Seven Sisters Stroll
Welcome to the first adventure.
Though I write this many weeks later, my memories of the Seven Sisters- and the imposing image of nature they left behind- remain vivid in my mind. Finding nature as a way of not only connecting to the wider world but also myself, I took the journey to these beautiful cliffs to try and understand how I may better draw a link between the characters within my novel and the nature brimming around them.
Chalky white cliffs, beautiful blue sea, sloping green hills, Keira Knightley and James McAvoy skipping through the waves- those were just some of the images I pictured dreamily prior to my trip to the Seven Sisters.
Known for their steep curves and iconic white cliffs, the Seven Sisters sit above the English Channel, representing the beautiful British countryside most often forgotten. An hour and a half drive from London or two hours on the train, this national trust park is a great way to spend your day when craving to reconnect with nature whilst avoiding the overstimulating blue light of your phone.
Though I love a walk, finding it a good way to clear my head as well as pondering on my life and the characters I am crafting, I found quickly that the Seven Sisters was not for the faint hearted. Turning up in my gym shorts and little fleece, thinking it would be silly to wear my proper hiking shoes, it felt as though nothing could wipe the smile from my face. Oh how I was wrong. Upon cresting the first hill, sweat forming on my brow, calves burning, my smile began to slip as I beheld before me six more hills, the inclines unyielding. For some reason in all my time spent dreaming of completing the walk I had failed to understand that the name of the hills, Seven Sisters, was given due to the seven monstrous mountains that silly little people like me decided they would frolic over for some Saturday morning fun. Fun it was… but not the kind I had expected.
After getting over my initial shock Bridie and I continued our trek. Though we had started the day comparing ourselves to intrepid, young explorers, much like Russel from Up, we found ourselves more commonly aligned with that of Frodo and Samwise Gamgee, the last hill looming over us much like Mount Doom. It would be cruel to say who was who, for does anyone really want to be Frodo, though? Yet in her constant whinging and desperate pleas to sit down (some of us don’t use the stairmaster), Bridie resembled the somewhat beloved character from The Lord of the Rings. I on the other hand was most certainly the people’s favourite, the Samwise in me guiding us up and over those steep hills, despite the end goal forever appearing so close and yet so far.
Eventually we reached the summit that led down towards the beach. For a moment we stood taking it all in, smiles returned and the same relief that flooded Sam and Frodo the moment they saw the swooping Eagles, found us too. Though Bridie was more thankful an end was in sight, I was fixated on the beach before us and the little cottages nestled on the small hills opposite. They were tucked between the green, their little chimneys poking up into the cloudy sky and I thanked the universe that finally I was able to see in person the place I had come to know so well through the big screen.
With many thanks to the masterful depiction of the beach scene in Atonement, I too believed as I had done for that brief segment of the film that life is only ever just sunshine and rainbows. But as we all know life isn’t only happy endings. Similarly to Ian McEwan’s bitter reminder of this that he sends in the shape of a blonde, blue-eyed, backstabbing, envious little girl who stomps all over the cottages, beach and Seven Sisters, the reminder of our reascension sharply distorted my vision.
Most of my lunch, of which was a delicious sandwich made from the Lidl bakery section, was spent dreading the gruelling trek back to the car. However making sure to not let the dread fully set in, I disbanded my role as Samwise to run along the shoreline as though I were instead Keira Knightly. Salt water sprayed at me, the strong winds ruffled my hair and not to be cringe but for a brief moment it was just me, nature and the dreadful thought of what comes after the Atonement beach scene.
Frolicing done, thoughts still shared between Cecilia, Robbie and the breathtaking countryside, it was time to head back. The first hill was the hardest, I genuinely thought that I may keel over, no amount of stairmaster preparing me for the lack of oxygen in my lungs and the twinging pain in my knees. However after the first near vertical incline our pain once again turned into fun, the ultimate fact that we were over half way urged a spring into our steps. The remaining six hills flashed by.
A diet pepsi and a national trust water bottle was purchased in celebratory fashion before we collapsed quietly in the comfort of the majestic Volkswagen Up, Bridie yapping away about some school gossip whilst I pondered on more adult things… James McAvoy in period drama attire.
All in all, as gruelling as it was, the walk allowed me an experience not always accessible in day to day life. It made me think of how every time I throw myself into a long trek as I did then I experience all over again that initial love with nature, whilst also crafting life long memories of a little adventure. In these memories, it is apparent to me that nature also guarantee’s the exact same feeling every time, that being freedom.
In my novel, I focus on characters who both are not able to access the freedom of nature and those that chose not to. Though some of these characters are Gods who have the world at their feet, I wanted to draw attention within my writing to how even those who have nature at the tips of their fingers can take it for granted along with the feeling of peace and freedom it provides.
During my day out I initially thought a lot about, as I’m sure you won’t guess, Atonement. Apart from yearning for a more joyous ending, I pondered also on the film’s ability to use the Seven Sisters and the beach as a place of nature to promote a juxtaposed feeling to the rest of the narrative. Ultimately it occurred to me that they used nature in particular scenes to represent a freedom and peace Robbie and Cecilia do not find in the urban world, even in the brief time that they are together.
Even if you have never seen Atonement, or don’t like walking that much, I urge you to put on your shoes, grab a Lidl pastry and get down to the Seven Sisters. Sit or walk, do it alone or with company and just take a moment to find some freedom and peace in the beauty of nature.
