Roaming in Rye
Right off the bat, know that Rye isn't very convenient from Burgess Hill but it remained on my to-do list. On what appeared to be my warmest Spring walk of the year so far, a trip to the marshes at low tide was certainly appealing. This was also a suitable outing to do after the previous week's long walk. This is then, a shortish stroll, sandwiched between some overly long journeys to and from. It has the feeling of the watery Levels with a pleasing salty, maritime influence and with less risk of your remote and lifeless body not being found for some time. In the unlikely event you get yourself very lost or you are savaged by livestock, no doubt the Wildlife Trust and its many visitors will discover you soon enough.
Rye can be made via a train in the direction of Ore, in either direction from Burgess Hill. My return journey was made on the basis of speed and involved a bus to Hastings. Having said that, my connection to the train was touch and go and, in both directions, the travel time exceeded 2 hours.
You could do a very quick loop of the Reserve and maybe go onward, dare I say, to Battle.....(see all other walks to Battle here and how they went).
Better to spend some time enjoying the warmth on a dry day, hanging out in hides, variously chilling, watching and listening to the sea and amusing yourself with the bird activity of the season. Is not all wildlife. There's a pretty impressive castle, some Martello Towers, pill boxes and a redundant lifeboat station. The reserve itself is evidence of various human industriousness and activity and a changing landscape over the last 1000 years. Know that the geography of Rye has had a tumultuous history of flooding, civil engineering, smuggling, piracy and loss at sea.
I ran the gauntlet of mobbing school kids at and around Bexhill. This is another disadvantage of a later outset. Once off the train, I was barrelled along the platform with the children and over the level crossing on Rope Walk. You could go straight over and down Station Approach to reach the Cinque Ports Street.
The conspicuous white smock windmill, visible on your right is now a B&B but you'll find mill enthusiasts scathing at how much of it is an ill-proportioned replica. Real windmills have stood on this site since the 1590s. The road continues west as Wish Street and over the River Brede, as the A259 and Winchelsea Road.
A Martello Tower here, reminds you that the sea was once closer at hand and I should return to the term 'Cinque Ports'. The five harbours were a confederation for military and trade purposes in return for special privileges of governance. At its peak in the Late Middle Ages, the confederation included over forty members. There is now a ceremonial total of fourteen, including two 'ancient towns', of which Rye is one and seven 'limbs'. In 1336, Rye with Winchelsea provided around half of all the ships and mariners of the Cinque Ports with Rye contributing the largest amount in the Confederation. You can read all about it on the museum's excellent site.
Take a right on the Harbour Road and reach the lock where the Tillingham meets the Brede. Join the footpath going in the same direction, eastish. I took the opportunity of going to the reedbed viewpoint marked on the right and heard cetti warblers and greylag geese. Beyond the industrial estate and back on the Harbour Road, you'll be on your way past the church, where there is an impressive memorial to the casualties of the Mary Stanford lifeboat disaster and then on to the village at Rye Harbour. I didn't linger but left the toilet and car park to walk towards another Martello Tower. The path continues alongside the Rother to its mouth, where you can observe the dunes and beach of Camber Sands beyond.
You are within the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and the map provided is all you need to enjoy your day. The addition of well-surfaced routes, alongside the public rights of way, an abundance of hides and the beach, gives ample scope for picnics and lazy sauntering. On this route, you pass and maybe enter the Discovery Centre with its cafe and facilities. I pretty much followed the numbered route marked as follows:
After the visitor centre, you pass the iconic black hut with the red roof. A great little memory of the place that once housed shrimp nets can be read here. Gooders Hide let me observe some redshanks, comically scuttling about at Flat Beach. There are a couple of pill boxes as you turn onto the haul road, parallel to the beach and I played about on the shingle. Turn landward on the footpath between a couple of other hides. Continue to Narrow Pit, marked 16 and bear left to the barns. I accidently continued along the Nook drain to the Watch Cottages where, incidently the reserve manager is based. At the barns, head to the beach on the Shrimpers Path. Pass Gassons Ruin and go westward to the distinctive landmark, the Mary Stanford Lifeboat House. After the 1928 disaster, where 17 members of the crew were lost, the station was abandoned.
Continue on West Beach before heading inland on the footpath. Cross the Nook Drain again and pass alongside the Long Pit to Morlais Ridge. You are now at the point marked number 8. Might I suggest you continue to the bridleway that then heads north to Castle Farm as I found the nature reserve route enters a cow field with some frisky young cattle and much churned up slurry. If you continue you will join the same junction that moves towards Camber Castle.
Here I must pause to tell you that I was unexpectedly almost lost to some very deep soil on the bridleway that is the Saxon Shore Way. I had already avoided the muddy field by walking alongside it to this point. Once through the gate, the mud was unavoidable. The short-legged cow should have been an unsubtle foreshadowing and forewarning but, on picking my way north, I very suddenly entered up to my knee and was unable to remove my foot. Struggling to keep my balance and clutching my phone, both device and arm went in up to the elbow. With a tremendous squelch, I wrenched myself free and prevented a full face immersion, to grasp the fence and cross it.
In my shaken state, much mud was wiped on the grass and I battled to regain some composure and dignity. Follow the fence, or walk in a drier and emptier field to the castle. You can view the interior from outside the bastions, leaving the bridleway on the footpath and going round the walls. It is difficult to imagine access to the sea from here because the shingle that built up in front of this once safe haven, led to it falling out of use. Some shingle was transported by barges for the building industry in the 30s. Continue to the resulting Castle Water on the nature reserve path to Halpin Hide. Here I watched the nesting cormorants in their frenzied toing and froing. The activity resembled that of a busy bird airport of the trees.
Follow the edge of the water all the way back to your entry footpath.
I continued in to town, had lunch and then raced for the bus to be back home for tea.
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