If you’re following our Sussex Coast series, then you may have just cycled from Kemptown to Saltdean in East Sussex with us, along the Undercliff Walk. If you want to carry on, you can cycle from Saltdean to Peacehaven Heights or on to Newhaven. It’s 5 km from Saltdean to the Peacehaven Heights steps. But unlike the last section, it’s a bit more hilly.
Saltdean to Telscombe
At Saltdean, you have to leave the Undercliff Walk and head up the ramp. There is an “undulating” section of road to cycle along as you head east but there is a cycle path so you don’t have to tackle the traffic. Telscombe Tye is to your left, and then for a short while, the sea is obscured from view by a mound. Telscombe Tye is an area of common land within the South Downs National Park. To your right, the footpath is the sea side of the mound, and there is a great view point if you’re on foot.
Eventually, you roll down the hill to The Smugglers Rest and Peacehaven. There is a Bronze Age burial mound on the Peacehaven cliff but the town didn’t develop as it is now until the 20th century.
Although built by the same chap who developed Rottingdean and Saltdean, Peacehaven does not have the same feel as either of those and by the 1920s, plots were being developed with a mish mash of cheap materials. It was in fact this that lead to the formation in 1923 of what is now the Friends of the South Downs – when two men were waking east from Brighton and saw how Peacehaven was being developed on the Downs and sold off in plots with little planning control.
Luckily, the founder of Peacehaven left a wide grassy strip between his estate and the sea where people could walk and enjoy the sea views. Cliff erosion has reduced the width of this strip but it is still there and what the town perhaps lacks in architecture style, it makes up for with stunning cliff top views.
Peacehaven to Peacehaven Heights
Your cycling is all a bit on and off from now on. Take Fairlight Avenue off the main road towards the sea (almost as soon as you come into Peacehaven) and you can come to the Esplanade. You are right on the cliff top and the edge of the sea. However the going is a mixture of unmade up road and grassy track so you have to dismount often (well I did).
The Esplanade leads into The Promenade and then eventually you come to Malines Avenue and the road down to another section of undercliff path.
You can cycle almost to Peacehaven Cliffs along this section but eventually the path runs out. You’ll see some crazy steps up the cliff but that’s no good for cycles so double back to the slip way at Bastion Steps, and return up to the cliff top path. If you want to make it to Peacehaven Heights, you again have to travel on a mixture of unmade road and grass, but you can get all the way to the top of those crazy steps.
Peacehaven Heights and Newhaven are ahead of you. Here you have options. If you want to walk on the coastal path to Newhaven, it’s time to say goodbye to the bike. Alternatively, head inland a little and there is a Peacehaven cycle route to Newhaven. Or you might just want to head back to Saltdean.
It’s 5 km from Saltdean to the Peacehaven steps. If you head back via the cliff top, look out for the Greenwich Meridian monument. The Greenwich Meridian divides the East from the West and goes through Sussex, leaving the UK here. There’s a walk you can do along it all the way to Yorkshire and there is a plaque which lists the distances to a number of places around the world. On a sunny day, it feels exotic.
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