Category: Coastal walks

Beachy Head Lighthouse Challenge 2023.

This walk is organised by The Rotary Club. There is a cost of £8.50 with money going to different charities, including the RNLI and also towards the upkeep of the lighthouse’s famous red and white stripes.

There are very few days when it is possible to walk around the lighthouse as it must be during spring tides and when it is light enough.

The meeting point was at the foot of the Downs by St. Bede’s school in Eastbourne. We then proceeded up the lane for approximately half a mile to Whitbread Hollow where we checked in. Once checked-in, we set off across the Downs to Cow Gap, down the steps to the beach and over the rocks, boulders, sand and slippery seaweed to the lighthouse.

It was a fairly strenuous walk; the beach part the hardest. You could go right up to the lighthouse and climb the steps up onto the base. Stewards were there counting people on and off, ten at a time. Stewards were also strategically placed along the route, as were paramedics and the RNLI shoreside.

Beachy Head is a notorious suicide spot in the South Coast and the sad part of the walk as we came closer to the lighthouse along the cliff base was the rusted remnants of car parts caught in the rocks. We had a silent moment of contemplation for those who had been driven to such drastic measures.

On return, all participants received a certificate to authenticate that we were one of the few people who have undertaken the “Lighthouse Challenge”.

It was a beautiful still and sunny evening for this unusual walk in a beautiful part of the South Coast.

Hollywood, Vegas and the Grand Canyon. #2

Beverly Hills was the first stop on day three of the Road Trip.

Home of the rich and famous; the residents value their privacy, so no loitering allowed, the cops will quickly move you on. Apart from this photo shoot spot.

Peace and love
Ringo Starr
In front of the Police department in Beverly Hills, California (Beverly Hill Cop fame)

Next stop Hollywood.

Larger-than-life symbol of the entertainment business, but essentially a neighborhood in California; Hollywood.

Bustling and hustling, it was all a bit frantic.

There was the Hollywood Walk of Fame. An historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard.

Pink stars on the pavement. Could be seen as distinctly underwhelming, however find your favourite film star/ celebrity and let the nostalgia wash over you. Above is my nostalgia trip from the ones I stumbled across. Impossible to look for specific stars. Never did find Elvis! And below some more memorabilia:

On to Santa Monica and the lovely pier and promenade with its chic restaurants and bars.

From a rock guitar soloist to a crazy Hare Krishna group that walked up and down singing loudly and cutting across everything else and the noises of the funfair, the pier was a cacophony of sound. I drank it all in then moved to the relative peace of the promenade, walking and absorbing the beautiful coastal views.

Santa Monica is also the historic end of Route 66.

It was a relaxing sight-seeing day. Lunch was a tasty Hotdog (Kraut) at the Santa Monica Farmers Market, a foodies paradise:

Farmers Market

Firle Country Estate.

Last weekend we took a walk on the Firle Country Estate near Lewes in East Sussex. Firle Place is a privately owned country house in Sussex that dates from the time of Henry VIII. Incorporating several villages and farms spread over rolling hills, the Firle Estate, is in the heart of the magnificent South Downs National Park.

https://firle.com/

The Estate incorporates the Old Coach Road, which dates from over 1000 years ago and is the original road running from the Beddingham to Newhaven Road at the Lay, just south of Beddingham Church, to Firle.

The Old Coach running through Firle.

It was a fabulous walk over sweeping downland. We are right in the cusp of the shooting season so there were pheasants and partridge a plenty. We finished the walk of with a pint of cider in Village pub.

Home

A perfect autumn Sunday!

The Lord Lucan Experience.

Another walk from the ‘Cheeky Walks in Brighton & Sussex’ book by Tim Bick, David Bramwell and John Ashton. This one was in Newhaven, East Sussex and followed the last steps of Lord Lucan- a cad and a bounder who in 1974 reportedly killed the nanny, abandoned his car outside 26 Norman Road in Newhaven and then walked into the sea never to be seen again. There are lots of alternative theories as to his disappearance but this one is the one we are going with on this walk.

Besides the car abandoned road, we walked along the stretch of beach where he folded his clothes and left them in a neat pile before drowning himself; an industrial deep water working port;two disused railways; the eerie and deserted village of Tide Mills and up to the underground New Haven Fort.

Tide Mills.
Industrial Newhaven Port
Norman Road Newhaven where Lucan’s borrowed, bloodstained Ford Corsair was found abandoned.
The Pier head where two fisherman reported seeing Lucan walking on the beach.
Wooden bird viewing wall.
Newhaven Cormorant statue by Derry Mountford.

It was a figure of eight walk that felt longer than it’s six miles, but covered the majority of Newhaven.

And Lord Lucan… is he dead or alive? Did he feign his own death or could he not live with the guilt; or the fear of boing caught? Retrace his final steps and form your own conclusion.

Castle of la Punta de Amber. Mallorca.

The Castle of la Punta de Amer is a 17th century fortification located in Sant Lorenzo des Cardessar on the island of Mallorca. The sandstone structure was built in the late 17th century, and is now a protected site.

A great walk through the coastal nature reserve to get there. A small castle fortress with a local cafe for refreshments after the walk. Lots of feral cats and kittens around!

Cala Millor Sand Dunes.

Today I walked the Nature reserve between Sa Coma and Cala Millor – and found a different landscape of sand dunes- something I wasn’t expecting.

I thought the day was chilly, so changed shorts and T-shirt for trousers and sweatshirt. Found it was hot and went and changed. Half way along the route it went black and rained heavily!

The area was interesting. It is a breeding area for the loggerhead turtle, a protected species that lives in the Balearic Sea They come from different nesting areas in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. In recent years they have increased nesting on the Spanish coast. Climate change is causing a natural dispersion of sea
turtles that are leaving their usual nesting areas in search of other cooler ones.

The Dunes are in the process of being regenerated and there were lots of wild flowers.

The walk followed the coastline and passed through a farm. The walk showed a different Cala Millor to the beach, hotels and restaurants. I was uplifted following the tracks and listening to the bird song.

Groovin in the Ghost Village. (Cheeky Walks in Brighton & Sussex).

Another walk today from the Cheeky Walks in Brighton and Sussex book- this time across rolling downland around Woodingdean, ‘crossing the abandoned ghost village of Balsdean, evacuated and destroyed by Canadian artillery training practice during World War Two’.

Abandoned farm buildings, sheep and the Amex Stadium (home of Brighton and Hove Albion FC) made up the landscape. It was a grey November day, but a good trek across the chalk land all the same. According to the book you needed to walk it to the sound track of Brighton musical duo Grasscut’s album 1 inch/ 1/2 mile- apparently a ‘musical romp through the Sussex landscape’. Incidentally Grasscut also designed the route.