Juliet and Paul go walking with Matt Colborn

Our Day Out

Juliet and Paul go walking with Matt Colborn — 15th January 2001

Juliet Eyeions and Paul Brazier took a walk with Matt Colborn. We set out over Seaford Head to walk up the Cuckmere Valley via Alfriston to Berwick and a train home.		This is Juliet and Paul on Seaford Head with the Seven Sisters Cliffs in the background. Do we look cold? We were.
	It was very windy up there, but a glorious day, not a cloud etc.
The waves on the sea far below looked like ripples on a pond. The low sun created interference patterns with its shadows over the waves - like watching Guiness simultaneously flow up and down in a glass.		The valleys between the Downs are called 'bottoms'. This one is called 'Cliff Bottom'.
	Add the sun and one seagull. (You can see it in the large version, honest.) Taking portrait-oriented pictures with this camera is pain - as is trying to see what you are doing in bright sunlight. But I think it's worth it.
	Just past Cliff Bottom and beginning the descent to the Cuckmere Valley is purportedly the best picnic spot on the south coast. Juliet tests the hypothesis
		There is a steep slope down to Hope Bottom
		The fence protects a sheer drop of about fifty feet to the rocky beach below
From Hope Bottom we walked up and over Short Cliff (Matt looks cold, doesn't he) and down past the cottages into Cuckmere Haven. We turned north up the Cuckmere Valley and walked along the riverbank to The Golden Galleon at Exceat Bridge, where we had an excellent lunch, even if the pub was crowded with drivers - hence the lack of pictures from there.		When we left the pub, the sky was still clear.
	It was very muddy, and our shadows were getting all long and wobbly, so while we continued up the Cuckmere, we abandoned the walk to Berwick...
...and instead crossed the river at New Bridge,		(where Juliet and Matt discussed Pooh sticks)...
	...and walked back up to High and Over above the White Horse on Frog Firle. You can see the Cuckmere in the valley behind Matt.
By now, the sky had changed, clouds racing down from the North East towards the setting sun. Turn around 180° from the previous pictures, and this is what we saw.
		How dramatic one little piece of sky can appear. This is a separate picture, not a crop of the one above. I was beginning to flag by now - it's a while since I walked any further than the pub on the corner. so we headed back into Seaford...
	...and found we had just missed a train, so Matt kindly bought me a pint of Guinness in a nearby pub and I took this picture, perhaps to use with his forthcoming story in Interzone.
Click on an image to see a larger version. These images are copyright © Paul Brazier 2001 and may not be reproduced without permission. Contact e-mail me or telephone +44 (0)1273 506698

back to base | brazier c.v. | back to photo albums