New book Sussex Coast Road is “more than just a tourist guide”

Author Richard Powell, who lives in Cyprus, said: “It contains anecdotes, pictures, oddities and strange facts many sourced from locals. Along this route, I found bustling modern cities, historic tourist towns and ancient villages, cliffs with sweeping views of the channel, sand dune lined beaches, rolling hills, great houses and gardens, castles and history going back over thousands of years.

“I experienced great food, exotic hotels, quiet country lanes, historic pubs, modern shopping malls and unique stores. I enjoyed the sights, people and places of the south-east coast of England.

“This book follows the A259 from Rye to Chichester Harbour in Sussex. Most of the 90 miles covered consists of a single carriageway that tends to follow the coast with a few twists and turns inland.

“Stopping to look around becomes a pleasure when unearthing the stories behind local landmarks. Curious by nature, I wanted to know more about where I lived. I also love taking photographs and reading up on history so this became more of an obsession than a hobby.

“Being a writer, I needed to put it down in a book with both print and pictures to share with the people of Sussex and visitors who wanted something to remember their stay. It would also make a great gift to family and friends who may have once lived here.”

Richard added: “I come from Canada, which is a big country and doesn’t have all the years of history that England does in a much smaller space. I lived in Seaford for a few years in 90s trying to run a pub. That didn’t work out so I returned to Canada.

“I came back to England ten years later and settled in Littlehampton. I was immediately fascinated by nearly everything, the coastline, the villages and towns, the Downs, the old cottages and houses, the stories and the people. I started exploring along the coast, visiting historic sites, taking pictures and researching.

“I have now retired to Cyprus where I have just written my third book about exploring the western district called Paphos. The history, villages and landscape are completely different and it’s been fun exploring.

“I spent most of my career as an IT analyst. Much of my work was writing descriptions of systems and how they worked with people. When I retired I started writing magazine articles for travel magazines. My first published article was for International Living telling the story of how and why my wife and I ended up in Cyprus. The travelogue I have just written was a longer version of these articles.

“I am a murder mystery fan and I thought I would give that a try. I am working on the fourth book in the series about a couple living in Lewes in 1948. He is a Canadian who was captured at Dieppe in 1942 and spent years as a POW. He finally got back to England and married his English girlfriend. Together they solve murders. You can find the Mike and Valerie series on Amazon.”