Eastbourne to Jevington

The weather today in most of the UK was dry; unfortunately there was a persistent narrow band of rain in the south of England, precisely where we were walking. Even with this, we enjoyed the walk across attractive Downs. Without the rain and associated poor visibility, it would have been superb.

I’m getting ahead of myself; first of all we had to get to Eastbourne. We left home shortly after 8am and walked to our local station in West Norfolk, and we had a straightforward journey down to King’s Cross then across London to Victoria and out to Eastbourne. Last time we were here, at the end of the South Downs Way, it was bitterly cold. Today it was raining. So what’s all this about the Sunshine Coast? We went for a cup of tea in the little shopping arcade next to the Eastbourne Station and started walking from here at 1.15pm. First of all we headed through the town centre, which they appear to be digging up in order to pedestrianise it, to the pier, which by most accounts is the official start of the Wealdway. We wandered onto the pier to take some photographs, then we were off.

We walked back along the Promenade, with the sea and a shingle beach to our left and, across the road, a succession of large Victorian hotels. We passed the Bandstand and the RNRI Museum and, following the lower promenade, swept to the left beneath the ‘Wish Tower’, a prominent Martello Tower, with an advert for the cafe that is being rebuilt next door again telling us that Eastbourne is the sunniest town in the UK - not today it isn't! The South Downs were becoming more noticeable in front of us in the mist, and the promenade was departing company with the road, which was beginning to climb above us and to the right. We knew that our path onto the Downs left from the road, so we took a path through gardens to another promenade above and again onto the road. In fact there were plenty more of these little paths through the gardens, so we could have stayed on the lower promenade for longer, though then we’d have had a steeper climb. As it was, we steadily gained in height as we walked along the road.

We stopped at the toilet block in the Helen Garden, also using the opportunity to get out my walking poles and take off one layer of fleece, ready for the climb ahead. We reached the cafe ("The Kiosk") where the Downs reach the town, and the seat where we stopped last time we were here, at the end of the South Downs Way. There wasn’t a Wealdway sign here (and indeed, we didn’t encounter one for quite some time) but there was a newish South Downs Way sign, which we photographed instead.

The first few hundred yards of our walk today was up the hill we came down at the end of the South Downs Way and, even in the mist, good views to Eastbourne opened up behind us. We took a fork slightly to the right, following the inland "riders" route of the South Downs Way, rather than the coastal "walkers" route that we took two years ago. Just as the two routes parted company, we met another couple of rather wet walkers, just finishing the South Downs Way (they'd had good weather for most of it, which reminded us of our last day on the South West Coast Path after decent weather for most of it).

Our route along the top of the eastern edge of the Downs was straightforward, especially given that we were following South Downs Way signs and I'm sure that the views would have been superb in better weather. We passed a trig point and crossed a couple of roads, then walked aross the edge of the Eastbourne Downs Golf Club; not too much danger of being hit by a golf ball this afternoon, though a man was out with a large machine aerating one of the greens.

Just past another trig point, where Jevington is only something over a mile away on the direct South Downs Way route, we took a right hand turning. Note that the turning is NOT the one at the trig point, but slightly later. It was tempting to take the direct route, but we didn't and that was the right decision - from this point the walking, which had been good, became glorious, on a less rutted path and with (potentially at least) wonderful views to undulating downland in all directions. We reached the Butt's Brow car park where there was the first Wealdway sign that we had noticed.

We continued towards and then to the left along Combe Hill and so down into the village of Jevington. We emerged by The Eight Bells pub and followed the road to The Paddocks B&B. The road was narrow and so walking along it was somewhat scary, but the footpath we had been following seemed to head off into someone's garden; we discovered later that the path leads to the Church and from here there is an excellent track back to The Paddocks B&B. We survived the road, but obviously looked more than a little like drowned rats when we reached the B&B. Sheila Savage took us round to our own entrance into our very comfortable room, complete with cream carpet which we managed to avoid getting too muddy - though getting our walking boots to and from the bootbox outside the room with nothing else on our feet was a challenge. Sheila is more a horserider than a walker, but she was planning to walk the first section of the South Downs Way with her daughter at the end of the week, leaving others to look after her elderly parents. Sheila had thoughtfully booked us a table at The Eight Bells, though advised us to go early so as to avoid the rush on a quiz night. We didn't need encouragement and headed for our meal soon after 6pm, after an unsuccessful attempt to ring Richard's Mum. The meal was lovely and we managed to avoid the pub quiz, then returned to The Paddocks and read until bedtime.

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