Travel UK

Eastbourne, England or Where I Accused of Being Suicidal

One of the best trips that Sam and I have ever taken together was to Eastbourne. Eastbourne is a seaside town in East Sussex, immediately east of Beachy Head (the highest chalk cliff in England). The cliff is only a short walk from the town and it’s one of the most beautiful parts of England that I’ve been to.
visiting England stunning
Beachy Head.
It reaches about 531 feet above sea level
We stayed in this hilarious and quaint Victorian B&B (named the Albert & Victoria) almost right on the beach and the owner took amazing care of us. We were in the Leopold Room and everything about our time there was lovely.
 
We even managed to have the best curry that I’ve had while in England. In Eastbourne of all places!
Me practically falling off the cliff.
Sam is terrified of heights, he almost had a heart attack
seeing me so close to the edge.
While the sheer beauty of Beachy Head is astonishing, it’s actually a really tragic place. The beautiful cliff is one of the most notorious suicide spots in the world.  There’s a telephone booth close by, in the middle of nowhere, with the Samaritans number listed on it.
 
Because of the frequent, tragic occurrences Chaplains patrol the cliff towards sunset/early evening. Sam and I had gone to Eastbourne in the beginning of February a few days after a snow/ice storm. The walk from town to Beachy Head is only a mile or two so we braved the frigid air to do so.  As you can see from the picture above, I was wearing my trusty boots. Because they are so incredibly comfortable and warm I wear them constantly so the bottoms are worn smooth. Obviously this makes for a poor shoe choice when walking along an icy cliff. We were walking along when I slipped. I was far enough away from the edge for it to be completely fine, if not a bit painful.
 
However, we had finally gotten close to the edge when I slipped a second time. Clearly, I am alive so I didn’t fall off Beachy Head. But it was a bit too close for comfort. It scared Sam so badly that he had to sit down because he thought he was going to be sick. Just our luck one of the patrolling Chaplains saw my first fall, and after the second extremely close one near the edge she made a beeline straight over to us asking questions.
 
Basically it boiled down to her thinking I was suicidal. My natural clumsiness eventually convinced her that I wasn’t a risk although she did demand of Sam to “take her back to the road”.
 
beachy head sunset
Looming into the sunset.
Truth.

The trip to Eastbourne was the first trip that we had taken together which is one of the reasons why it’s so special in my memories. But I genuinely had a fantastic time there, even with all the falling down! And I can’t wait to go back to the Leopold room.

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