Meanders, Pi and Oxbows ...

Dear Mr Postman .. what have you for us today .. how interesting ... what on earth does mathematics have to do with the Cuckmere River's sinuous journey to the English Channel? Oh ok .. & if we should want to read a fuller article then we can go to Steve Jones' "View from the Lab" in the Science section of The Telegraph

Steve Jones in his article above is talking about oxbows and since I was a kid and loved Geography - oxbows always fascinated me ... Geography was about the only subject I was any good at at school .. other than some sport.

So when I returned from South Africa and settled in Eastbourne, I was delighted to see that the Cuckmere River has the most wonderful flood plain full of oxbows, and that this was one of the two routes I could take to reach the village of Alfriston, where my brother lives.

Steve Jones mentions two things that amused and interested us .. "one of my (his) observations is that the length of a meandering river as it flows across a flat landscape is always the distance (in a straight line) from the spot where it reaches the plain to its estuary multiplied by 3.14, the famous constant Pi"; this applies to all meanders .. the mighty Amazon, the Thames or to the tiny tributary The Fleet that runs below Fleet street - that hot spot of journalists! - into the Thames.

The Cuckmere is a fantastic area to visit and travel around .. I love using the slower coastal route, as the colours can be the vivid spectrum of sky and sea .. blues of all hues, turquoises and from here I know why sea green is a colour: artists love it. It's just inspiring to get to the top of the Seven Sisters - the chalk cliffs between Eastbourne and the Cuckmere - and come across this magnificent view - either by driving, or using the Seven Sisters park and walking the Downs.

There's so much history here Mr Postman .. do you think you could bring us some more information? - we love hearing about smuggling, Saxon cathedrals and the modern day films using the area as a backdrop .. - it is so kind of you to bring us our positive letter .. we do so appreciate you .. til tomorrow .....