Day: 159 12/4/96 Bexhill to Rye

Distance: 30 km ( 18.6 miles)    Total Distance:    1989.8 miles

I had been unsure looking at the map of how much I would be able to keep to the coast between Bexhill and Hastings.  It turned out that I need not have been apprehensive.  The path went parallel to the railway for much of the time and at one stage going over a rocky out crop and then past a major sewage development which seems to be all the rage at these times of tightening EC water regulations.  The west part of Hastings is nothing to write home about - a couple of old marinas and old Victorian housing. 

Hastings itself however was very different.  Large by any seaside town standards, crowded and well maintained.  I crossed the very busy promenade road to ask at the Tourist Information Centre about buses from Rye back to Bexhill.  They looked at me as if I had two heads since Rye was in a different county and how would they be expected to know something like that. 

The path out of Hastings was up narrow steps hidden amongst the houses.  A little train could have saved me the time but completely outside my rules!  From Hastings to Failight Cave is a walk to be recommended,  in particular after all the built up areas of the previous couple of days.  Finding ones way through the wealthy village of Fairlight Cave is a bit of a challenge particularly when there have been cliff falls necessitating diversions through the village itself.

The rest of the walk was on the flat - very flat! To Winchelsea Beach I walked on a sea defence, looking down on the pebbles on the seaward side and the marshes on the landward side.  Beyond Winchelsea I walked on the beach itself since most of it was firm sand.  I caught myself out towards the end because a river going across the beach meant I had to backtrack a bit .  Although the River Rother was narrow there was no chance of wading across it - it is quite substantial, so I had to walk inland to Rye.  

Again there is not much to recommend this section.  Some bits of Rye Harbour looked nice but beyond that I had to keep to the road along an industrial estate.  Once I crossed the Military Canal, I was on the main road back to Bexhill.  I saw a bus stop close by and only had a short wait for a bus.  The journey back was quite pleasant through some scenic villages including Winchelsea, much nicer than the coast for once. 

I then went to the Youth Hostel outside Hastings - a nice old house in its own grounds, but the showers were appalling.  They had no record of my booking but had room anyway.  I went into Hastings and had a Kentucky Chicken take away.  On my return I got talking to another walker.  It turned out he studied the same topic as I had done at Exeter in the same year I did - if I had accepted the Exeter offer instead of the Swansea offer we would have been in the same year.  We went to the local pub - not the first one we tried, since that one had closed down.  The hostel was locked up when we came back but I went around the back where the wardens were still up - I should think so, because it still was not 11 o’clock.