Activity Review: Seven Sisters in East Sussex, UK
Kicking off our great English Roadtrip, our first visit was the famous Seven Sisters cliffs in East Sussex. The Seven Sisters are beautiful white cliffs all located in a row and provide one of the best pictures in all of England. For avid hikers, it is also located on a great coastal walk that stretches from Dover to Cornwall! In all, Seven Sisters is not only a fantastic day out but also could be a pitstop along a great adventure!
Logistics
Because the Seven Sisters is located in the middle of Brighton and Eastbourne, one can begin their travel from either direction. From Eastbourne, I believe you can even start your hike from the city centre! From Brighton, it will take a little more time, but you could hike from Brighton to Eastbourne!
Rental Car
Obviously, if you have a car, the journey will be much easier as these parking lots and viewpoints are hard to get to. We found two great viewpoints (and related parking lots!) located on either side of the Seven Sisters. Coming from Brighton, the first pitstop is at Cuckmere Haven. Parking is 3GBP / 2 hours or 4GBP/all day. We paid for the full day, but probably could have just done the two hour slot!
Travel Tip: Make sure to bring British change with you!
Next on our tour is the Birling Gap, more well known as Beachy Head - yes, that is the name of the road! There was ample parking here with both paid and free options. For free, you would just park on the side of the road. For the paid option, just sit in the parking lot!
Public Transportation
Using this excellent blog post, I would follow the directions. Along the way, we saw plenty of public buses numbered '12X' so it is certainly possible to do it all without a car!
Cuckmere Haven
On the west side of the Seven Sisters, Cuckmere Haven almost doesn’t even seem to be even close to the famous white cliffs! Beginning on the trail, we walked through a flat salty marsh area, with more brown mud than white chalk! Because we were one of the first folks on the trip, the marsh was very quiet and scenic as it stretched from the hills behind us to the open sea ahead of us. Oh, one more thing, the wind was incredible and similar to a wind tunnel!
Once on the pebble beach, we were greeted with magnificent views of tall, white cliffs on either side. On the right, we had “normal” cliffs with the scenic Coastguard Cottages. On the left, the Seven Sisters towered over us! I convinced MF to walk closer to the water so we could see if there were better views of all Seven Sisters. Boy, we were lucky! Even on a miserable, cloudy, windy day, we could still see all the way to the lighthouse. Not too bad!
It’s The Climb
As most people know, MF is not a hiker, walker, or into any sort of extreme physical activity. When faced with either walking up the cliff or driving to the other side, I was pleasantly surprised as she said yes to the hike! The walk was essentially straight up the cliff and even I got a little disoriented when I looked down. Because the white chalk isn’t loose dirt, it wasn’t as hard of a hike up as I expected. It only took us a few minutes!
At the top, we were rewarded with stunning views of the lagoon and marsh! Plus, the steepness of our hike. I am not sure if MF found as delightful as I did!
Second Sister
As we made it down the first sister and up the second sister, we realized a few things. First, we would just be going up and down the sisters for at least 3 miles. Second, the clouds were slowly morphing into dark grey… Third, while we love our picnic, we did not have sufficient water or outfits for a 6+ mile hike. In all, as the more experienced hiker, I made the call to just drive to the other side. At least I convinced her to go up a few of the sisters!
Birling Gap
After a fantastic drive that was extremely peaceful and restful, we arrived at Birling. The driving distance was 4+ miles so MF was very happy although we are sure the total hike would not have been that long… we think! At Birling Gap, there are a few parking options. For free, one could park on the side of the road. We wanted to support the local economy (or we were just dumb and lazy!) and parked in the lot. Unlike Cuckmere Haven, Birling Gap has a cafe, toilets, and picnic tables - and even better views of the Seven Sisters!
On the way up to the lighthouse, we found the postcard perfect view of the Seven Sisters - one that is on all the postcards and advertisements! While we were close to blowing away, we took excellent pictures of all the sisters!
After our tremendous hike and efforts, we had our picnic overlooking the “beach” and the sisters. Such amazing white cliffs located in the middle of nowhere and the Seven Sisters still do not get enough recognition!
The UnChartered Summary
By the time we left the Seven Sisters, we are so glad we visited! Compared to the “bigger” sister in Dover, I would have to say these are the best cliffs in the UK - and you could even visit Brighton while you’re there!
- Definitely visit in good weather (good means even typical UK cloudy!) to enable you to see all the Seven Sisters. While I like to claim I knew it would start raining at 2pm, I was constantly checking BBC weather which is more reliable than most other weather apps!
- Hike at least a few of the Seven Sisters! While you can’t see the white cliffs whilst you’re standing on top of them, we now truly appreciate it!
- If you’re short on time, you can head straight towards Birling Gap for both the beach view that you get at Cuckmere and the postcard perfect picture!