With honest intention our decision to display £2 in the windscreen rather than a ticket seemed to be a reasonable compromise.
Our willingness to pay was reflected in our willingness to walk, even though the first gateway was a muddy challenge straight away. The weather was grey and overcast as the faded vista of the Brede valley came into view as we turned right after almost reaching Norths Seat.
We were keeping that treat for our finale on this walk, so ventured down the field and crossed over Martinaeu Lane into the next field.
It wasn't long before we took a right turn again and entered a wooded area then crossed the entry gate of a large house with CCTV keeping a careful eye on us as we continued whilst watching 2 horses being out through their morning training session on the Manège below us. But our curiosity was put to the test, as a little further we spied upon an oversized German style helmet supported by 3 ominous looking rifles. No real sense could be made of its purpose (because of its positioning) or reason or even significance.
We stared for several minutes in wonderment but eventually headed up through the hill and came out onto Fairlight Road where we crossed over and walked along a protected bridle way until we reached the junction to again turn right into Coastguard Lane. There were empty car parks either side of the lane and found our way to the Firehill Cottages and the aerials that were standing defiantly aloft the hills to either side of us.
The temptation of the seats that provided views to the misty east and west caused us to stop for a short flask refuelling break whilst looking at a board that gave some useful local information in a very effective format.
We were ready for stage 2 of the walk and made sense of the instructions amongst the options of different paths that were stretching to both east and west. We continued along the path which took us lower down the hillside. We came to a spot where the landscape was the topic of the painter Holman Hunt.
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| Original Painting by Holman Hunt |
We continued until shortly afterwards coming to a junction where the guidance informed us to take a left turn down a flight of steps and then at the bottom a quick turn right where the path entered into a sheltered wooded area where the fallen leaves had almost disguised the path.
Shortly after we emerged from this Glen onto the main path again we turned right and started a long relentless climb to a gate. But the climb didn't stop here, as there was yet another sequence of steps to ascend before eventually coming out onto a level area and a welcome Sarson stone conveniently positioned for some of the early climbers. The stone was locally referred to as the 'lovers seat'.
We set off again and after passing some aged gnarled oaks we took the turning right at the bottom of the path and then making our way up Fairlight Glen.
The attractive fauna and babbling stream distracted us from another arduous upward trek, but the reward of getting to the Dripping Well Waterfall. However the illusion of the waterfall was tempered by seeing the water coming from a large overspill brown pipe at the top of the hill.
The climb wasn't quite over. Through another gate and there was a final climb across the stone bed of the stream that trickled toward the sea.
There was little more climbing now. We were now out in more daylight and walking along the concrete road passing the gates to Fairlight Place to our left.
We then headed west and joined a narrow lane which formed the 1066 trail. Passing a couple of dog walkers we observed a signpost which located us 50 miles from Dover and 2 miles from Hastings.
Our finale of Norths Seat was now waiting as we walked across another protected footpath and down Mill lane. The stone memorial with an engraved metal plate on top, gave direction to locations all around. Even Quebec was identified on it. It was a pity that the plate had been adorned with additional scratches.
It was the final walk back across the field we had initially walked across at the start of the walk.
The cars were waiting and the 5 miles walk was completed in around 2.5 hours.
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