through Firle Park, before entering the pretty village of Firle. There's then a good climb to the 217m Firle Beacon, where some fine views are enjoyed over lunch.

The South Downs Way is then followed into Alfriston, where a pub lunch is possible, and there's a delightful church. Then, its along the bank of the Cuckmere river before a stroll through Friston Forest. Emerging from here, the walker is then presented with the wonderful view that is Cuckmere Haven.

On past Exceat Visitor Centre, there's a choice of ways to the beach at Cuckmere Haven, with its fine views of the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs. These are a real spectacle, and well worth pausing for, even having a paddle in the cooling sea.

Thereafter, it's on along the Vanguard Way, with it's coastal views, past a golf course and so into the resort of Seaford.

The weather has been kind to this walker on both occasions, but a great walk at any time of the year! The variety of downland, meadows, river, forest and coast is a great combination.

A delightful 14.5 mile walk over the South Downs via West Firle, Alfriston, Exceat and the Cuckmere valley.Onward past Cuckmere Haven, with views of The Seven Sisters, along the Vanguard Way and through Seaford Head Nature Reserve.

(N.B. Poor quality sound due to strong winds and use of mobile phone video).