You forget how small England is. I left Gatwick Airport and was in Brighton within 25 minutes. Checked in at the Travelodge and then had a good walk around Brighton. Decided to go back and get the car and have a little drive along the coast.
In the space of about five hours, I bumped into the Long Man of Wilmington, the Sussex Downs Coastal Walk, tiny villages connected by roads that wouldn’t take three ducks in a row and, ultimately, Beachy Head. Home in time for dinner and a few pints of beer. In any other country, managing all that in a short time would go into the Guinness Book of Records (maybe).
Click on “Read more” for a few photos of the afternoon trek.
I was heading towards Eastbourne in the hope of finding my way to Beachy Head when I saw a sign for the Long Man of Wilmington. It sounded vaguely familiar so I turned off the A27 and immediately found myself on a very narrow road heading to the tiny village of Wilmington and the ruins of Wilmington Priory which now provided a free car park. As I approached, I could clearly see the Long Man on Windover Hill, looking a bit like a flattened cross-country skier.
Long Man of Wilmington
A tiny village lost in time--either East Dean or West Dean!
Click on “Read more” for a few photos of the afternoon trek.
I was heading towards Eastbourne in the hope of finding my way to Beachy Head when I saw a sign for the Long Man of Wilmington. It sounded vaguely familiar so I turned off the A27 and immediately found myself on a very narrow road heading to the tiny village of Wilmington and the ruins of Wilmington Priory which now provided a free car park. As I approached, I could clearly see the Long Man on Windover Hill, looking a bit like a flattened cross-country skier.
I followed the footpath through lush green fields with overgrown hedges and arrived at the foot (feet?) of the Long Man. Nobody really knows how or when he came about. Theories range from a 4th century AD Anglo Saxon creation to the work of some medieval monk at the Priory or a Victorian folly of some sort.
When first “discovered” he was merely an indentation in the grass and had the features of a helmeted warrior with weapons. The Victorians filled in the outline with yellow bricks and today it is filled in with white concrete blocks. There are local rumors that he once had a male appendage and was a fertility symbol; and that the Victorians had got rid of this unwelcome aspect. Wherever he came from, he is very imposing and mysterious. I did not see another human being the whole time I was there and it did feel a little mystical.
To learn more about him have a look at: https://sussexpast.co.uk/properties-to-discover/the-long-man
Looking towards Birling Gap in search of Beachy Head
I followed this narrow lane onwards and, after a lot of back tracking, dead ends and loops, completely failed to find Beachy Head by car. But I did find my way to a point (Birling Gap) at which I could get onto the Sussex Downs Coastal Walk and make my way to Beachy Head by foot.
View of white cliffs on Sussex Heritage Coast
Looking back to the Birling Gap cliffs from the coastal footpath
Belle Tout lighthouse on way to Beachy Head
View from Belle Tout lighthouse garden
At last, Beachy Head came into view--along with a random crow
Beachy Head has the sad reputation of being one of the principal places to commit suicide in the UK. By the time I got right opposite the lighthouse, the wind was really blowing. I am sure that some of the fatalities are just tourists who get a bit too close to the edge. I have a fear of heights so went nowhere near the cliff. It was sufficient to know that you were on the highest chalk cliff in the UK without gazing over the white precipice.
Highest chalk cliff in UK at 531 feet. I stuck to the footpath!
The name Beachy Head is evidently a corruption of the French words beau chef meaning “beautiful headland”. No doubt the Normans had something to do with the original name although, like many other foreign words, the English mangled them and then adopted them. (On the subject of the English language, I have been listening to Melvyn Bragg’s “The Adventure of English: The Biography of A Language” on audio, a fascinating account of how English came to be our language).
The above photo is courtesy www.wikipedia.com. I did not go para-gliding! Just wanted to show the whole coastal path that I walked along from Birling Gap (which is at the first glimpse of white cliff after the long expanse of white cliff in the foreground. If you look closely, you will see Belle Tout Lighthouse to the left on the headland towards the end of said long expanse of white cliff in the foreground.
An old mail box still in operation in Birling Gap
GR is “George Rex” probably George VI
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