The undercliff walk at Ovingdean starts in a spectacular way with some steep steps down from the cliff top to the walk below. The beachscape is always changing here as the pluck and the knock of the shore continuously move stones and water one way and another.

The main purpose of the walk today was to photograph the fulmars which nest on the cliffs. This was the only pair I could find and they were being uncooperative. There are 2 in the picture.

Looking east towards Rottingdean and on the far horizon the cross channel ferry can be seen. I remember coming here as a child and hunting in the rock pools around the concrete bases of the old Volks railway that was built along the foreshore. Now at low tide it is much harder to spot the course of the railway, as the years of tides and storms have eroded the concrete away to nothing. I suspect that when I do the walk in another 40 years time all traces of this Victorian folly will have gone.


The guy on his bike from Brighton stopped and looked bewildered as he read the notice. Calling out to his partner behind him he said 'What do you think about this darling?'
His companion, who I think might have been a Health and Safety officer replied, 'everyone else is ignoring it so it's probably OK'.
How can people be so stupid I thought as I heaved myself over the barrier. My reason for ignoring the notice was more logical; 'it simply didn't apply to me'.

My walk finished at Ovingdean cafe on the Undercliff walk itself. The cafe is run by Jane and Liz and this morning Jane (or Liz) was wearing a faux fur coat and looking as though she'd had a very late night indeed.They supplied me with a coffee and a piece of fruit, marmalade and almond cake that was, in the words of our young people, awesome.