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There’s an alternative way to enjoy the British seaside this summer: placing feet onto bicycle pedals rather than into the chill sea. In recent years, art galleries have opened to great acclaim in the towns of Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne. The Coastal Culture Trail connects them all. Start your trip in Hastings, calling into the Jerwood Gallery that squats beside the fishermen’s stalls and huts of the Stade shingle beach. A few miles’ cycle along a car-free path brings you to Bexhill and the Modernist De La Warr Pavilion, home to two galleries hosting a regularly changing rota of exhibitions. The trail swings through the countryside for a few miles before returning to the sea at Eastbourne. Wheel along the promenade before turning inland for your final art fix at the Towner Art Gallery. A day in the saddle is best rewarded with a pint on the green at the Tiger Inn in nearby East Dean, four miles away near Beachy Head. (It’s permissable to ditch the bike for a cab at this point.)
A cyclist zips past an ornate shelter on the seafront promenade at Bexhill, east of the De La Warr Pavilion