Pevensey Castle Walk

Today we are on the second day of our visit to Eastbourne.

While others walked a bit further, I led a group who didn't feel up to Joyce's plan for the 1066 walk on a shorter route with some time visiting Pevensey Castle and a pub lunch in Pevensey before returning to Eastbourne. In all there were 6 of us.

This was my invite.

"Friday 25th April. Pevensey. We will take the 9:25am train from Eastbourne (Adult with senior railcard Off-peak return £2.95 see here, 1/2 the price of a single!). We will (optionally) visit the castle (concessionary price £6.30 for advance tickets if not English Heritage members  -see here to book) and then do this 5 mile walk circular walk from the castle on the Pevensey Levels. Lunch will be as you wish (we will try the Royal Oak and Castle or The Smugglers or The Heron but you could bring a picnic). You can then return to Eastbourne by train (e.g. the 15:34 but they are quite frequent - about 3 trains an hour) or walk with John back to Eastbourne along the coast (5.5 miles to Eastbourne pier)."

This was our route from Pevensey Castle...

...and this was our route back to Eastbourne.

Here are a few of my photos.

It was a lovely sunny morning, although a little chilly to start with.

Eastbourne station was only a short walk from the hotel.

We only went as far as Pevensey and Westham.

The 1066 country walk starts here, and we would be following the first couple of miles of it later.

We liked the wisteria on this house.

Before our walk, though, we visited Pevensey Castle.

We all took the audio tour, which was excellent.

Looking out over the outer bailey and beyond.

These stones were ammunition for a trebuchet, a large siege engine that used a counterweight to throw projectiles like these.

Time to go on our walk now.

But first a team photo.

We were soon out in the countryside in the flat area of the Pevensey levels.

The river here is called Pevensey Haven.

This map I spotted yesterdayshows how all this area would have been under the sea 1682 years ago.

The cows had some calves.

And the sheep lambs. They are very cute.

We stopped at Chilley Farm Kitchen and Farm Shop for a cuppa.

Back to Pevensey now.

Back through the gate to the market place and our lunch stop,  the Royal Oak and Castle.

I was glad I had booked a table for the 6 of us as the place was full! Then it was back to Eastbourne along the coast.

Round the back of the castle first.

Then  southwards across the levels.

One of the martello towers along the coast.

We joined the coastal path and passed these new seafront houses.

It was a bit breezy this afternoon and the sea had white horses.

The next martello tower.

We came to Sovereign Harbour. The tide was out and it looked rather muddy.

The boats were all in the marina.

We followed the path over this bridge.

We came a cross the tourist train that shuttles between the harbour and the pier.

Dawn, Erica and Dru took advantage of it to get a lift back to the pier. The fare was £3 each.

Dan, Shaun and I continued round the marina and back to the coast.

It was a fair walk still to the pier.

We passed the big wheel. There were no takers of it while we passed.

Looking back towards the harbour.

We continued on to the pier.

Here are Dan and Shaun posing at the end of our walk.

Thank-you all for joining me. It was a grand day out.

You can find more details of our 5 mile walk from Pevensey Castle here and our 5.8 mile walk back to Eastbourne here (or you can download GPX files here and here). You can also see more of my photos here on Flickr,