Today we didn't manage to get up before everyone else had left the house. So we breakfasted in solitary splendor (well, as solitary as three people can be) before heading along the coast. We drove along the coast to Brighton, then headed inland to the A27, which took us past some very snowy hills and houses with north facing roofs coated in ice.
We turned off and drove past Alfriston and East Dean, two very picturesque villages which were showing the effects of last night's storm - the river which we crossed on various stone bridges was overflowing into the water meadows.
We ended up at Birling Gap, a low point in the high chalk cliffs which are the abrupt point where the Downs tumble slowly into the sea.
We walked up on to the headland, or rather were blown up by the blustery wind. About halfway up we started to see flurries of snow, which was very exciting. Thomas found enough snow in hollows and hidden corners to snowball both Helen and Robert repeatedly. Helen's return shots were badly impeded by the wind and missed dreadfully.
Walking back down was easiest backwards.
We had cake, sausage rolls and hot drinks in the National Trust cafe, where Helen briefly fell asleep with her head on the table. We checked out the display in the visitor's centre, which had lines on the floor showing where the cliff line will be in 2024 and 2034. Apparently the cliffs erode by two and a half feet or so each year on average, but the actual erosion tends to happen in sudden collapses of several feet at once. We stayed back from the edge.
We headed back to Lancing, to wait for Maddy and Lily to come back from school. We had a lovely afternoon catching up on postcard writing, blogging (we're nearly up to date!) and chatting as Maddy and Lily got on with Brownies, Guides, homework etc.
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