Eastbourne

Yesterday I really needed to get out of the house and get some exercise. We've rented this cabin in Pevensey Bay three times, and yet I had never walked all the way to Eastbourne, our closest city. So that was my goal.

I set out soon after breakfast, walking the pebbly beach. It was low tide and a surprising number of people were out walking, paddleboarding and frolicking with their dogs on the sandy flats that at higher tides are all underwater. I walked and walked, and let me tell you, walking on pebbles for extended distances is a workout! They shift beneath you and your legs are constantly compensating for that shift, so muscles and tendons are working in minute ways to keep you steady and level.

I walked past the Martello Towers that I wrote about a couple of years ago, and then past two more -- No. 64 (above) and beyond it on the point to the left, No. 66. These were coastal fortifications built in the Napoleonic era to protect Britain's shores from invasion. Some of them are unused now, like these two, and some have been turned into very unusual private homes!

Closer to Eastbourne I passed through an area called Sovereign Harbour with a big boat basin and lots of (relatively) new apartments. I finally got onto a paved coastal path soon after that, which made my feet happy.

Have you ever seen a boat named Steve? I sure haven't. Or maybe it's Steve's boat.

Finally, after trudging about six miles I was in Eastbourne proper. I walked out on the ornate city pier, with its spires and golden domes and various amusements, and went up in a beachfront ferris wheel called the Sky Club that gave me good views in every direction -- eastward in the direction I'd walked, northward into town and westward toward the towering cliffs of Beachy Head.

To give you the true Eastbourne experience, I made a video of the ferris wheel, paired with a song by Cool Company that happened to be playing on the wheel when I took the ride. (It took some doing to figure out the title and then download it -- fortunately the artists allow it to be used on YouTube.) The ferris wheel footage, which includes a good view of an adjacent old military fort called the Eastbourne Redoubt, is followed by some shots of Eastbourne that I haven't posted here and a short video of busy Pevensey Bay beach. On that portion of the clip, beneath the music, you can faintly hear the general beach hubbub and the barking dogs.

On the Eastbourne waterfront I passed this interesting plaque about Beachy Head Lady. (How do we know she was a "lady"?) It makes a good story, but it turns out the reality isn't quite what's depicted here. Beachy Head Lady was thought to be African and was even celebrated as perhaps the first black person to reach the shores of the UK, on public monuments and in books and articles. More recent DNA testing, though, shows that she was actually born in the UK and was of Cypriot or Mediterranean descent -- which makes sense, as this would have been during the Roman occupation of Britain.

Guess they haven't gotten around to updating the plaque.

I had lunch in this chic little seaside restaurant called the Glasshouse -- a glass of rosé, three oysters on the half-shell and a lobster sandwich. Delicious!

From there I thought I'd catch the bus home, but the bus I wanted doesn't run on Sundays (ugh). So I made my way to the Eastbourne train station, which gave me a chance to see downtown. (Not all that scenic.) There were no other good bus options even from there, so I took a taxi home. I think I walked about seven miles in all.

Dave said Olga was nervous all day about my absence, which is both adorable and suffocating. She's calmed down now and she snored like a walrus all night, so apparently she slept well. She's getting more adventurous about walking out on the beach -- in fact I had to chase her down last night when she spontaneously decided to go walkabout. (Visions of Shannon again!) I was barefoot at the time and walking on those pebbles barefoot is painful! From now on I put my shoes on no matter what.

In the evening I sat out on the deck in perfect weather beneath a clear blue sky, had a martini and listened to my iTunes. I've never been happier. I'm even getting a tan.