It has been known for me to make an occasional foray outside Kent to far flung parts. East Sussex is one such place. This week I ticked off a bucket list item (having once seen a TV programme extolling the nature around Fairlight Cove) by doing a long walk in Hastings country park. It’s a superb sandstone landscape of cliffs and steep ravines through which flow vigorous little streams. These ravines are called glens – Ecclestone Glen and Fairlight Glen are the most impressive – and have lots of sessile oaks (like the short, twisty oaks of Welsh valleys) and exotic-looking ferns. The glens are heat and humidity traps, so have a kind of tropical feel.

Clockwise: view of Hastings from East Hill; view of Winchelsea Beach and Camber from Firehills; a glen reaches the sea; the clifftop path; newly emerged peacock butterfly feasting on hemp-agrimony; Fairlight Glen

The trees are small because the steep slopes and sandy soil will not support any great weight. The crumbly slopes and thick scrub (superb blackberries) reminded me very much of the undercliff between Axmouth and Lyme Regis in east Devon/west Dorset. My walk started at East Hill next to Hastings Old Town and finished at Firehills, where I enjoyed a superb view over Pett Levels, Winchelsea Beach, Camber Sands to Dungeness. Later I visited beautiful Winchelsea village for the first time, swam by Hastings harbour arm and enjoyed a superb gig by Corrie Dick’s Sun Swells band hosted by Jazz Hastings at the wonderful Sea Angling Association venue overlooking the English Channel. My kind of day trip. Further explorations to exotic locations included a trip to Canterbury to see old friends and an enjoyable walk in the chalk downs at Bekesbourne.

Click here to see an OS Maps rendering of my Hastings route (with GPX navigation). You can see from the map that it would be possible to extend the walk all the way to Rye and beyond very easily; there are buses to take you back to Hastings or take the Rye train to either Hastings or Ashford to connect with a London service.