52 outandaboutlive.co.ukSeptember 2019
TRAVEL England
ABOVE CLOCKWISESteam
train at Eridge Station;
Chartwell House;Tearoom in
Alfriston, one of manyon
the trailWE STAYEDAT
AldersteadHeath Caravan and Motorhome Club
Site,Dean Lane, Merstham, Coulsdon, Surrey
RH1 3AH
)^0173 7 644629 camc .comAll year
£Two adults, pitch and electric:From £20.30
Crowborough Camping and Caravanning Club
Site,Goldsmiths Recreation Ground,
Eridge Road, Crowborough, EastSussex TN6 2TN
)^0189 2 664827
campingandcaravanningclub.co.uk
1 April – 4 November
£Two adults, pitch and electric:From £19.45
FairfieldsFarmCaravan and CampingPark,
Eastbourne Road,Westham,Pevensey, East
Sussex BN24 5NG
)01323 763165 fairfieldsfarm.com
1 April – 26 October
£Two adults, pitch and electric:From £23sea level at Polegate; 12 miles of downhill
track with a surface as smooth as a baby’s
bottom (well, almost)! It was bliss, with
picnic tables and wooden sculptures alo ng
the wa y. And yet an other teashop, this time
with an artgallery attached.
Strangely, the only punctureof our
journey occurred on that smooth tr ack, ju st
half- a-mile from our waiting ’van. The bike
shop near ourthird campsite in Pevens ey
dropped everything to repair it in the
last half -hourof the day, just one of many
kindnesses we received along our route.
On our final day we were heading for
the sea.We’d already taken a day off to visit
Birling Gap with it s fabulous viewof the
Seve n Sisters white cliffs, so we’d jumped
the gun abit, butit was still exciting.
At this point I wasjust congratulating
myself that I wa sn’t even saddle sore
when we met the bumpiest sectionyet, a
bridleway thro ugh the woods. The Arlington
Tea Gardens at the end of it seemed
oblig atory andwe took our customary
morning repast amid an idiosyncratic mix
of budgerigars, guinea fowl and ladies in
flowery dr esses.
Beyond Arlington, the Cuckmere Valley
is pretty and ourshor t diversio n to Alfriston
took rather longer than we’d intended as
we wandered around its quirky individual
shops. The tiny Alfriston Cle rgy House,
the first propert y to be acquired by the
NationalTrust (in 1896),stands beside an
immaculat e villa ge green, so we couldn’t
resis t ca lling inthere as well.
Alfriston was idyll ic and more than worththe diversio n, but Ihave to say the narrow
road runningthro ugh it didn’t look too
motorhome-friendly. There’s a suitable car
park at the top end, though.
After a publunch overlooking the ri ver
and another few bumpsacross fields we
were on the seafront atSeaford. It’s a superb
finale to that great long-distance trail.
The white cliffs stretch in to the distance
and, just around the corner, is Newhaven.
There’s nothing to welc ome you there, but
then this is n’t the e nd. You’re meant to get
on a boat and pedal on from Dieppe.
Will we be doing that? The answer is a
“You bet!” That’ll be next year, though...Wecompleted the whole
route (99 miles)ina fairly
leisurely six days’ cycling and
allowed ourselves another
couple ofdays tocope with
the unexpectedand to
explore further afield
Folding bikes are accepted on
any of thetrainorbus routes
in this area. SouthernRail
allows non-folding bikes on its
trains only in off-peak hours
in the London area. Outside
that, bikes may travel at any
time. Buses generally do not
accept non-folding bikes, but
it is possible to use rail
instead throughout the whole
of thisroute
Our conclusionwas that,
whilst taking into account
transportand parkingcosts,
using the’van as backupwas
still considerably less
expensive than finding nightly
B&Bs on theAvenueVerte. Of
course, you have to allow an
extra hour or moreeach day
for the morning‘commute’
TOP TIPS