Ride to Beachy Head over looking Eastbourne in the South Downs National Park

I had another day in the national park but this time is was going to be a 176kms long ride from Horsham to Beachy Head then back .We had a group photo at the start.

 We hadn't gone very far when we reached a junction and notices that Phil wasn't with us. We cycled back a couple of kilometres to find him. He had got a puncture and had nearly finished repairing it by the tie we caught up with him.

 We collected Geoff and John en route who were waiting for us at a junction with coffees in hand.

We stopped in Ripe for a mid morning break at a tea room and community shop.

 We locked our bikes up in the centre of the crossroads in the village.

 There was a pub opposite the shop and nothing remarkable about it called the Lamb Inn but what caught my eye was not teh pub sign but the life size statue of a lamb hanging from the front of the pub.

 Then it was a steep and long climb up through Jevington and then down to reach the coast and The Seven Sisters Country Park, now part of the South Downs National Park. On the hillside is Tout Belle Lighthouse. The light house was built in 1832 but replaced with another light house at the base of the cliff and this one was decommissioned in 1902. It was not originally located here but nearer the edge of the cliff. Erosion of the chalk cliffs endangered the light house so it was physically moved in one piece 17m back from the edge to its current location. It is now a hotel.

 Nearby is Birling Gap which is a valley that reaches the sea between two of the Seven Sisters. The row of terraced houses used to be longer but the sea has eroded the cliff and the first few house fell into the sea. This is all that remains.

 A view along the beach looking westwards.

A view looking eastwards of the houses and showing how close the houses are to the retreating cliff edge.

From Birling Gap it is a long climb up to the top. Finally the purpose of the ride, Beachy Head which is the name of the tallest of the Seven Sisters and the name of the pub where we would have lunch.

 A couple of pictures of the group waiting for lunch to be served.

 Then it was a long ride back home. The wind had picked up and changed direction so it would be in our faces all the way back. And the top of Beachy Head is very exposed, witness the wind blowing a jacket off. It was gusting up to 30kms. It was strange that we were pedalling downhill but if you stopped pedalling you slowed down significantly.

 But the sun was out and the views are great and are worth the effort.

 On the way back at the side of a country road i a sign noting the Meridian line that divides the world into east and west hemispheres. It was significant to me as I had recently been to three visitor centres in Ecuador to mark the equator (plus one in Brazil) and in contrast we make do with a carved wooden sign.