Seven Sisters - Sussex

Why on earth was I concerned about the weather? Clearer & even warmer than yesterday - perfect day for a cliff-top stroll!
Left the van in Eastbourne, close to the pier, & caught a bus out to Exceat & the Seven Sisters Country Park Visitors Centre, the point from which we'd headed back inland to Alfriston yesterday

Morning view of Eastbourne Pier, all looking deceptively quiet! The bus was packed, the town was busy & it was almost an hour after we parked up that we actually set out walking!

Extravagant meanders of the River Cuckmere as it winds across the flood plain
Yesterday we walked up the far side to the 'Golden Galleon' & lunch
Today we followed the equally extravagant South Downs Way which, instead of following the river, climbs up & down every conceivable foothill on its way to the coast!

Beautiful Cuckmere Valley flood plain

Seaford Head & coastguard cottages - yesterday's cider & chocolate spot!
The man-made shingle bank, constructed in the 19th century along with the levees alongside the river, are now being allowed to erode naturally
Rising sea-levels will return the flood-plain to the estuary it once was

Off on the wonderful roller-coaster walk out to Beachy Head - nowhere near as tough as it looks it should be! Short, sharp descents & quick ascents with rarely more than half a dozen level steps at the top & bottom of each!

Looks quiet but that's just a photographic illusion! Several Junior School groups were strung out across the uphill bits (never seemed to see them going down!) whilst hordes of older Spanish students cavorted downhill (never seemed to see them going up!)
Watched them returning to their coaches as we sat in the garden of the 'Beachy Head' pub!

Precariously situated cottages at Birling Gap

First intended pub stop was to be at the Birling Gap Hotel, a wonderful Victorian colonial villa-style establishment fondly remembered from previous excursions
It's shut!
Bought by the National Trust, they've closed the bar & opened a cafe that charged us £4.20 for a coke & an apple juice; if we'd had the car they'd have charged us £4 for that as well. An outdoor stall offered over-priced trinkets & tat. The web-site tells me there should have been a fish & chip van there as well
I thought the National Trust were about conservation & preservation not desecration & exploitation
A sad spot

                      Beachy Head


At 530', the highest chalk sea-cliff in Britain
The lighthouse was built as recently as 1902, mainly because the beam from the original cliff-top Belle Tout light (1834) was often lost in mist!

Beer of the Day: with the 'Birling Gap Hotel' closed we repaired to the 'Beachy Head' & they'd obviously had a busy day! Sold out of 2 of their 3 ales, they could only offer 'London Pride' - opted instead for Aspall's, one of my favourite ciders!

Highlight of the Day: met & chatted to a couple from Epping in the 'Beachy Head' garden who were half an hour or so away from completing the South Downs Way walk. Compared notes on different long-distance routes & it brought back a few memories..... !

A sunnier, end-of-day view of Eastbourne Pier!

The last time I was in Eastbourne several of the grand seafront hotels were closed & a couple were boarded-up; in fact, the whole place looked rather drab & run down. Very different now - much smarter, brighter & looking well-kept

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): Kevin Coyne's 'Eastbourne Ladies'

Alfriston - Sussex

Our post-LeJog 'holiday' break & we've headed to the south, staying at Norman's Bay near Pevensey Bay, just 50 yards from the beach..... well, Les said she wanted to come to the seaside!
This bit of the Pevensey Levels was actually underwater in 1066 so they won't have landed exactly here but it is believed they came ashore somewhere nearby; we're close to a couple of Martello Towers so this must have been terra firma by the end of the 18th century.
Quite renowned for its place in smuggling history & the link with local pubs, I'll return to that later....!

Lovely first morning so we thought we'd better go for the lot just in case this turns out to be the best day! Attractive village, South Downs, rolling farmland, woods, spectacular cliff-top, gentle riverside, Country Park & a couple of fine pubs - hard work these holidays!

14th century Church of St Andrew, Alfriston - known as 'the Cathedral of the Downs'
Nearby is the original vicarage which, in 1896, became the first property ever bought by the National Trust
Les was quite keen to visit but we'll be back here in a few days with a shorter walk on the agenda




Brilliant spot to walk from with a network of paths quickly & easily leading on to the Downs
Should have taken containers to pick blackberries, the bushes here are still hanging heavy with fruit, though not quite sure what we'd have done with them in the van. Lots of sloes about, too - bit of a contrast with last Sunday's sparse offerings in Derbyshire
Above: Rathfinny & Rachfinny Farms, neatly-sited on the chalky Downs

Seaford Bay & the entrance to Newhaven Ferry Port from South Hill. Hadn't walked here since a very wild, wet & windy day on the 'Coastals'. Another sharp contrast!

Highlight of the Day: what a place for a cider & chocolate stop! I remember, at Junior School, being made to learn & recite the names of each of the Seven Sisters & the hollows between them... but that's at least 50 years ago! Other than Birling Gap at the end & Belle Tout lighthouse above it, I'm struggling... though I think Les was impressed even with that!

Much photographed view of the coastguard cottages at Cuckmere Haven backed by the chalk cliffs
Built by the navy in 1818, they became a coastguard station in 1840 &, in World War II, were frequently attacked by enemy bombers & fighter planes
This route, up the River Cuckmere to Alfriston, was what the early 19th century militia sought to block to smugglers. They had limited success until c1830 when Stanton Collins, leader of the notorious Alfriston gang, was convicted of sheep rustling & transported to Australia

My birthday today so I took Les out for a meal at lunchtime & then bought her a cream tea at 'Ye Olde Smugglers Inn' at Alfriston. Here I am at the 'Golden Galleon', Exceat Bridge, trying to remember what we did on her birthday 3 weeks ago!

Beer of the Day: seemed a bit strange to be served a pint of Nethergate's 'Essex Border', brewed just down the road from us in Pentlow! Golden & very drinkable, like several Nethergate beers I've tried this is stronger than it tastes!

Our return to Alfriston took us past the Litlington White Horse - it seems that little is known of its origins other than that it was first cut in the middle of the 19th century & this is a replacement, dating from the 1920s!

Back in Alfriston & only time to sample 1 of its 3 interesting-looking pubs - despite its name 'Ye Olde Smugglers Inn' is excellent &, given that it was once the home of Stanton Collins, can probably be forgiven!
Interesting Footnote: Eleanor Farjeon was living in Alfriston in 1931 when she wrote the well-known 'Morning has Broken'

Lumsdale - Peak District

Yesterday (Saturday) was brewing day; Les & I visiting Nutbrook Brewery in West Hallam, Derby to cook up our own 'original' ale under the tutelage of Dean Richards! All done in his garage.... though they have expanded the business into the outbuildings of a nearby farm

Brilliant day &, as well as being great fun, I learned why many of those LeJog beers taste as they do - now all we have to do is wait, patiently, for the outcome!
Left: carefully adding the calculated & weighed measure of Early Hops






Decided to use cheap labour for the heavy work!
Les taking a break from supervisory duties & photo-taking

In a few weeks we should have 72 bottles of a fine commemorative ale celebrating, amongst other things, Land's End to John o' Groats!

Working 'recipe' board with evidence of all that hard work put in during Wednesday evening's beer-tasting session

Many thanks to Jamie & Andy for an excellent gift - hope ours is as good as 'Monsta Mash'!

Hadn't seen much of Jamie & Andy since our arrival on Wednesday evening, partly because of beer but mostly because we'd been out walking whilst they were at work, so decided to go for a short wander this morning before returning home along a route Jamie found in a 'Pub Walks' book
It's a circular from Tansley; she's walked & enthused about it before & had been trying to get us to do it for some time....

Glorious morning & lots of people out & about in the village: church-goers, gardeners, dog-walkers, strollers & a whole horde of Dads & Sons gearing up for Sunday-morning football

Began by gently winding up & around the wooded Tansley Knoll; lovely views across the Derwent Valley but nothing to even hint at the sights to come!

Tansley's wealth during the Industrial Revolution came from the quarrying of grit mill-stones but that does really feel centuries away until the walk swings down into Lumsdale, passes a row of mill-workers cottages & reaches this old dammed mill-pond: the largest & best-preserved of the 5 which once stepped in series down Bentley Brook to the Derwent

Highlight of the Day: Industrial Heritage gone mad! And I didn't even know they existed!
The Lumsdale Valley mills pre-date their more famous neighbours at Cromford but they owe their spectacular preservation to the Arkwright Society
Above Left: wheel-pit of 1850s grinding mill, immediately below the dammed pond - curiously, the millstone, which can still be seen alongside the building, was quarried in France!
Above Right: Bentley Brook taking the first of its big steps through the mill complex

Remains of Paint Mill: one of the oldest in the valley & variously used for lead smelting, grinding corn & bleaching before being modified to grind barytes for the paint industry
The chimney base links to an underground heating system used for drying the mineral

One of the tail-races which returned 'used' water to the river

And the only real 'survivor'; Bentley Brook continues to rush beteen the rocks on its way into the valley
Absolutely superb - almost unbelievable that something like this can exist & not be widely known

Beer of the Day: finished the morning's adventurous short stroll at 'The Tavern at Tansley' where I sampled a pint of Masham's 'Black Sheep', an increasingly popular beer in the south. Have had this on several occasions & the last couple of times it has been far from impressive. This was spot on!

Only failing of the day: apparently, we were supposed to be picking sloes for sloe gin.....!

Alstonefield (2) - Peak District

Back in Alstonefield for the 2nd part of our old people's stroll around Dovedale.... my 'Big Hills' book suggests that yesterday's & today's walk should be done as one expedition & they also include Bunster Hill which we chickened-out of in the late afternoon. There'd be no reason to come back if you did it all in one go!

Poor weather forecast: cooler, heavy cloud with early showers giving way to persistent rain - perhaps not the best to be out & about in the hills but if others were looking at the forecast I thought it could deter them & we might manage a reasonably quiet day in Dovedale itself..... an ambition of mine!

In any case, at least half the walk would be in the shelter of the Dale - only problem was the descent to Coldeaton Bridge from the relative height of Alstonefield & just the view of this had terrified my knees yesterday!


Opposite Gipsy Bank, our route down, is Nettly Knowe; a barrow excavated by Thomas Bateman in 1845
He unearthed a skeleton, burnt flint artefacts, a bronze dagger & pieces of jet

Tee-shirt weather down here in the valley but even the sight of a couple of scantily-clad old fogies didn't startle this keen fisherman - just as on LeJog, Les was convinced this was a plastic heron until it opened its beak & snarled at us for scaring its prey!

The old fogies, by the way, were an elderly pair making their way upstream!

View back up Dovedale from Shining Tor, our first summit of the day. We returned later, albeit from a different direction, when it became our penultimate summit! To the right, towards the top of the picture, are Iron Tors where we joined the river at Coldeaton Bridge - not surprisingly, an old mining area

Reynard's Cave can be found behind this huge limestone arch; nearby are the fantastic Dove Holes, Ilam Rock, Tissington Spires & Lovers Leap
It sounds like a walk for tourists and I have to say that on our last visit I was so busy avoiding rampant children, dogs, pushchairs, obsessive duck-feeders & photographers walking backwards that it was impossible to stand still long enough to appreciate the splendour of the valley though, in fairness, some of the above were accompanied by adults
If you can, come mid-week!

Second summit of the day - Thorpe Cloud

Ridiculously steep climb for such a small hill but well worth the effort

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): an album today! 'Bless its Pointed Little Head' - a late 60s live offering from Jefferson Airplane!

Dovedale's famous stepping-stones; last time we were here people were queuing to cross whilst the aforementioned dogs & children just splashed through the river
Track behind Les is the deceptively gentle start of the Thorpe Cloud route - I remember well the first time I walked here, in the early 70s I think, when the stones were under water & the riverside path inaccessible!

Looking across to Bunster Hill from Thorpe Cloud
This was to have been our 3rd summit but the sky was darkening, it looked awfully steep &, besides, we were getting thirsty!
Cut across to the village of Thorpe & the 'Dog & Partridge' where we'd paused when walking the 'Tissington Trail' a couple of years ago..... Closed!
Sign says open 12-3 but they'd closed early; a common occurrence according to the lady in the garage but she was able to supply us with cider & chocolate! These pubs had better watch out!

Highlight of the Day: views in all directions from Thorpe Cloud - we'd been incredibly lucky with the weather & to share the summit with only 4 young men, clearly engaged in a longer trek than us, was a bonus






Thorpe Cloud isn't actually as high as any of the mountains we scaled yesterday but then we were climbing from the relatively high village of Alstonefield instead of scrambling up & hobbling back down to the River Dove!

Looking back up Dovedale from the summit of Thorpe Cloud

Once in Thorpe we were committed to a walk back over the hills to the east of Dovedale which is how we came to climb Shining Tor for the 2nd time! One last big 'up' to go, from Milldale to Alstonefield & the car. I raced ahead to order drinks; Les, arriving 3 or 4 minutes later, was caught in the first tremendous cloudburst of the day!

Beer of the Day: very good pint of Jennings 'Cumberland Ale' - an old favourite which some pubs, somehow, manage to spoil. 'The George', of course, was open because it's Friday! Ironically there were only 4 people in the pub, many fewer than had been turned away from the busy garden when they closed at 3.00 yesterday! Q.E.D!

Alstonefield (1) - Peak District

Back in Derby for a few days on account of the forthcoming weekend's brewing adventure (details & pictures to follow!) - spent last night tasting beer & concocting a recipe. With both Jamie & Andy at work today what else was there for us to do but head for the hills?!

Mid-week, middle of September seemed like a good time to return to the often ridiculously-busy Dovedale area, though in deference to my battle-scarred knees we decided to split the walk into a couple of easier 'circulars' centred on the attractive village of Alstonefield - a cluster of plaques on the Village Hall recording numerous Best Kept Village awards!

Green Well, Alstonefield - source of domestic water until the Mains supply arrived in 1957

Plan (& we stuck to it!) was to conquer the hills to the north of the village & so we set off in gloriously warm weather for nearby Wetton
So many inter-linking paths here that we kept bumping into walkers we'd seen at the start but who had headed off in different directions!


     Gateham Hill - this was to be summit No.2!

Ye Olde Royal Oak, Wetton

Beer of the Day: a pint of 'Sir Philip' from the Wincle Brewery (Cheshire) - a sharp, amber bitter if, again, a bit cloudy! Good - worth trying; quite satisfying in the warmth!

Climbed Wetton Hill (left), then Gateham Hill (the highest), Narrowdale Hill & Gratton Hill in quick succession
No footpaths, though, just Open Access Ground so it was a bit steep & rough in places... you just have to choose the best line!



No real choice on Narrowdale Hill; a herd of cows, some with very tiny calves, blocked my intended route & they weren't very happy even though we didn't encroach within 20 yards or so!
Left us with no alternative but to tackle the steepest ascent which led straight to a high stone-walled enclosure & a detour back downhill before we could approach the summit!
Didn't seem fair really!

View from Gratton Hill into the head of Dovedale, beginning of tomorrow's walk

My knees are already trembling in anticipation! Aaargh!

                                   Impeccable timing saw us get back to 'The George' in Alstonefield at 2.59, 1 minute before closing time!
For that I was grateful but why on earth is a pub closing when it has a garden full of customers?
I can only imagine that they must be making lots of money without needing to make lots of effort.....

Highlight of the Day: finished early enough to visit the famous Cheese Shop in Hartington - no factory here now but still purveyors of excellent wares!



Came away with chilli & lime, garlic & mushroom, blue cheese with black pepper & a curious pineapple creation. Those lost LeJog pounds will be back soon!

Above Left: well-dressing season in Hartington
Above Right: fewer customers at the 'Charles Cotton Hotel' but still serving! Cotton was a close friend of Izaak Walton, famous author of 'The Compleat Angler' - his fishing lodge still stands on the Dove, not far from the village

Abdon Burf, Brown Clee Hill - Shropshire

Have spent a few days this week staying at Ian & Carol's house in Bridgnorth while they're away on holiday. We've been visiting Les' Mum, who is in hospital, but managed to squeeze in this morning jaunt to Brown Clee.... in between the weather!

The forecast was horrendous & it didn't disappoint! Frequent heavy downpours with gale-force winds, which proved to be particularly challenging on Abdon Burf, highest point in Shropshire!

View across the Shropshire Plain from above Cleobury North

Still in some kind of fools' paradise as we followed a track sweeping around in the lee of the hill with views across to The Wrekin putting other jaunts in mind! The walk started in earnest when we reached the bridleway (below) where the 'old' & 'new' versions of The Shropshire Way come together & there was nothing left to do but go uphill!

Met 4 gents at the top of this rise, the 'Wednesday Walkers'! They were following the Shropshire Way & appeared to be engaged in some debate about the new & old routes, determined not to leave the summit of Abdon Burf until they'd walked every inch of both; having seen the slightly different waymarking signs on our way up we were able to help!

I was more interested in the views away to the left where the Long Mynd was almost hidden by rainclouds; it's only a few weeks since I was photographing the ridge from the far side, close to the Welsh border

Had we been more determined the next bit of our walk was along here, the Brown Clee Ridge, but I felt the wisdom of a tactical withdrawal coming on..... probably because I was struggling to stand upright!

Huddled in a hollow beneath the summit we met a couple of amateur radio buffs (their own description) battling with aerial & transmitter gear, talking to colleagues dotted about on other hills - good to see that there are other people with little time for text-messaging, MSN & all that other nonsense!

Song of the Day (an occasional series!): 'Open the Airwaves' by Lowgold

Highlight of the Day: on returning to the car we met a gent walking his 12-year-old black Labrador, Oscar, who was quite clearly on his own walk & ignoring all instructions!
Owner: "He thinks you can do as you like when you're old"
Me: "You can, can't you?"
With apologies to Les' Mum, I couldn't help but remember some of our conversations in the hospital!

Beer of the Day: stopped for a pint on our way back to Bridgnorth at 'The Down Inn', another link to LeJog as it stands on the Jack Mytton Way (in addition to his other 'interests' Mad Jack was a keen racehorse owner &
                                                            notorious gambler!).
Enjoyed a pint of Hobson's 'Twisted Spire': good, light, gently hoppy & refreshing
Must return to complete this ridge-walk &, I suspect, we might eat here - it looks good!

Wenlock Edge was umbered, And bright was Abdon Burf, And warm between them slumbered The smooth green miles of turf - A E Housman