Reports of our dramatic rescue have been greatly exaggerated

Before you start reading this blog I want you to know that we are safe and sound and both in good shape at Christy's place and had a good night's sleep last night.  Neither of us appear to have suffered any ill effects. Now read on.

Yesterday morning we took the bus to Birling Gap about 12 kms along the coast from Christy's to walk along the cliff path over the Seven Sisters - the 7 chalk faces in this photo - Birling Gap is in the low dip at the right end of the cliffs.  We have done this walk many times and it takes about 5 hours to walk back to Christy's from here.

 

When we got to Birling Gap this was the view - the tide was right out and we have never walked back along the beach so decided it would be a change - bad mistake!!!

At some stages the walking was fairly easy.

But at other points it became VERY challenging and the going was MUCH slower than we anticipated.  We weren't too worried because we thought we could see the final headland before we turned the corner.  After that we expected a breezy stroll to the Golden Galleon, a very nice pub.  Wrong again!!   Soon after this we noticed that the tide was coming in quite quickly and while walking as fast as we could, we were also watching out for bits of beach above the high water line where we could safely wait for the next low tide.

   Eventually we rounded a headland and saw that the way forward was cut off by the tide and we needed to walk back 2 bays to a safe place.  Mobile phones don't work below the cliffs  so we couldn't phone for help.  I settled Phil safely in the shade near the cliff and stood by the watersedge signalling to people high up on the cliffs above, planes overhead and fishing boats .

In some places there were rock falls which were really slow to climb over.

After about an hour we saw the welcome sight of a RNLI  lifeboat coming around the headland - we waved till he saw us - he had been alerted by a coast guard ranger who saw us start the walk but not come out the other end.  We were just so grateful.  We would like to think that we would have been safe on the beach where we were but I had already made a bad call that day so don't feel too confident about that. 

Phil waiting for the lifeboat

The lovliest men took us safely back to their base.  They didn't once tell us we had been really stupid to attempt the walk without carefully checking the tide times. 

The one person who seemed to get a kick out of our rescue was this jetskier who jumped our wake all the way back

Passing Christy's place at Seaford

In all the drama, I left my backpack behind.  I went back at low tide this morning and retraced our steps but couldn't find it anywhere - the only thing of value in it was my wallet so today I have had to cancel credit cards and arrange for a new drivers' licence - a minor inconvenience really after what could have been a very nasty experience.   Phil stayed very calm and has no ill effects at all - Christy has checked him over. 

Phil, Marg, Jenny, Tim and Lou - I promise I will look after him better in future.

Ginny, I bet you're glad you weren't around for this part of the holiday.