A select group of five Poly Ramblers met at Berwick Station to begin our final stages of the Vanguard Way.  We crossed fields following the line of a Roman Rd, passing through the village of Berwick we entered the South Downs national Park. We stopped at Berwick Church to admire the Bloomsbury group paintings by artists Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, and Quentin Bell. The murals were commissioned in the hope that there would be a golden age for painted churches.
We arrived at the village of Alfriston just as the rain started, we had lunch in a café before putting our waterproofs on with the intention of continuing our way along the Cuckmere River, however a herd of cows resulted in a change of direction.  We began our climb where the South Downs converged with the Vanguard Way which included two flights of steep steps before entering the Friston Forest.
Still following the South Downs Way we followed the footpath up a long flight of 152 steps. On a clear day we would have had an outstanding view of the Cuckmere Estuary. Today we were more interested in the café with a hot drink as a respite from the rain.
Exceat Bridge signalled the end of section 9 of the Vanguard Way.
We entered Seaford Head Nature Reserve, it had stopped raining and we had an enjoyable walk, although there was a stiff breeze. Our difficulties began as we descended into Hope Bottom towards Seaford Head. Strong gusts prevented us from moving either forwards or backwards, we were reduced to walking for brief periods whilst holding on to a fence well away from the cliff edge. We also linked arms whilst walking to steady ourselves.
As we approached Seaford head I spotted a farmer with his tractor near a golf course. He was really helpful pointing out a sheltered route to Seaford via the local nature reserve. We continued on our route joining up with the Vanguard Way at Seaford.
We had another wet and gusty walk along the road away from the sea front, the views of the majestic waves were spectacular.
Annoyingly I failed to spot the next sign for the Vanguard way at the end of the sea front so we walked on a pleasant path near to the road towards New Haven and luckily joined up with the Vanguard Way again at Tide Mills, built in 1761 it was demolished in 1990. Tide Mills village was declared unfit for habitation at the end of the 2nd World War .
We were all very pleased to get to New Haven Town Station where we gathered around the plaque to the Vanguard Way for our final photo.

Susan and Hilary.  Photos  by Ida