Sovereign Harbour - Eastbourne

A couple of weekends ago, Mrs PBT’s and I decided to take a drive down to Eastbourne. Why Eastbourne, you might wonder, well it’s a town which neither of us have been to for some time. In addition, it was a reasonable day, weather-wise, and it was good to get out of  the house.

Mrs PBT’s is still not quite back to full strength yet, particularly with regard to walking, so we thought a few hours at the coast would do her good – sea air and all that. In the end we decided that rather going into Eastbourne itself, we would visit the development known as Sovereign Harbour, especially as neither of us had been there before.

We set off mid-morning and although I’d brought the sat-nav along, I packed it in the glove-compartment; my reason being I knew where I was going and had no need of such devices. (More about that later).

After skirting Tunbridge Wells, we took the A267 towards Eastbourne and things were going swimmingly until we reached the edge of the town of Heathfield. The road splits here, and I wasn’t paying attention, in fact I was so busy chatting that I missed the junction completely.

That wasn’t quite true as out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the sign for Eastbourne. Mrs PBT’s hadn’t noticed it because when I asked her if she’d seen the sign, she replied that she hadn’t, and was relying on me to both drive and navigate.

Now the sensible thing would have been to turn around, but confident in my abilities to follow my nose, I decided to press on, confident in the assumption there would be another road we could turn off onto, which would lead us back towards Eastbourne. To cut a long story short, there was no such road, and the road we were following (A265), was leading us in an easterly direction rather than the southerly one which would take us to our destination.

I realised this after studying the map afterwards, but my sense of direction hadn’t completely deserted me, as just after Heathfield we turned onto the B2096 in a south-easterly direction. The road took us through some interesting sounding places, such as Cade Street, Punnett’s Town and Netherfield; places neither of us had been to before, despite living just 20 miles or so away.

Of more interest were the pubs, several of which looked worthy of a visit. Before reaching Netherfield, the road climbed steeply and took us through a dense area of woodland. My imagination started to run riot; was this the route which King Harold’s army took back in 1066, after hot-footing it all the way from Stamford Bridge, for that fateful encounter with Duke William’s forces at Senlac Hill? It was quite possible, as we were fast approaching the town of Battle; the site of that decisive clash 952 years ago, which completely changed the course of English history.

I didn’t mention any of this to Mrs PBT’s; she had more important things on her mind, such as where was the nearest Ladies?  As we approached Battle, I knew where we were, and was able to navigate us through Catsfield and Ninfield, to Pevensey, which of course was where William’s army made landfall, in 1066. From there it was  a short drive along the coast to Sovereign Harbour, where there would be shops, refreshment places and that all important Ladies’ loo!

Sovereign Harbour is a development of the coastal area to the north-east of Eastbourne. It is northern Europe’s largest marina complex and boasts four linked harbours, a large, free car park and a popular Waterfront retail and restaurant development.

Opened in 1993 and formerly known as the “Crumbles”, the marina consists of four separate harbours, the aforementioned retail park and several housing developments containing a mixture of both permanent and holiday properties.

In the last decade of the 20th century Sovereign Harbour was more of a work in progress, but is now a virtually completed project, with a distinct feel of permanence about it. The local “Sovereign Harbour Yacht Club” have their imposing clubhouse there, with the aforementioned shops and restaurants close by. There are also toilet facilities for those in need which, by this time, included me!

Suitably relieved we had a quick look around a couple of clothing retailers – Matalan and TK-Max, but didn’t buy anything. I’d already bought this year’s additions to my meagre wardrobe, prior to my trip to America, and my dear wife already has enough clothes (and shoes) to start a chain of shops of her own. We were hungry and thirsty, so headed down to the waterfront to see what was on offer.

The choice was Pablo’s Italian Restaurant, the Thai Marina, a grill bar whose name escapes me and the local Harvester Restaurant. We opted for the latter, sitting outside at first, but when we saw the size and numbers of the seagulls circling overhead, moved swiftly inside.

It’s quite a few years since I last ventured into such a place, but they have a set formula, with a trans-Atlantic menu, which obviously works for both the chain and its customers. I went for one of their classic chicken and ribs combos, whilst Eileen opted for a plate of slow-cooked ribs.

The cask offering was limited to Doom Bar; the Sea-Farer’s being off. I went for a bottle/can of Brew Dog Punk IPA, which went well with my food. The restaurant was obviously a popular eatery, but given its substantial size, wasn’t packed out.

From our table we had a pleasant view out across one of the inner harbours, watching the comings and goings of various boats. The whole harbour complex and surrounding area is certainly very pleasant and well laid out, and given the large number of properties, must be home to a fair number of Eastbourne’s residents.

We took a slow walk back to the car after our meal, and before heading for home, called in at the massive Asda superstore, just across from the main car park. We followed a different route back to Tonbridge, which included the road which runs across the top of Ashdown Forest.

This was a bit of nostalgia on my part, as this road formed part of my journey to work each day, when I was employed by a company based in Lewes. I enjoyed re-living the journey, but am mighty relieved I don’t have to face that drive on a twice-daily basis anymore.

So an enjoyable day out, but not a lot to report on the beer and pub front. However, for a trip to the coast and for seeing new and different things, it scored well.