Seven Sisters - The Long Trek To Eastbourne Part 2
There's a lot more to do in Seven Sisters Country Park
than stare at giant chalky white cliffs. There are walks, cycle routes, bird watching, canoeing, sailing, fishing and so much more.
The day had got even more beautiful than expected. The walk from the visitors centre to the sea front itself is so nice, many people go there just for that alone. Lush green meadows with grazing livestock, birds of different feathers flocking in the air, and very picturesque vegetation are all enough to fulfil anyone visiting for photography. Not to mention the colourful canoes and what was happening in the sky with the clouds.
We followed a common path to the sea front along the rivers, ponds and grasslands at the end of which we arrived at an even larger beach. It was a little tricky to cross over to the right side of the river to get on the beach. The decision had to be made earlier in the trek when the road forked into two. We were lucky, otherwise we’d have had to walk back for about a mile or so to take the correct path. Either that, or brave crossing the river.
At the beach front, where the rivers meet the sea, many of the same canoe paddlers had arrived before us. It would seem they took the faster transportation (faster than our feet). They took the more fun one for sure - I’ll give them that.
There was a bit of tourist attraction on the other side of the river, but we weren’t able to go see it again due to it being on the other side of the river, so we carried on to the beach.
Ah! The cliffs were looking even more magnificent at that time of the day - whiter whites, creamier creams and bluer blues. So naturally we stopped to take some more photos from the beach perspective before finally heading up the very steep cliff top.
There are two ways of getting on the cliffs - gradually via the ramp-like part of the land (recommended), or quickly up the steep end near the front (not recommended, in fact, frowned upon). We took the non-recommended route, of course.
Once on the cliffs, we were met with stunning vistas of the sea. The open sky and grasslands also made for epic photos. The higher we went on the cliff the more epic everything became. The visitors centre was now a dot in the distance.
The beach looked even better from above. And we spent more than sensible time just looking at it, and watching birds flying around above the beach. The birds were above the beach, but we were above the birds. It’s always surreal to watch birds flying below you.
Turning around to face our trek route, we could see other people in the distance, and a tower structure miles and miles away. It suddenly dawned on us how long we had to go and how much time we’d wasted taking photos. We also suddenly got really envious of those on bicycles.
And so we soldiered on - mile after mile, up and down the cliffs. On the way we saw dogs that seemed to be there by themselves. We saw groups of birds walking (instead of flying).
For the first time in England, I saw a snake in the wild!
We finally arrived ‘half way’, or at least some kind of point of interest where the other humans were touristing and instagramming way. It seemed rather dangerous to me, but people were getting a little close to the edge for my comfort.
There are signs everywhere warning where the cliff edges are - beyond which your safety isn't guaranteed. Yikes! There was one point where you could safely see over the cliff down to the water. I braved it for a couple of shots. I did it for Art. I did it for Science.
We sat there for a while to have lunch and watch the sea. It was truly calming to watch the waves and birds, as well as boats sailing in the distance.
There was this particular sail boat that was calmly floating across the horizon as if with no care in the world. So tranquil as the world rushed around it - taking it’s time. I remember wondering how much patience must be required to sail like that. You can’t be in a hurry.
To the left we could see a lighthouse near the shore which I later learnt was the Beachy Head Lighthouse. It was so tricky to get a good photo of it though. We wondered if there was a way of going down to it, perhaps by boat.
At that point, we were starting to run out of time. We decided to step on the gas a bit. After lunch we basically went into full speed trek mode in a bid to make it to Eastbourne before late. After passing what looked like a private lighthouse-like tower, we basically stopped taking photos until we arrived at Eastbourne. Instead we just took in the ambience and wished we had bicycles.
It was a little sad to think many of the structures we saw along the way will sooner or later come tumbling down into the water as the cliff edge encroaches inland.
We finally arrived at Eastbourne after a couple of hours. We were tired and totally worn out, but it was all worth it. We decided to go have a drink (or something) on the pier before returning to the hotel to finish off the day.
To our surprise, not only was everything closed on the pier, there wasn’t a human soul to be seen anywhere on the actual pier. There was one man fishing off the metallic structure at the end of the pier, as well as a young couple underneath. We thought it quite strange and eery and promptly called it a day.
📓 Read Part 1 of the trip
Peace and Love ✌🏿
Adé
All copy and photos are original content by me.
© adetorrent.com
Those photos are stunning.
I read a terrible news report recently about a young woman who accidentally fell to her death from those cliffs as she was jumping in the air for a photo a bit too close to the edge.
Thank you very much.
That's a pretty sad story, but I can imagine how it happened. People constantly do stuff like that there :(
Beautiful picture and beautiful post .
Thank you
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Hello...
Pic is nice....
And this is beautiful place...
Hello @adetorrent, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
Thank you very much.