Sessex: Hastings to Pevensey Bay 4/6/2010

 

Hastings Pier and shingle beach   Beach after StLeonards   Thracia villosiuscula   Kaffir fig on Bexhill cliffs

At Hastings we walked west along the promenade, soon passing the derelict pier which is sadly closed, although there is an appeal to save it.  The beach was basically shingle and even though well used by holiday-makers sea kale still thrived along the whole length, unlike any other plant.  We were able to walk comfortably above the beach even beside the railway which came right to the front just past St. Leonard’s and West Marina.  At Glyne Gap we descended the piles of shingle at the top of the beach (which have so accumulated that they reach over the tops of the steps provided to descend from the promenade).  We could then walk along the sandy lower part of the shore because it was still close to low tide, collecting some shells seen for the first time this holiday, various top shells and winkles.  We picked up a Thracia villosiuscula that, though supposedly common, we had not seen since finding one in Northumbria.  Patches of hardened rock-like clay provided niches for sea creatures like beadlet anemone.  We came to the top of the beach again near Galley Hill because the groynes were becoming difficult to pass and firm sand was being invaded by the incoming tide.  We could still walk along the top comfortably under the low cliffs here and on to the front promenade of Bexhill.  Some gardens of seafront houses made good use of the shingle to make attractive gardens.  Low cliffs and garden walls were in some places festooned with mesembryanthemums (Kaffir fig), both red and yellow.  These were obviously seen as a nuisance, as in some places chemicals had been applied.  Only at the end of this town did the beach-top path end, so we sat down on the continuous concrete bench under the wall to have our lunch while we could.  The subsequent shingle was difficult and uncomfortable (especially for those who had acquired blisters from three weeks walking) and at times we chose to walk alongside a minor road that, apart from Norman’s Bay, kept close to the coast.  At Norman’s Bay we used a mixture of shingle beach and local tracks through the houses, but there was a lot of unused fenced-off private land that would otherwise have made progress easier.  Through Beachlands and into Pevensey Bay we had to use the roads entirely.  There were many ways to the front, but they only led directly on to the loose shingle and no alternative path, as houses were built right on the top shingle ridge.  We were able to catch the 3.30 train from Pevensey Bay station back to Hastings.  There had been no outstanding birds all day, but at times there were large flocks of herring gulls on the shore, and this bird was the most commonly seen all day.  From Hastings we drove to the front of Eastbourne to our last hotel, The Grand, which will mark the summation of our walk. We have a huge wide view of the front and sea from our 3rd floor room and a Good Food Guide restaurant in The Mirabelle.