This has now kind of become our annual pilgrimage. Probably one of the best away-short break you can take in my opinion if you want to escape London and enjoy hiking. Summer months are probably the best months I would pick to go there in order to get good weather conditions.
The original Seven Sisters are the Pleiades, a group of seven stars which Greek mythology portrayed as sisters. The Seven Sisters walk is a dramatic cliff walk between Seaford and Eastbourne passing Cuckemere Haven, the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head as the South Downs meets the sea.
There are in fact now only six Pleiades, one having exploded in antiquity, and from the approach to Cuckmere Haven there seem to be only six humps on the Seven Sisters too (the rise on which Belle Tout lighthouse stands, beyond the brown smudge of Birling Gap visible at this point does not count, as this is not part of the Seven Sisters).
The main walk is about ~22km but there are some shorter options (e.g. drive directly to Birling Gap). There is quite a lot of climbing and descending on the walk so you would want to wear good and comfortable shoes but all manageable even if you are not an expert! Also, it might require a dip in the sea on the Seaford side (depending on the tide). I highly advise you to travel light (one medium bagpack)!
The walk generally starts from Seaford but we like to do it backwards from Eastbourne (linear walk). We get a steep climb out of Eastbourne to start, but arrive perfectly on time for a lunch break at Beachy Head or Birling Gap. You may want to allow about 6-7h to walk the whole route with a lunch break.
While it could be a day-trip from London (but would require an early start), I recommend to go for the 1.5 day option, arriving to your starting point (e.g. Eastbourne) on the Saturday afternoon for instance and taking back the train from Seaford on Sunday evening.
I would recommend to pre-book the weekend (esp. the accommodation) in advance but my tip would be to select a hotel/flat that you only have to fully confirm a few days before as you really want to have a sunny weekend to do this hike.
Here is my recommendation based on what we have done:
Saturday
> Transport form London: we took a direct train from Victoria station to Eastbourne (~1h30) early afternoon
> Enjoy the rest of the day in Eastbourne. This is a small resort town where you can enjoy a short walk alongside the Coast, grab a few beers in a pub or in a terrace in front of the sea and watch the sunset from the Pier
> Have a nice dinner. We highly recommend Gr/Eat Greek Deli and Cuisine restaurant (215-217 Terminus road, BN21 3DH) but you would need to book a table (this is #1 restaurant in Eastbourn in Trip Advisor)
> Accommodation - we have tried various options from booking.com, here are the ones we would recommend (you can also probably book them from their own website):
- Bay Tree Guest House (10 Elms Avenue, Eastbourne, BN21 3DN) - great location (right next to the Pier), great hosts, clean, nice breakfast. Price per night: ~£80 (inc. breakfast)
- Vernon Guest House Price per night: ~£120 (inc. breakfast) - boutique style hotel, central location, nice breakfast
Sunday
> Breakfast at the hotel
> Starting the hike around 9h-10h should be enough to complete the whole hike and get a train from Seaford around 18h-19h.
> Follow the seaside walk and start with a steep climb out of Eastbourne - from the top you get a great view of Eastbourne and feel straightaway far away from the City and any urban civilization. There are multiple small paths so take any of them, provided you continue to follow the shape of the cliffs.
> You will then reach Beachy Head. You will also find a pub - this is probably the first stop you can find for a drink/for food from Eastbourne; however we only started to walk an hour ago so it was not quite time yet for a stop. From there, you can find the iconic red & white Beachy Head Lighthouse. A great first spot for pictures!
> Continue and follow the path alongside the cliff. After another steep climb, you will get to Belle Tout Lighthouse, which is a former lighthouse that first entered service in 1828, over 130 years after the need for one was first suggested. There is a tiny café located outside the lighthouse in case you need to refill with drinks, snacks or ice-cream!
> This is from that point that the real 'Seven Sisters' walk really starts as this is effectively the name given for the undulating cliffs between Cuckmere Have and Birling Gap.
> Birling Gap is a very popular stop as located in a gap between cliffs which makes it be one of the rare stop of the walk you can directly access by car and many tourist cars come here so that tourists can take a few pictures! This tends to be very busy but don't worry you will find plenty of spots later for beautiful pictures. In Birling Gap, you can find a café with lunch options (in case you have not brought your own picnic), a visitor center and toilets. This is also the place where there is small pebble beach on the bottom of the cliff (low tile).
> Continue your way going through various farmer fields, still walking along the cliffs (please allow a good 5 meters away from the edge of the cliffs!). This is then involving a lot of up and down walks but the scenery is magic! You will pass over eight hills in total – Haven Brow, Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flagstaff Point, Flat Hill, Baily’s Hill and Went Hill.
> You will eventually reach the chalky climb down to the last cliff. This is probably the most perilous part of the hike (and can be slightly slippery) and will lead you to Cuckmere Haven. Note that there are some more grassy paths on the right side.
> Once in Cuckmere Haven (this is a pebble beach), depending on the tide, your patience to wait for lower tide and your appetite to get wet foot/legs, you may decide to go straight and continue your way along the coast or take a longer path and find a crossing going inland. For us, it was not really low tide and this is where the fun started! The first time, we had to wait for an hour or so, but it was so hot outside that we took the opportunity to have a nice swim in the area! The second time, the tide was not low but it was possible to go through the "river" (the water reaching the middle of our legs). We had planned this and took with us a spare pair of shoes to go through the "river" but this should be manageable bare foot although a bit painful.... It was again quite enjoyable and refreshing!
> From there, I could not really say which path is the 'official' way as there were very little indications along the Seven Sisters hike but I believe that the official path goes inland from that point. Instead of taking the 'official way', we continued to walk along the Coastguard cottages at Cuckmere Haven following the coast and we found this way very enjoyable as there were a few more beautiful and different cliffs on the way.
Once we arrived at South Hill Barn Car Park, we took the inland direction and walk towards the Seaford train station. There might be a nicer path along the coast going through the golf but again it was not very clearly indicated. We went through a very residential area which was ok but nothing special to see.
> Eventually we reached Seaford center - which is tiny and was very quiet on a Sunday! The only thing opened was the Coop where we could buy some snacks.
> From Seaford, we took a train back to London Victoria (1 change at Lewes) - note there is only one train per hour so you may want to look at the timetable before. It took us about 1h30-40 minutes in total.
If you are looking for something different in the UK, go for it! I found that weekend very unusual and refreshing!
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