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At the junction of Litlington Road and the A259 a few paces west of the Living World and Visitor Centre at Exceat, a path is signed to Westdean. Passing through the lower section of a wooded car park, the bridleway increases in size as it cuts through Friston Forest, initially heading north but then curving roughly eastward before emerging alongside a pond on the edge of Westdean. Turn left in front of Pond Cottage, then right along a narrow road. This leads through the tiny village, curves round a flint wall, rises uphill and forks. The left branch goes to the Norman church of All Saints, and the 13th-century Rectory next door; but our route ignores this side road and continues uphill.

Westdean is a very small but attractive village at the end of a cul-de-sac almost completely surrounded by Friston Forest. It is said that the Saxon King Alfred had an estate here, but there’s no sign of the palace he is supposed to have built in the village in AD850, although there is conjecture that the site may lie beneath the ruins of a medieval manor house. During Alfred’s reign the Cuckmere estuary was much more extensive than it is today (it was then known simply as Dene) and it is thought he maintained a fleet here.