We left Bexhill and entered one of its suburbs, Cooden.  Initially, we were on a concrete path, but that soon came to an end.  Just as we were crossing to the shingle, a cyclist rode up.  He reached the end of the concrete and turned around to cycle back, but as he did so I spotted a glasses case on the ground.

“Excuse me, is this yours?” I asked.  The cyclist stopped and took off his helmet.  I saw he was about 30-40 and had Downs Syndrome.

“What?” he said.  I repeated the question.  He got off his bike, put his helmet down and walked towards me.  “Who are you and what are you doing?” he asked.

I explained we were just walking and that I thought the glasses case might have dropped off his bike.  He looked at it and I realised it wasn’t his at all.  He then looked back at me and held out his hand for me to shake.  I held out mine and took his, and as I did so he pulled me towards him sharply, grabbing me in a great big bear hug.  I couldn’t help laughing as we embraced like old friends.  He then put his helmet back on, got on his bike, and rode away, back the way he had come.

After a short while Cooden ended, and we were through the urban sprawl.  As the inland houses turned to fields, a line of beachfront houses continued along the beach.  Eventually they too came to an end, leaving us alone on the shingle.  The sun was getting low in the sky, bringing an evening warmth to the colours of the landscape.

There was nobody around here.  Tall groynes, in a rather dilapidated condition, paced our way westward.  Some were easy to get through.

Others were a little more difficult.

Eventually we arrived at Norman’s Bay.  We were greeted a most beautiful sunset.  Martello Tower #55 stood in the distance.

We got to our journey’s end and stood for a moment more, watching the setting sun.

Points on this part of the walk (copy and paste the co-ordinates into Google Earth):

• The End of the Concrete Path:  N 50° 50.003 E 000° 26.235
• The Tail of Cooden:  N 50° 49.895 E 000° 25.182
• Norman’s Bay:  N 50° 49.489 E 000° 23.550
• Martello Tower #55:  N 50° 49.376 E 000° 23.095

Walk #45 Statistics (of which this post forms the final part):

• Date of Walk: 17 February 2013
• Walk #45 total distance covered: 11.64 miles
• Coast of Britain Walk Total Distance Covered: 365.95 miles
• CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO INTERACTIVE MAP!!!