Went out along the coastal path again by bike to see the Seven Sisters. The sea was rough, which attracted a small gaggle of guys in wetsuits for an early-morning surf session near Brighton Marina. I thought of walking down to the beach to watch them, but…

The beach was flooded, I could still see the waves from up behind the concrete barrier.

Sploosh.

I was counting on the coastal path taking me all the way to Newhaven, but there’s a gap at Peacehaven and after walking with my bike up the cliff I couldn’t see any obvious way of getting back onto the coastal path again. Also, by this point there was a cold rain falling, and the wind was blowing so strong that it was getting difficult to cycle, and there was this ominous black cloud coming towards me.

So I turned around and headed home. I had several layers on but the combination of blustery gales and rain kept me constantly and uncomfortably frigid, by the time I got back to Brighton I was moving slowly, feeling dizzy, muscles achy and numb.

I got into bed, turned on my electric heater, radiator on full, and just drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour. I was probably fine, it was just a little scary; I’ve been in extremely cold situations before, and usually your extremities go numb and you eventually get over it, but this was different - as if my entire body was just gradually shutting down. It was good that I turned around when I did.