Eastbourne

Walks: Berwick to Eastbourne, Seaford to Eastbourne, Eastbourne to Hastings via Bexhill, Southease to Eastbourne, Eastbourne Circular, Eastbourne to Bexhill

Eastbourne's reputation as a haven for the elderly is not undeserved; in summer it is also host to hoards of teenage language students, who congregate on the beach in the evening. But it is perhaps the best of all the south coast resorts, avoiding much of the tackiness of its rivals, and with a moderately shelving shingle beach that extends over a mile in either direction from its elegant old pier. It also has a benign climate, Beachy Head often breaking up clouds when the wind is blowing from the west.

The beach divides into three parts. The section south west from the pier to the Martello tower (known here as the Wish Tower) is the busiest section: swimming here gives you a fine view of the pier and there are also lifeguards in summer. Beyond the Wish Tower is a somewhat more secluded section, the best place for a quiet swim, with shrub-covered slopes and the cliffs of Beachy Head providing the backdrop. North east of the pier, meanwhile, is a long flat section of coast that is less scenic but has its own charms, particularly on a hot summer day.

• There is quite a brisk current flowing parallel to the shore, so be careful if swimming beyond the end of the groynes.


• At high tide make sure you don't bang into the underwater part of the groynes (wooded sea-defences, going horizontally out from the shore).


• A couple of hours either side of low tide the sea retreats across a flat sand and mud bottom, so you have to wade out some way to find sufficient depth for swimming. From the Wish Tower to the Beachy Head end of the beach a large area of rock pools backed by a reef is uncovered at this time, making swimming impossible.


• One disadvantage of Eastbourne is that being south east-facing, its seafront loses the sunshine in the late afternoon. The last place on the beach to retain the sun is the section immediately in front of the Wish Tower.


• Food and drink options are obvious near the pier: there are now some rather smart seafront cafe/bars on the promenade. At the Beachy Head end of the promenade, there is the self-service Hollywell Cafe, tucked away in a fold in the hillside. On the north east section of the beach there are a few seasonal cafes and kiosks. For fish and chips, Qualisea in Terminal Road, the main shopping street leading inland from a point 100 metres or so south of the pier, is the traditional choice.

Normans Bay to Bexhill

Walks: Eastbourne to Hastings via Bexhill

The big flat curve of low-lying of coast between Eastbourne and Bexhill has the great advantage of relative solitude. The best place to find this is Normans Bay, a stop on the railway line between Eastbourne and Hastings that is served by a dozen or so trains Monday to Saturday. When you get off, there are a few houses, a caravan park, a toilet block, and then the gently shelving shingle beach.

• There is quite a strong current parallel to the shore here. The main irritation of this is that you often find you can make little progress in one direction, or that you end up a couple of hundred metres up the beach from where you left your stuff. It also means this is not a good beach from swimming far from the shore.


• For about 90 minutes either side of low tide, the sea retreats across flat sand. You can still swim at this time, but you may need to wade a long way out, and some worryingly soft patches of mud can make this tricky.


• You can also explore the strange landscape of the Pevensey Levels from here - plenty of footpaths cross this strange area of drained marshland.


• Food and drink: The caravan site by Normans Bay station has a shop, as does another one 500 metres to the south west, about 300 metres beyond the Martello Tower. The latter serves tea, coffee and even some pastries till 6pm daily. There is one pub, a little way to the east of the station along the main road (there is also a footpath route: go east along the road behind the beach and fork left up a track signposted as a footpath).


• Cooden Beach is better only in being served by more trains. Bexhill beyond has the striking Art Deco De La Warr Pavillion on its seafront and a beach of shelving shingle that goes out some distance over flat sand and mud at low tide.

Birling Gap

Walks: Seaford to Eastbourne, Eastbourne Circular, Berwick to Birling Gap

Birling Gap's location between the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head makes this the most scenic place of all to swim in the south east, with a wonderful panorama of white cliffs as a backdrop. There is a dramatic descent to the beach too - a gantry of metal stairs that takes you down the cliff.

The beach is pebbly and moderately shelving, but low tides reveal a flat bottom covered by an extensive area of sharp rocks (the remains of cliffs that have been eroded away in the last 100 years). There is a time - three to four hours after high tide, or two to three after low tide - when this rock bed is covered by shallow water, making swimming awkward. At the bottom of the tide you can cross the rocks to get to sand, but the sea beyond also has a few underwater rocks.

• Food and drink: There is a National Trust café on the edge of the cliff.


• Buses: The 13X bus from Seaford to Eastbourne (or vice versa) calls at Birling Gap three times a day in either direction on Sundays from March to October, and at the same frequency daily in the summer. Otherwise you can walk inland 2km (1.2 miles) inland to East Dean, from where the 12 or 12a bus goes regularly to Eastbourne or Seaford daily, year round and until late at night. See www.buses.co.uk for details.

Cuckmere Haven

Walks: Glynde to Seaford, Seaford to Eastbourne, Berwick to Exceat or Seaford

Set dramatically between Seaford Head and the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters, this beach gives you a thrill rare on the south coast of swimming from a lovely wild beach (the only buildings are three old coastguard cottages, and they look likely to fall into the sea soon). Since you have to get to it on foot (the nearest car park and bus stop are at Exceat, 20 minutes walk inland), it is also less crowded on sunny Sundays than other south coast beaches - though by no means deserted.

• The beach is divided into two by the Cuckmere River. The east side of the beach is much bigger and has the immense white cliff off Haven Brow towering above it. The west side has lately been suffering from heavy erosion that may cause it to disappear entirely. This is benign neglect by the National Trust, which owns this side of the river and which has the eventual aim of returning the area to its natural state of saltmarsh.


• For around three hours either side of low tide, swimming is very tricky here, as the sea retreats over a wilderness of pebble and rock. However low tide swimming may be possible in places on the east side.


• Normally the only way to get from one beach to the other is to walk all the way up the river to Exceat Bridge, which takes 20 minutes up, 20 minutes back (a very pretty walk). At low tide you may be able to ford the river as it crosses the beach - but be careful as even relatively shallow water can knock you off your feet if it is fast flowing. From time to time the mouth of the river also gets blocked by shingle drift, meaning you can walk across without getting your feet wet: but so far every time this has happened the river mouth has been unblocked again a few months later by the Environment Agency. If they ever stopped doing this, the west side beach would extend eastwards, and the river mouth would end up under the cliffs of Haven Brow.
  
  
• Be sure not to get caught in the current of the Cuckmere River where it spills out into the sea. When the channel is clear, it flows straight out to sea between the two beaches, but sometimes winter storms create a shingle bar at the mouth of the river so that it sweeps to the left, across the east beach. Particularly when the tide is on the ebb this river current can be very strong and extend out to sea for some distance. It is usually easily visible if you look at the beach from above.


• Food and drink can be found at Exceat: the Cuckmere Inn by the bridge, and the Saltmarsh tea room near the National Trust-run visitor's centre, 400 metres further east along the road.


• Buses: 12 and 12A Brighton double decker buses go very regularly from Exceat to nearby Seaford until late at night. See www.buses.co.uk for details.

Seaford

Walks: Glynde to Seaford, Southease to Seaford, Seaford to Eastbourne, Berwick to Exceat or Seaford, Lewes to Seaford via West Firle, Seaford Circular via Alfriston and Bishopstone

The big curve of pebbly beach between Newhaven's harbour mouth and the cliffs of Seaford Head is rather bare and unadorned. Unusually for a seaside town, Seaford does not put up much of a show immediately behind it, though its old centre is not without charm. Despite this, it is a reliable swimming beach, with moderately shelving shingle giving good depth at all states of the tide.

• You never get down to flat sand here, even at low tide. That means the water is always quite deep close to the shore and so is not suitable for weaker swimmers who don't want to go out of their depth. An exception is right at the far western end of the beach near the Newhaven harbour wall (best reached from Newhaven Harbour station), where the sea is shallow for a good distance from the shore at low tide. This is also a very quiet and unfrequented end of the beach if you are looking for solitude.


• This beach can be dangerous when the sea is choppy, as waves break sharply onto the shore and then drag back fiercely on the shingle. In calmer seas, watch out also for the washes of the distant car ferries plying in and out of Newhaven.


• The shingle area behind the beach between Seaford and Newhaven, is a fascinating nature area, full of interesting flora, birds and butterflies in spring and summer. In the middle of it is the Tide Mills, the remains of a former tidal mill, and nearby the abandoned platform of the original Bishopstone station.


• The Martello tower - a round Napoleonic-era fortification towards the east end of the beach - is the most westerly in a chain that was built around the coast to repel possible invasion forces. The other end of the chain is Aldeburgh in Suffolk.


• The cliffs at the east end of the beach are home to a kittiwake colony from May to July. It is the only nesting site of these seagull-like birds on the south coast: they are otherwise only found on remote Scottish or North Sea locations


• Food and drink: there is a popular kiosk cafe by the beach huts just beyond the Martello Tower, and plenty of refreshment opportunities in the town itself. The Trawlers fish and chip shop near the station is one of the best in the south east.