Sunday 5th October 2025

We drove down to Sussex yesterday afternoon to take up residence in our latest house-sit in the Aldrington area of Hove. Imagine my surprise when we ventured out for a walk to find that my best friend Anne’s old house is just 200 yards away – have had many fun times in this area in years gone by! Once again we’re lucky to be staying in a beautiful house (my usual house envy has kicked in!) and we’re caring for two gorgeous small cats, Jack and Zena, who have come all the way from Singapore. They were a little wary at first but have now settled in with us and love loads of attention, playtime and lap cuddles.

Today, Sunday, we got straight down to business and walked the coast path from Hove to Newhaven. 12 miles of gorgeousness. And for October, the weather was just stunning – the sky was blue, the sun was out and there was a sightly chill wind which stopped us overheating, just perfect. Steve had even organised the direction to have the wind at our back – he’s just a genius!!!

Loved the promenade walk from Hove to Brighton – there’s so much to see. The picturesque rows of pastel and stripey beach huts with the magnificent Regency and Edwardian architecture looming behind. Quirky bars, cafes, shops and galleries and the very best of people watching. Compared to our last stint of coastal walking it was just Heaven to be around so much human life! The sea was wild today and green of colour – don’t think I’ll be taking a dip anytime soon, although there were some brave folk sporting dry robes on the promenade, hands clenched around mugs of hot drinks.

So an easy flat and interesting promenade walk for the first 6 miles. As we were passing the posh marina area I had a call from Hannah to say she’d meet us at the cafe in Ovingdean, just a mile away. She asked if we had waterproofs and I couldn’t believe that the weather would change to rain. But I soon saw what she meant – the tide was high and the sea was splashing over the sea wall with great enthusiasm! There was lots of screaming from walkers and cyclists as they got a drenching but Steve calmly suggested “it’s all about timing” as we manoeuvred our way along, narrowly missing potential soakings. Pure luck – no skill involved!

It was fabulous to catch up with Hannah over coffee in Ovingdean. We had so much to chat about – some ears must have been burning! We haven’t seen each other for about six years when Hannah visited us at our very first house-sit in Norfolk. Sounds like retired life on this beautiful coast is idyllic – walking, volunteering, art classes, rock choir and lots of coffees and lunches – a world apart from stressful classrooms! Hopefully we’ll meet up again over this fortnight and we have other lovely friends to catch up with too – such busy bees.

Hannah walked with us for a while before heading back home to Rottingdean. As advised, at Saltdean we left the promenade and started on a very different section of coastal path – big hills, grass terrain, unpopulated and stunning views. The sea was somewhat calmer and turquoise/blue in colour – could have been tempted to dip a toe. We strolled the rolling hills through Peacehaven and then onto Newhaven where we ended for today, treating ourselves to tea and pistachio and chocolate cannelloni – scrumptious. 12 more miles in the bag and a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Think we’re going to love the Sussex coastline.

xx