Tourist Leisure Attraction: Eastbourne Birdman

Just prior to the start of the Eastbourne Birdman event in Sussex we took a stroll along Eastbourne pier where they'd built this large stage for the competitors to jump from.  Strangely the pier website still had details of the previous year's event!

So we hit the pebbles on Eastbourne beach to wait for the start.  We'd been to see the Birdman five years ago; then we found it difficult to find a parking spot for our bums, this time there was plenty of room - maybe no one knew about the Birdman event?

Well, the start time for Eastbourne Birdman came and went and no announcement.  Had we got the right day/time?  Then, a quick announcement that the first birdman was gearing up to jump - then nothing again!  Then he jumped, taking the PA by surprise!

There was a long gap between jumpees, sometimes 15 minutes.  Belinda found a way to amuse herself by lining up pebbles along Mike's leg.  We also took the camcorder, see the video page for some clips (not of Mike's legs, of the birdmen jumping!)

Here's a shot of all the boats that appeared just off this Sussex beach, presumably from Eastbourne Marina just along the coast.  The announcements continued sporadically, and without much humour; Mike reckoned he'd do a much better job on the mic!

At last, another Birdman jumper (arrowed)!  This one had wings.  The woman in front almost obscured the view, she just wouldn't keep still!  Although there were many people on the pier watching the Birdman event, there were few on the beach.

Most of the Birdman jumpers plunged straight down like this one!  In about 1½ hours there were only about ten birdman, a very poor show compared with 1997 when we last saw it at Eastbourne, and with a much more dynamic commentary then too.

SEAFORD WALK...
Belinda's up the hill in the distance, walking through the field of barley on our walk to Seaford.  We lost the  spare camera battery in this field, amazingly we found it on the return leg many hours later!

The walk to Seaford went through fields and tracks and was about five miles over a bit of a (puff!) gentle hill.  We took plenty of cold water with us for a hot day, and Mike tested out his idea (successfully) of freezing it beforehand to keep it cold for longer.

We stopped for a breather on top of the hill overlooking Newhaven and checked we were on the right path on the map.  The sea is within sight!  If our backpacks look rather full, they were, as this was before we'd eaten the picnic lunch they contained!

Down there, coming in to Newhaven harbour is the cross-channel ferry from Dieppe.  We watched as the ship did a 180º manoeuvre and backed-up into the harbour.  By now we were well over half way and looking forward to our picnic.

On arrival at Seaford beach we ate our picnic lunch on one of the many benches along the front.  The pebbled beach was pretty quiet for a hot August day, there were mainly older people as Seaford is a popular retirement town for the elderly.

After lunch we walked a mile up Seaford beach front and found this pub to quench our thirst.  In the background out at sea is the Newhaven ferry on its way back to Dieppe (arrowed).  This picture was taken into the sun, so it looks misty, it wasn't really.

No visit to the beach is complete without an ice cream, so here's Mike making his usual mess at eating it!  In the background is Seaford Head and the start of the Seven Sisters cliffs, a 15 mile strenuous walk we've done in the past to Eastbourne.

No visit to the beach is complete without a paddle in the sea.  Here's Belinda threatening to drop Mike's trainers into the water, something she's done in the past with his deck shoes after getting them all sandy when she buried them!

No visit to the beach is complete without almost getting swamped by a wave.  It was nice to cool our feet off, ready for the long walk back on the hottest day for a walk in 2002, in complete contrast to walks we did in the Lake District earlier in the summer.