Famous Five Find Flood

The numbers are swelling... a new member joined the group today, brandishing a well honed piece of yew that served him well during our trek that was testing in both stamina and initiative.
The weather was looking favourable as the blue sky backdrop gave enthused appetite to walk after the previous week's wet walk.
We met in the National Trust car park at Crowlink and considered options. It was agreed to head toward the cliffs and join the South Downs Way half way along the Seven Sisters.
We headed west... and were soon confronted with a SSW wind into our face as we climbed the 'Brass Point'.

We caught our breath at the summit and viewed the continuing sequence of remaining Sisters... whilst also giving a glance to the view of Bell Tout in the distance behind us.
The further climbs were named thus...  'Rough Brow', 'Short Brow' and 'Haven Brow'. Each were challenging our initial sharp pace and the welcomed stops to absorb views were our only respite.

We started a steady descent towards the Cuckmere Exceat having enjoyed the landscape from the final high vantage point. We met a lone walker, heading in the opposite direction who made a point of suggesting a change of route as the footpath below us was flooded. We acknowledged his advice and continued to walk down to eventually see that the path was indeed under water. In fact the entire area toward foxhole campsite had been transformed into a small lake. We could see several other walkers making valiant yet unsuccessful attempts at getting through the water.

They turned back, whilst we headed around the hill down which we were descending and managed to find our way to the farm building which led to a gate, enabling us to walk over the next hill and return to our former destination. Sheep in the field looked on bemused as we strolled past them.

In fact, the photos taken at the time, you can see how the sheep were spelling out the words 'FLOOD' in the field as we neared it. Just how clever were these sheep.

We got to the main road and navigated our way across the busy coast road and arrived at the seats that overlooked the entire Cuckmere Haven. The meandering river line had been severely disrupted by the amount of water lying in the field toward the sea.
The sun continued to shine, yet the breeze kept any threatening clouds moving briskly across the sky. A little bit of cumulus nimbus if I'm not mistaken... with a little bit of stratus for good measure.

We'd taken a 10 minute or so break and refueled ourselves before heading down into West Dean. The erratically spaced steps and green slime banister did nothing for our confidence as we precariously arrived at the junction of road and footpaths. After a quick discussion of options, we turned right and headed along one of the many tracks through Friston Forest. The track was straight and the spring birdsong was apparent as we found gaps in our conversation.

The pace was constant and only a little more navigational processing found us making one final ascent towards the road at the junction of Friston Hill, Jevington Rd and Seaford Rd. The muddy track upwards was our final test of both stamina and grip. The yew walking stick found its use again and desperate foot-holds were accidentally found. A runner came passed us with greater ease. We exchanged comments about following his technique, to which he responded "no technique, just size 12 feet'!
That just about summed up our day, but we arrived back at the car park and witnessed other happy hikers, heartened by growing signs of spring as the sun remained bright in the sky.
Just over 3 hours and we had the 6.5 miles completed.