2026 Lewes to Lewis

Sally had a meeting planned in London so Eastbourne has been planned as a rest day. Ideal!!  With Sally safely on the train,  I did the touristy thing and had an open-top bus tour of the sights of Eastbourne. The bus climbed steeply up the hill out of Eastbourne towards Beachy Head and Birling Gap in a brisk wind.   A s we'll be walking the Severn Sisters tomorrow, this  sneak preview didn't fill me with glee. Sitting on the top of an open topped bus, I was freezingly cold by the time I got back. To warm up, I disappeared into a Cafe Fresco on Terminus Rd where I overheard and couldn't avoid getting involved in a conversation about this evening's World Cup qualifier between Kosovo and Turkey which was really testing the split loyalties of the proprietor and his staff. I'll certainly listen out for the score. Eastbourne has two lifeboats, including a shop and museum. On duty this afternoon were Liz and Mike.  They run a busy shop and a museum commemorating t...

There'd been a storm overnight and though our seaward facing windows were rattling, they can't have been rattling enough to disturb our sleep. There's a rather down-at-heel feeling about Hastings seafront. Many of the buildings don't look as though they're  faring that well in their relentless battle with the weather.  The streets in St. Leonards - two miles along the coast - particularly away from the seafront have a more 'alternative vibe' and give the impression of f aring rather better. Bexhill on Sea claims to be the birthplace of British motor racing with events dating back to 1902. At Cooden beach, a solitary figure was scattering ashes into the breeze. The winds here must blow strong - the beach huts have to be tethered down. A little further along we came across a group flying large home made tissue-paper kites - their altitude seemingly only limited by the length of string which they unwound from a large spool as the kites launched into the sky. ...

With the prospect of a longer walk today, we had an early breakfast and were out to enjoy Rye in bright sunshine and a gentle breeze. There were few others around and we almost had the streets to ourselves. Our route for today. My apparel for the day now includes Barrie and Sheila's oyster shell from Whitstable. After  leaving Rye, we walked along the Royal Military Canal and came across a Stanton shelter dating from 1942. These were of prefabricated concrete panels that could be bolted together. This one was used to provide shelter for the men organising a Starfish decoy - made up of lights and fires set up in the middle of fields - a long way from habitations to mislead and confuse Luftwaffe pilots into believing that they were flying over a burning town and thus drop further bombs - out of harms way. Along the Royal Military Canal we came to the ruins of Camber Castle.  Commissioned by Henry VIII, he realised that the location could defend the whole of the estuary. Today, a...