1066 and all that...

I managed to take the bike on yet another holiday earlier this month, this time to a cottage on the East Sussex coast just inland from the village of Fairlight.  With the IronMan drawing ever closer (4th August) I have to keep up the training particularly the cycling which continues to be my weakest element.  So during the week, in between days walking and sightseeing with Sarah (wife) and Billy (the Spaniel) I was also able to squeeze in three 50 mile rides and show the SNCC colours to Sussex.

On the walking front, Sarah and I did two full days walking sections of the 1066 Country Walk path (LDWA).  The first walk took us up over the Fire Hills, hugging the coast via the Hastings Country Park and down into Hastings for lunch (mussels in Whites seafood restaurant – excellent) and then back inland via the village of Pett (see pubs below). The next day we headed inland and West, stopping for an early lunch in Icklesham and then onto the “Antient Town” of Winchelsea, returning via the Royal Military Canal path (built in fear of another European invasion by Napoleon) to Cliff End.

My first ride of the week started with the 10% gradient up Battery Hill, a descent into Hastings and then inland to Battle (see photo) where Harold “should have gone to specsavers”.  I then revisited two of the stops on our earlier walk, Icklesham and Winchelsea, the latter to find the grave of Spike Milligan (my father was a big fan) which does indeed say “I told you I was ill” only in Gaelic (see photo). I returned via the Pett Level road and finished the day with a choppy sea water swim.

The second ride was East along the coast to Brighton. I keep to the coast on the Sustrans National Route 2 for most of it taking inthe promenades of Hastings and then Bexhill-on-Sea (town with oldest average age – 66 centenarians) and across Normans Bay (where William landed his army) to Pevensey.  At Eastbourne I made a detour inland to meet up with Sarah and some friends in the area for lunch in Wilmington (site of the chalk Long Man).  After lunch I had a tough climb, crossing the South Downs way, to get back to the coast road and then a lumpy, tough ride into a 15 mph headwind through Seaford, Newhaven, Peacehaven and finally Brighton, where I again met Sarah and we had dinner with our daughter Hannah who is studying medicine at BSMS.

Finally, at the end of the week I headed West to visit some friends in the little hamlet of Barfrestone in Kent.  This was much the nicest ride, the sun was out and I had a slight tail wind. Again hugging the coast on the Sustrans route 2 and managing to bag 3 of the 5 “Cinque Ports” of Hastings New Romney and Hythe, but also the other “Antient Towns" of Rye (house of Henry James).  I had a quick detour across the Romney marshes to see the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Light Railwayand and at Dymchurch I cycled the entire length of the seawall bounded by Martello towers (Nos. 23 and 25). At Hythe I headed inland up Horn Lane, over the M20 and past the EuroTunnel terminal, and then a long, steep 10% climb up the aptly named Hill Lane. From here it was fabulous cycling through deserted Kent country lanes all the way to Barfrestone where Sarah and friends were waiting with a chilled glass of wine and BBQ.

Three recommended (dog friendly) real ale pubs and beers;
Two Saywers, Pett (Harveys Best Bitter) – great food!
Queens Head, Icklesham (Harveys and Green King IPA) - great views of Rye and beyond
The Giants Rest, Wilmington (Long Blonde, Long Man Brewery)

"I told you I was ill" - the epitaph on Spike's headstone