In September 1066 William of Normandy brought his army ashore here, onto a shingle shore that has since moved, and camped inside walls that were already seven centuries old. Pevensey Castle is that layered thing: a late Roman fort, Anderitum, built against Saxon raiders, with a Norman castle planted inside one corner of it. The Roman walls still run most of the way round, and walking the circuit takes ten minutes and a lot of imagination.
The sea has retreated since. What lies between the castle and the water today is Pevensey Bay, a long, straight shingle beach backed by bungalows, beach huts and a few Martello towers, the squat round forts built against Napoleon. Swimming is possible and on a calm summer day pleasant, but the shingle shelves steeply, so you are out of your depth within a few strides, and the water stays cool well into July. Mind the groynes and any red flags, and keep your boots somewhere the tide will not reach.
Inland stretch the Pevensey Levels, a flat country of drained marsh, ditches and grazing sheep, full of wading birds and, on summer evenings, a soft haze that makes the downs behind look further away than they are. It is a strange, lonely landscape for somewhere so close to Eastbourne.
On a bike, this is a rest stop rather than a riding destination. The A27 and A259 carry plenty of traffic, especially on fine weekends, and the coast road through Pevensey Bay is slow. The rewards are just west: the climb over the downs past Beachy Head and Birling Gap is one of the great short rides of the south coast, with the chalk falling away to the sea.
Hailsham, inland, is the place for fuel and shopping. In Pevensey itself there are old pubs near the castle, and fish and chips are never far from any English beach.