Beachy Head Walk (with bonus Airshow)
We’ve been planning a little weekend trip down to the south coast of England for a few months now but the slightly fickle UK summer weather and busy schedules for both us and my sister Sarah had meant we were a bit delayed on fitting it in.
The stars finally aligned for us with a free sunny August weekend and we drove down on a Saturday morning to hike around Beachy Head and Birling Gap and get some awesome views of the Seven Sisters, those famous white chalk cliffs (thanks for driving us Sarah!).
Beachy Head Cliffs
Seven Sisters Chalk Cliffs
Bonus Beachy Head Airshow (Eastbourne Airshow)
It turns out our timing was perfect. Arriving in to Eastbourne, we were greeted with some decent sized crowds struggling to find car parks and didn’t realise for a while that they weren’t all just there for the beach and the hiking.
The Eastbourne Airshow was on and the Beachy Head cliff provided the perfect natural (and free) viewing platform for all the planes and helicopters flying past and performing.
We hiked up and around the track that ran along the cliff top and stopped frequently to watch the planes fly past and do loops. It was pretty impressive to see huge Chinook helicopters doing loops along with the other smaller, more nimble planes.
Just the following weekend there was a horrific crash at the Shoreham airshow which was a reminder of how dangerous these shows can be and the risk involved – we were thankful to be there on a day without any incidents.
The only downside to the airshow being on was that it must have slowed our walking speed (or we’re just unfit and slow); we didn’t end up making all the way to Seaford as planned anyway. We hopped on a bus to get a ride back to the car parked in Eastbourne thinking that would be a lot quicker but ran in to a road block halfway there.
Enterprising drivers had been creative in using every inch of roadside to park their car while ignoring the signs clearly stating there was no parking there. Our bus driver slowed to a crawl as cars squeezed past a bus coming the other way ahead before we came to a complete halt. We opted to take the quicker option and just walk back at that point!
We really haven’t made the most of being able to travel around the UK and this was a reminder to us that there is more to the UK than London. We’ll be trying harder to get away on any spare weekends we can find.
What a fabulous view! And a free airshow is always a bonus! There was one in the city where I work a few weeks ago. They practiced for a day or two before the show began, so it was fun to watch the planes scream past and do tricks while eating my lunch in the office parking lot. 🙂
Yep – the view was even worth getting buffeted with wind! Nice luck getting a free show at lunch.
Nice work finding a good weathered weekend in the UK this summer! That was pretty rare. It’s amazing how close things are in the UK, the only problem is that sometimes the roads aren’t quite wide enough to manage ask the traffic. Glad you enjoyed your trip nonetheless. So many places to go to from London – so many options…?
Yeah I know right? We had a few weekends where we were going to head out for this and the weather didn’t play along but it was worth the wait. Yep – we’re definitely spoiled for choice in London for day trips and things to do on the weekend. I’ll miss this place when we leave!