I headed off to Wivelsfield Station, and was banking on the train being late to allow me to grab breakfast. This was due to prioritising feeding the cat over my needs. Unfortunately, for the first time, the train was on time. A quick change at Lewes and I was in Newhaven before 10 am, for my earliest start yet (I’ve avoided travelling during peak times to maximise my railcard savings). This allowed extra time to wander into the town, which looks quite good, in a run down Sussex small town sort of way, and had the excellent La Baguette Shop (you can’t find a more un-french bakery than this). They met all my breakfast and mid morning snacking needs, excellent.

I have walked the coast path from here before when I started the GMT walk to Hull. I was interested to see the changes since then, and between summer and winter. I can report very little change. The ferry was still loading, and the fishing fleet was still out. The only difference was that I didn’t need suncream, but I was able to lose my coat and walk in my light top. It really is unseasonably warm for December.

It was a short, sharp climb up to Newhaven Fort, which still looks to be undergoing extensive restoration. The view from the top was great, especially looking back towards Seaford and the first couple of the Seven Sisters. Views are definitely more worthwhile if either you have just walked through it, and you can reminisce over the route, or the direction you are going and ponder what is to come.

With regard to what was to come, I could see the 100m high chimney of the Shoreham Power Station. Until writing this, I had always assumed it was an Incinerator. Its not! It’s a gas fired power station. It didn’t seem too far way, although that may have been an optical illusion with the 162m column of Brighton’s i360 observation platform in between.

I headed off on the cliff top path. The first part is quite interesting, being quite remote, with the occasional caravan park (or housing developments converted from caravan parks) reaching towards the very crumbling cliffs. I soon reached the more formal housing, and it seemed that from this point, it was going to be urban all the way. In reality, I think the coast is pretty urban from here to Bognor Regis,which is probably two days walking. At one of the last open green spaces, I enjoyed the flapjack I bought earlier and coffee from my new flask (which doubles as a bike drinks bottle), an essential for winter walking.

The main landmark is the Greenwich Meridian Monument. I didn’t spend too long here (and there are better photos on the GMT Day 1 blog), and headed off following both the England Coast Path and the GMT markers to where they diverge at Peacehaven. I can remember walking inland from this point as training walks for going to Peru. It was my first day of doing longer walks. At that time I don’t think I really thought that I would be able to walk over 400km to Hull, but with all these things, if you don’t start, you’ll never know! The interesting thing (in a sewagey way), at the divergence of the paths, is the Outfall Works for all of Brighton’s sewage. It was one of the last seaside cities in Europe to get proper sewage treatment, and controversially, the treatment works was built in Peacehaven, about 10 km east of Brighton. Protests against the project named Peacehaven, “Poohaven,” but time has been kind, and the state of the art treatment works is completely hidden in the South Downs. You wouldn’t know it was here.

There were a few more ups and downs on the cliff top before reaching Saltdean. I had a choice here, either walk on the flat concrete path of the Undercliff or continue up and over the cliffs. Surprisingly it wasn’t an easy decision, as I new it was going to be hard pavement for the next 15 km and maybe the extra distance on the cliff path might be a relief of “pavement pounding”. Commonsense prevailed, and I took the easy path.

It was nice walking on the Undercliff on a weekday, as it wasn’t too busy. At weekends, it is a melee of walkers, dogs, and bicycles all picking the best route between the piles of shingle, washed up by storms and chalk, and flint, from rock falls. It is a long old way along the path, but eventually, I reached Brighton Marina. I remember when this was first built, I did a college project about sea defences and came down when it was all water and yachts, with just a small gravel carpark. It’s been gradually filled in, and the boats replaced with 1,000s of flats and houses. The back of the development onto the cliff walk, especially behind Asda, is a real mess, but I did find where all the abandoned bicycles are stored.

The otherside of the Marina is Black Rock, this area has been earmarked for development for as long as I can remember, but it looks like it is really happening. I’d seen a social media post about the recent opening of the Reading Room cafe, a rejuvenated building last used as a potting shed on Maderia Drive. I thought they might like my business as they had just opened. I needn’t have worried. The place was jammed and looked rather fancy inside.

Rather than wait, I decided to push on down Maderia Drive. Work has started to renovate, and make safe, all the arches, which with the new sea front development around the Sea Lanes open air swiming pool will really improve this end of Brighton.

Brighton Pier (or as I call it Palace Pier) was next. It was starting to get quite busy. I don’t think there is an off season for tourism here. I toyed with stopping and buying some chips, but in the end just kept going past the remains of the West Pier and the i360 viewing platform, thing. The platform was parked underground, so you will have to use your imagination of what it looks like. Although for those with an engineering bent, I think this was the tallest, slenderest freestanding column when it was built – but I might be wrong!

From now on, it is just one long walk on the seafront. There weren’t too many points of interest, although it’s nice enough just to be walking with everyone else taking the air. The highlights wer  the wide expanse of Hove Lawn,  which lets you get away from the road for a while, and Dave Gilmore’s house (from Pink Floyd). I saw an Instagram post last week of him turning up at a small gig in Hove, where his daughter was playing, and singing (and playing the guitar) Wish You Were Here.

I’ve cycled along this stretch many times, but the footpath follows the coast side of Hove Lagoon which allowed a closer look. I’d not noticed that it is a cable waterskiing centre, so it might be worth stopping for a look if I’m cycling past in the summer. Also, the BMX track here looks pretty cool, and there were some good riders on it today.

One place I had marked on my map to have a real nose into is “Millionaires Row”. A not very impressive row of houses squeezed behind an industrial estate, but all with private beaches. People such as Norman Cook, Zoe Ball, David Walliams and Paul McCartney are rumoured to have property here. According to the internet, past residents include Bing Crosby and Shirley Bassey. There is a keep out sign and a fence, although I’m pretty sure that the land between high and low tide cannot be private, as it belongs to the Crown. I didn’t bother to test my rights. Instead, I was content with glimpses of a pretty ordinary looking terrace between the adjoining industrial units, its very handy for cheese! It’s probably a reflection of if you are famous, what you need to give up for some privacy in the UK.

The walk from here is all through Shoreham Port with dock yards and articulated lorries everywhere. It was quite an unpleasant stretch, with it all on the pavement and largely behind a high sea wall, presumably built so high to shelter the trucks from high winds or large waves. There were three huge warehouses completely covered in solar panels, which was most impressive. Google says it is a 1.8 Mw installation, which sounds powerful! I remember seeing a community crowdfunder many years ago for solar panels on buildings in the port. I don’t think these form part of that, but it looks like this area is a major contributor of solar energy.

On the subject of green energy, for most the the walk along the Sussex coast I have been looking at the Rampion off-shore wind farm. It seems to be closest at Shoreham. I spotted a useful factsheet on a telescope in Seaford, which tells me there are 116 turbines with a capacity of 400 Mw. This puts the solar panels into context, but every little helps, especially when its not windy…

Finally, I went past another Sewage Works and the Power Station to reach the entrance to the harbour. There are two lock gates into the harbour, and luckily only the small one was in use, so I only had a short wait (although in reality it was unlucky I had to wait at all). I’ve been stuck waiting for a big ship before, and it takes ages. I was stuck in a small fenced area without a good view of what’s going on, just waiting for an electronice click and the automatic gate to open. I imagine it’s a bit how a lab animal must feel waiting to get fed after a test- not very nice. Anyway I must have passed the test as  the gate opened eventually, and I got my freedom back. It was a short walk to Southwick Station and an easy train home.

This marks the end of (what I call) the East Sussex Coast Path. Further west is, unsurprisingly, West Sussex. From my initial planning I think it looks like four or five days walking to Emsworth (just the otherside of Chichester) and where Hampshire begins. I think I may need to do one overnight trip as transport (well trains) are a bit flaky around Selsey bill. I’ve enjoyed East Sussex, so will push on to West Sussex – so watch this space (or just suscribe and get an email – at the bottom of my “ABOUT” page).