Vole Explosion

Monday 14^th November 2022

ST LEONARDS TO EASTBOURNE

   Today I’m back on the walking – St Leonards to Eastbourne this time. So, after a huge breakfast I catch the train back to St Leonards. Something has gone terribly wrong at Southern Rail and the train leaves on time. I’ve a good mind to demand a refund.

   I left Eastbourne under a clear sunny sky, but it is now cloudy in St Leonards. The skies clear again by mid-morning and it becomes sunny again and suspiciously warm for November.

   The walking is easy here, with an excellent footpath running between the beach and the railway line. The tide is low, and at a place called Bulverhythe I go down onto the beach to look at the remains of a 4000-year-old forest.

   The path then climbs gently up some low, sandy cliffs, giving good views back towards Hastings and ahead to Eastbourne.

   I pass through Bexhill-on-Sea, which seems like a very pleasant town, especially in today’s warm sunshine. In the early 1900s, motor races were held along the seafront here and the town promotes itself as the birthplace of British motor racing.

   Just before midday it clouds over again and remains cloudy with sunny spells for the rest of the afternoon. It is still remarkably warm though, with just enough breeze to flutter the flags. I feel like I’ve overslept for a few months and woken up in early June. Quite a few people are even swimming in the sea.

   After Bexhill there’s a bit of road walking and then some shingle-plodding around the long sweep of Pevensey Bay. I pass a selection of Martello towers and make my first pub stop of the day – Aqua Bar, opening directly onto the beach and looking like someone has stuck a pub onto the front of their house.

   Eventually I reach Sovereign Harbour at the Eastern end of Eastbourne. A digger here is loading shingle into the back of a series of trucks, which then drive it away. I find out why in a few days. Skirting around the harbour, it’s a relief to be off the shingle and onto a firm substrate underfoot.

   Once around the marina it is an easy paved route all the way into Eastbourne. Along here I pass the interesting-looking sewage works. A man told me yesterday that it is known locally as ‘Poo Castle’, but I suspect he had cleaned that name up for me out of politeness, which hopefully is what they do to the sewage before it goes into the sea.

   I do my duty and enter The Crown and Anchor pub, a little way short of my hotel. While Hastings had too many pubs, Eastbourne doesn’t have enough. This seems to be the only proper pub on the seafront, and even the town centre doesn’t have many. It’s a strange seaside town. It doesn’t seem to have much to do. The town itself is just like any other similar sized town, but the seafront is just shoulder-to-shoulder hotels with nothing in between. A lot of the hotels are being used to house asylum seekers, with groups of young men sitting inside looking out of the windows or hanging around outside. Many of the hotels have their own bars but otherwise there are no pubs, amusement arcades, fun fairs, rock shops, souvenir shops, seafood stalls, or any of the usual stuff you would expect in a seaside town. It certainly isn’t somewhere to bring a young family, which probably explains why it has a reputation for elderly residents.

   To be fair, the population here isn’t as aged as I was expecting. While there is no shortage of elderly people (most apparently staying at my hotel) they are balanced out by other age groups. I was expecting bumper-to-bumper mobility scooters along the prom, but most visitors here seem to be capable of walking upright on their hind legs.

   The best thing here is still the lovely pier. I’m about 100m from it now and I can already see the Starling flocks gathering from my seat outside the pub. Too cloudy for a decent sunset tonight though.

   I had been looking forward to having fish and chips tonight but a couple of people in the pub are eating lamb shanks, and they look and smell delicious. I missed out on a Sunday roast yesterday, so I decide to have roast pork today. It’s a proper roast as well, with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, stuffing, gravy, apple sauce, cauliflower cheese and loads of different veg. A Sunday roast on a Monday! Whatever next? The World has gone totally, beautifully mad! I don’t even know where the line is anymore!

   Today’s walk was very easy and pleasant – pretty much entirely flat and with perfect weather. Tomorrow will be very different. Back at the hotel a few drops of light rain have started. Conditions are about to get a bit spicy.

14.8 miles; 23.8 km; 7 hours

Burlington Hotel, Eastbourne (£30)