The last day is here. Despite the forecast of rain, from the lady with a horse on our way into Alfriston village yesterday, its another glorious day with perhaps a bit more of a welcome breeze! The coach to Alfriston took a route along the A27 where we could see how far we had walked yesterday, it certainly seems a long way from Newmarket. So the walk distance today is only 11 miles but has the most ups and downs of the week or 'floors' as our Fitbits say. We seem to be the last coach to arrive as we set off from the carpark, with a convenient public loo, before it is out of the village and over the white bridge to follow the 
Cuckmere River bank accompanied with just a smattering of a dozen, or so, walkers around us. It's only just over a mile along the riverbank and we are soon into the village of Litlington where we rather rudely, we feel now in hindsight, decide to walk past the ladies doing coffee, for a good cause for a church roof no doubt, and carry on upwards through a horsey field warning us not to stray from our designated 1 metre wide path, or.......what?
We passed by, in the distance, the white horse, chalked out on the side of the downs and then down sharply and up again into the outdoor-activity playground that is Friston Forest. West Dean is next and a beautiful village too, with a duck pond and picture book-cottages but didn't spot a pub. A little group of us that had gathered to stop and take photos then follow the SDW signs up a very huffy puffy flight of steps which soon take their toll, with many-a walker taking frequent view breaks. I lost count of the steps but there were probably too many to count on all our fingers and toes but these certainly helped towards it being the most up & down day of the whole 9 days. Lungs coming back to life we carry on through the trails in the forest with occasional bikers crossing or riding beside us (it is a weekend) when you suddenly come out to a stone wall to cross over and a view to die for! 
Cuckmere Haven with its frequent and well noted horseshoes and meanders, all the way to the sea. People are out paddle boarding, kayaking and generally just messing around in the sunshine. A pause is a must to sit and to take it all in before descending down to the nice cafe in Exceat for our morning stop of flat whites and shortcake. It's not an easy cafe to find, no arrows or signs to guide you, so unless you know it's there you could miss it. Good news on this busy day as many walkers that stopped at the church hall pass us by as they have been refreshed and are less guilty than us or perhaps they have simply missed the cafe.
So no queues but it is a pretty slow service or we are beginning to get more impatient in our old-age!. However there are still plenty of walkers we recognise chilling out before the eagerly waiting seven sisters.(8)
Just a point, bit pricey cafe at £3.00 per large-ish shortbread biscuit. Never mind we enjoyed the morning banter and flat-white coffees.......eventually when it arrived! 
Off over the busy A259 and take the SDW marked elevated route and not the lower cheatie straight concrete drive towards the cliffs. It was indeed worth the climb as the views across towards Foxholes farm and beyond to the sea were very rewarding. As is the case these days there seemed to be a lot of Chinese tourist taking the usual selfies but were they really enjoining the views on this picturesque path? One girl of a group of 3 had a mask on which seems all the rage with our Chinese friends, did she have a cold or didn't trust our fresh ozone rich, sea-air? Another girl with stupidly inappropriate footwear was trying her best not to tread an the sheep poo which was not easy as at times you couldn't see the grass for little brown patches from our self moulting friends along side of us. The path end signified it was now time for the undulations and in the sunshine the white cliffs are stunning. We chatted to two green shirted Macmillan charity walkers who said they doing a practise for the July 26 mile challenge from Brighton to Eastbourne, couldn't have picked a better day for it. 
We stopped several times to take in the view and to refill our lungs on the way up and down and up again to reach the monument with a welcome seat at the top of one of the sisters at Flagstaff Point. A chat with a fellow sitter & walker who confessed to taking part in this event, "more than once"......, he said he was sure the path erosion is the worse he had ever seen it and we both agreed.
A few pictures taken and hilly huffs and puffs and we arrived for my obligatory pose beside the aptly named, Malcolm's Gate before descending past cottages and houses with spectacular views and well kept gardens to the National Trust cafe at Birling Gap. As there is a large car park and it was a Saturday there were a large ammount of people. Unfortunately, too many to join the snaking queue for tea and cake that we probably didn't really need so we sat on a seat facing the sea and ate our own lunch and drink......sorry National trust but we are memmbers and pay in excess of £100-00 a year so didn't feel any guilt! It was a bit chilly with the wind gusting straight at us but sunny enough to make it very pleasant with views of the cliffs back towards Seaford..... what more could you ask for?. Clive less Lizzy, as dogs were not allowed to the reception this evening, and his antipodean mate plus the enterage of girls were also taking lunch with a view.......first time we had seen them today.
The Seven Sisters are done at this stage as we walk on up over Beachy Head a very popular route today. passing by Belle Tout and the iconic red & white lighthouse down below the magnificent cliffs. Out of the blue sky a Spitfire did a close-up, two loop fly-by, just for us I think, very special! 
Despite the slow pace and frequent pauses we were well on time so we popped in the Beachy Head Inn for a swift-half in the beer garden. To get to the garden we had to run the 'gauntlet' of easing our way past and through dozens of mid-afternoon diners. A bit of a smug digression from me with a 'we have walked for 9 days' attitude, but a lot of the pub clients looked like they didn't really need a giant mixed grill, or that's what I thought it might be under the covering mound of deep fried onion-rings! Back up to SDW for the last 30 minute stroll down to the coach catching up with our frequently passed by, 2 young coach limerick winning slow walkers from the Worthing coach that we had seen every day somewhere on the walks. He, of the pair, walked out in front and she dragged a few yards behind like she might not be really enjoying it, but when we chatted she was alway pretty happy with her lot.
The last steep descent to the unspectacular end of the Kiosk found our redcoats and our coach pass number 48 and 49 so we didn't have to stay and could board immediately the awaiting coach onwards to the walkers reception at Sussex University 
It was new to us but it's an excellent venue, with many fellow walkers, as usual, and of course, many that we hadn't seen before! Certificates for all that completed their journey. Finger buffet and free drink then Keith gave his thanks to all the red-shirts and we agreed we could not have fully enjoyed this journey without them and the knowledge that they were always there should we need them. Presentations and prizes at the end to coach quiz winners, our tardy pair with their excellent limerick and to the oldest lady and of course, youngest child who didn't really walk but sat in the back-pack buggy thing all the way!.
Will we do it again....? Probably not as it's an achievement enough to do both directions on 2 consecutive years and we wouldn't want to spoil the memories, besides we hopefully have other journeys to make. Was it as good as last year? I think it was, the near perfect weather helps, the organisation impecable. Our bodies held up very well and our feet lasted the 100+ miles. Hopefully Footprints of Sussex will continue their good work because you never know, our children or grandchildren may just want to try it again in the future! Who knows, we might want to mark another life-milestone and suprise ourselves by taking the challenge again! When people ask us about the SDW we always mention, the month ofJune and Footprints of Sussex, you can't go wrong!