L2L Day 7 Eastbourne

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.  As 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 those who initiated the idea of a lifeboat to serve the perilous coastline around Beachy Head including ' Mad Jack' Fuller


who in 1822 commissioned the first purpose built lifeboat before the establishment of the RNLI two years later.

Further along the seafront I met Cathy, Rosalind and Colin some of the Friends of Wilmington Gardens. 


It had been Cathy's idea initially, having seen the green area outside their flats slowly becoming unkempt. They were busily weeding a large area of green that been taken over with invasive wood sorrel - Oxalis which was inhibiting the growth of other plants. The Friends have become an effective lobby group and will be celebrating their first birthday on April 1st with a party in the gardens and a cake.

Cathy told me to look out for the Lawn Gardens near the pier which have been replanted with more drought tolerant plants. The garden has become jokingly known as the Rod Stewart garden because of the similarity to his hair style!


I went on to the Towner gallery 

to see the permanent exhibition of JMW Turner's watercolours 


and a permanent exhibition of Eric Ravillious 



including some excellent woodcuts by his wife Tirzah Garwood.


I'd not previously heard of The Towner. It's clearly very popular with 3 floors of galleries devoted to current British art alongside the big names but also with an art cinema and restaurant.


Eastbourne seems to have a number of buildings that are Listed or are of some historical significance, the Redoubt - built to defend against French invasion, the Railway Station - Grade 2 listed, the Grand Hotel - where it's believed that Debussy composed La Mer, while staying there with his pregnant mistress !! and the bandstand that will sit 2000 people. However the one that caught my eye was the Bohemian - of which I know no history but looks nice.






Comments

  1. Jill and Neil - interrailing for seniors1 April 2026 at 01:24

    Some top tips here for when we visit Eastbourne in May! (eg don’t catch the open top bus when it’s cold and windy!) Many thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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