i MUD
January 14th, 2005
Today I awarded myself a day off, I know, it’s a friday, but I think I deserved it.
I got up just before 7, ate some porridge and got on my bike just after 7.30. I watched the sun rise as I passed Roedean, but had to battle some fierce winds which made progress a little slow. Not many surprises there.
Following NCN route 2, my first surprise was at Telscombe Cliffs, where they took me on a strange detour of some suburban housing back streets. I did particularly enjoy a crossroads where cyclists were the only vehicles allowed to proceed forwards.
I nearly got lost on my descent into Newhaven, but just about managed it. Newhaven is a funny place, they’ve now got ‘trendy’ quayside developments, and have put in lots of signs about fishing heritage. And they have a great cycle track, which goes through a boat yard.
Next stop, after losing NCN 2 upon leaving Newhaven, I rejoined the track (after having to carry my bike over 2 gates to cross a railway track) near Seaford. I’ve never given Seaford much credit before, but I particularly enjoyed their seafront (except the first dog attack of the day). I especially liked their signs on the cycle track warning that large waves occur at Seaford and I have to watch out because they might sweep me away.
I tried to look at Seaford museum, which appeared to be a small, round hut, but it was closed for renovation.
Next, my journey brought me to the weirdy flat land, where I was to leave the main road, and head towards Polegate. All the way to Alfriston it was lovely and flat, and the countryside was some of the most amazing I’d seen. Towards Berwick I came across, apparently, the UK’s best small zoo (one to rival the mini zoo in Lithuania?).
The next event on my journey was a muddy track between Arlington and Polegate. Still on NCN 2, this track was ‘unsuitable for vehicles’, and also unsuitable for bicycles. Unfortunately I didn’t find this out until it was a bit too late, and my bike was stuck in 6 inches of mud (and sinking). I had to walk for a large part too. The upshot was that both my bicycle and I were caked in mud.
Polegate was uneventful. I bought some salted parsnip crisps at Chilley Farm (shop), and then headed for Norman’s Bay for lunch. I climbed on to the beach, and ate a pasty very fast, with the wind it was freezing. No place to hang out .
What I really needed was something hot. It looked like a mirage as it appeared, exactly what I had been craving. A greasy little cafe on the seafront in Bexhill, where I could get a crap cup of coffee and read my book for half an hour to warm up. Unfortunately, despite my conviction that the tourist trade would not be booming on a Friday in January, I was wrong. The cafe was packed, and so I didn’t go in.
Instead I cycled into central Bexhill and opted for an American themed cafe (called Cafe Manhattan or something), and got quite a good latte. I was even tempted by their food menu, but realised I had a whole bag of food still to eat. Onwards from there, I was in Hastings in no time.
Had a quick look around, really nearly had a cream tea, but opted to catch the next train home instead. According to a road sign, Hastings is also ‘home of the television’ – I’m not sure why?
53 miles in the bag, along with a lot of mud.
3 Responses to “i MUD”
1tom smith
January 15th, 2005 @ 08:54
i was wondering…
blogger will not allow me to do what i want to do with the new overground site (no catagories when archiving, slow update speeds). would you be interested in hosting a travel/transpot blog on 4angle; is it possible to do this, could it be set up so that multiple users can post to it?
2mr_h
January 15th, 2005 @ 13:43
>Hastings is also ‘home of the television’ – I’m not sure why?
John Logie Baird lived there for a bit.
Some accounts say he devised television there, but others say he first started the project in Glasgow and happened to moved before he finished. So there you go.
3tom
January 15th, 2005 @ 14:04
guess it would have helped if i’d looked at the wikipedia article for Hastings!
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