Tourists Spend Four Hours Looking For Belle Tout Lighthouse From Wrong Cliff

EASTBOURNE — A family visiting Eastbourne reportedly spent almost four hours searching for the iconic Belle Tout Lighthouse before discovering they had been standing on the wrong cliff for the entire afternoon.

The family, from Milton Keynes, arrived shortly after 10am armed with walking boots, reusable water bottles and screenshots from Instagram showing the famous lighthouse perched dramatically on the edge of the cliffs.

Despite repeatedly insisting they were "definitely in the right place", the group spent the next four hours staring determinedly across the English Channel while occasionally pointing at random buildings and asking whether they were "the lighthouse."

Witnesses said the family became increasingly convinced the landmark had either been moved or was "probably hidden behind a cloud."

"It looked much bigger on Google," said father-of-two Martin Fletcher. "We've walked backwards and forwards for miles. We found three ice cream vans, six dog walkers, two engagement photoshoots and what I think was a paraglider, but no lighthouse."

His wife, Claire, remained optimistic.

"We're just waiting for the tide to go out," she explained. "Someone said you can see more when the tide changes."

Local residents admitted the mistake is surprisingly common.

"You can usually spot them within a few minutes," said Eastbourne dog walker Denise Harper.

"They'll stand there looking confused, zooming in on their phones, then one of them will say, 'I thought it was right here.' That's normally when you know they're about half an hour's walk away."

Another resident said he had considered helping but decided against it.

"I didn't want to ruin the adventure. Besides, they'd already ignored three information boards and walked past the sign that literally points towards Belle Tout."

The family briefly became convinced they had located the lighthouse after spotting a white van parked in the distance.

"It wasn't," Martin later confirmed.

"It was an Openreach engineer."

The breakthrough came shortly after 2pm when the family's youngest son quietly asked why every photograph online appeared to show the lighthouse on a completely different stretch of coastline.

After several minutes of silence, the family opened Google Maps.

"It was at that point we realised we'd been confidently walking in entirely the wrong direction," Martin admitted.

"We'd actually been saying things like, 'It's probably just over the next hill' for about three hours."

The family immediately began the walk towards the actual lighthouse before stopping 20 minutes later for coffee, deciding they had "more or less seen it anyway."

Local tourism businesses say the incident is far from unusual.

"We've had people ask where the Seven Sisters are while standing on them," said one café owner.

"Last summer someone wanted directions to the pier while they were already halfway along it."

Eastbourne's visitor information team confirmed they have no plans to install additional signs.

"We're fairly confident the existing ones are adequate," a spokesperson said.

"They're just more effective if people look at them."

At the time of publication, the family had successfully reached Belle Tout Lighthouse, taken 147 photographs from every conceivable angle and uploaded one to social media with the caption:

'Hidden gem. Can't believe nobody knows about this place.'