I can vouch for the niceness of all of that except for the bit between Brighton and Eastbourne, which has never appealed to me due to it being mainly A road.
It was truly horrible today. Rammed with cars, with bottlenecks at Friston Pond and Beachy Head because of people queuing to turn.
I suspect it was especially bad because it was a sunny bank holiday weekend but also the road is probably a lot busier than I remember it - it’s a good few years since I rode along it. Might have to rethink that bit.
To make matters worse, there was a strong headwind all the way along the south coast, so I was reduced to a crawl at times - not good when you’ve got a stream of impatient motorists trying to get past.
I had intended to set off by 3am - a) to beat the traffic, b) to beat the heat, c) to get home by a reasonable time, but it was nearly 5am by the time I got going, and by the time I reached Brighton it was really unpleasantly hot and busy.
By the time I got to Hastings, it was looking unlikely that I’d get home before 11, and the prospect of a headwind across Romney Marsh did not appeal, so I bailed out and got the train home.
First bit if the ride was lovely though - I love that road through Penshurst, much nicer than the Chidfingstone way, if somewhat more undulating.
I managed to get up Ditchling Beacon without stopping or having a stroke, so that was a positive too.