The South Down Way that we stumbled on in the town of Alfriston actually starts 11 miles east where the chalk hills end at the sea. This creates a view of the "Seven Sisters" cliffs often wrongly named as the White Cliffs of Dover. This area near Eastbourne is called Beachy Head.
When we learned there were 2 lighthouses within 2 miles, we had to check it out with this longer walk on the South Down Way. The day was cold, and very windy on the high cliff path, but the views were incredible!
Our destination was the older, inactive Belle Tout LH on the distant hill. It was moved back about the same time as Cape Hatteras and is a home now. We were startled to discover that every ripple in the cliff edge was a sharp glen to walk down and climb back up. Progress was slow.
As you can see it just got more and more beautiful as we walked.
Being at the base of the hill before the chalk trail started was enough for us as the winds got stronger and colder, so we turned back towards the Visitor Center. There is only so much beauty you can take in.
As we returned the second lighthouse, Beachy Head, which is active and replaced Belle Tout came into view. It was much closer as we climbed down one of the glens. It was built in 1899--quite a feat for the times. Our earlier view of it from the cliff top shows the cliff heights.
No comments:
Post a Comment