Seven Sisters Cliff Walk

Walking from Seaford to Eastbourne

Distance 22 km

Difficulty: Medium - lots of hills, but broken up with descents and flat sections

Walking Time: 7 hours with breaks for photos and food - could be done in 4 at a march

The "stay at home" order ended last week in the UK so a group of us decided to escape London for Easter Sunday and take a day trip to the Seven Sisters Cliffs.

The Seven Sisters are a series of chalk cliff in East Sussex that face the English Channel. Don't be fooled by the name - there are more than 7! A fact we found out as we trudged up our 7th sister eagerly awaiting sight of Eastbourne only to find yet more hills.

The surprise length of the walk aside - the views of the cliffs were stunning and it was such a lovely adventure.

Getting There:

We started off the day by getting the train from London Bridge to Seaford with a couple of changes in the middle. It was a little slow given it being a Bank Holiday but on a normal day you could get there in just over 2 hours with only one change - usually at Lewes.

Once at Seaford Station it was a short walk to the start of the cliffs. I would recommend doing it from Seaford to Eastbourne as the walk from Eastbourne station to the cliffs is much longer - and I think the up hill was a bit steeper! Also I'm told the views are better this way.

The Walk:

From the beach at Seaford there is a steep ascent onto a cliff top - not one of the Seven Sisters Cliffs, just another sneaky cliff. The first real hurdle was at Cuckmere Valley which lies just after that first cliff. There is a river which leads to the sea and depending on the tide it can be a bit of a mission to cross. You can either walk (a long way) into the valley to cross it over a bridge or take your chances walking across it on the beach. We went with the beach option which meant shoes and socks off and a quick but very cold and painful walk across the river thanks to all the pebbles.

After the river its back up onto the cliffs, this is probably the steepest part of the walk but its short. Thankfully.

We stopped at this point to have a picnic and enjoy the view. It took us an hour and a half to get to this point, granted we stopped many a time to take photos and were a bit delayed with the river crossing saga.

Once we finished lunch we continued on going up and down the rolling hills of the Seven Sisters. The next natural breaking point is at Birling Gap which can also be reached by car or bus. It is about 5.5miles from the start and is a good place to take a bathroom break. There is also a shopping selling food / snacks etc.

At this point we (wrongly) thought we were nearly done. We had indeed walked across the Seven Sisters but the walk was far from over, it was onwards to Belle Tout Lighthouse. Interestingly, Belle Tout's location did not lend itself to being a good spot for a lighthouse as it was often covered in fog so it was decommissioned and is now a B n B.

At the 8 mile point you come across Beachy Head - another chance for you to take a bus if needed. The beach here looks superb and it is here that you will find the actual functioning lighthouse.

We did consider taking a bus at this point, none of us are seasoned walkers so although we very much enjoyed the hike thus far we were beginning to feel it! However we persevered and continued along. The scenery starts to change after Beachy Head and you soon begin the descent into Eastbourne - a mere 3 mile walk further.

I sound bitter, but honestly I would do it again any time. The views were amazing and we got so lucky with the weather. Would highly recommend a trip.