Monday, January 12th. Following another gale, I was out the door after breakfast to check the state of the two electric fences down on the coast at Beachy Head and Birling Gap. They required a little attention to ensure they remained stockproof.
Tuesday, January 13th. The River Uck in its upper reaches was this morning, very swollen and flowing at quite a speed. Anna and I spent the day re-aligning part of the electric fencing at Beachy Head where we have 15 ponies grazing. This involved working towards the top of very steep slope, we having somewhat sore feet by the end of the day! At about mid-afternoon, a cold front passed through, which coincided with moving the truck along a little at the top of the slope. The wind must have been in the region of Storm force and with the slight lean of the truck on the slope, I was unable to open the door so having to exit through the passenger door! With the views, the angry sea and the wind, it was something of a memorable day.
Thursday, January 15th. Anna was on site at Beachy Head soon after dayl.ight only to find that the electric fencing had been trashed by yet another gale overnight – it probably coming in from a more southerly direction so the fence took more of a pounding. After several hours she had put the fence back in order. In the meantime, she had called me to ask if I’d check the ponies and fencing at Birling Gap. All well that ends well, for neither of these two groups of ponies had escaped. After another night of rain on the already-saturated ground, the River Uck at Uckfield stretched across its berms to both banks. The Cuckmere was much the same with lots of fields covered in water near Horsebridge and much of the lower valley near Litlington under water.