South Downs Way 2005

13:14:56 o'clock BST
Hearing Alfriston - Beachy Head - Seven Sisters - Cuckmere - Alfriston

Does one swallow make a summer?

April 22nd 2006

The drive down to Alfriston confirmed how convenient the Kent section of the North Downs Way is for us but we fancied a bit of a change and wanted to see how the two areas compared after having now completed both Long Distance Paths.

We decided to revisit one of our favourite places in the South East, Alfriston and have a day on the South Downs doing our favourite long circular walk, but in the opposite direction to normal -  Alfriston to Beachy Head then up and down the Seven Sisters to the Cuckmere before heading back along the river into Alfriston.

We met a family in the carpark who had decided to go out for a short walk but had no map or any real idea where they were. It isn't a particularly dangerous place and there are quite a few waymarked paths but I still find it annoying to see people heading off without a map or even a guide book to help them - a complete contrast to the group of young girls we met later in the day who were doing their Duke of Edinburgh Award and able to follow a map and navigate themselves around, in fact at one confusing point they even helped us onto the right path!

With the sun warming up the air and glorious blue skies we left the car and headed towards the first climb up Windover Hill, meeting the family from the carpark walking down the road towards the track that they should have been following. Lizzie was striding off setting a good pace up the hill, all of the walking in the last few months along the North Downs have certainly improved her fitness levels. The Long Man of Wilmington is cut into the chalk at the side of the hill but unfortunately not visible on this particular walk. What was visible however made us realise how much better the South Downs are for walking compared to the North Downs, great all round views, big skies, paragliders adding a touch of colour to the sky as they throw themselves off Bostal Hill in the distance, no roads (or sounds of motorways) and no dark forests obscurring the sky!!!

From the top of Wendover Hill there are a choice of paths.  We followed the South Downs Way towards Jevington, the sea and white cliffs we were aiming for glistening in the distance. After Jevington the path heads towards Eastbourne and although you have to cross the A259 the roads are not at all intrusive, in fact the only motorised vehicle likely to cause problems are the golf trolleyson Ringwood Golf Course. Judging by the number of golfers searching amongst scrub and bushes well away from the greens for their ball it may be wise to add a hard hat to our gear list in the future!

The path then aims for the highest point on the route at Beachy Head which offers views stretching along the coast towards our next objective the chalk cliffs of Seven Sisters. No bluebirds flying over the white cliffs but our first sight of swallows zooming about in the warm air turned our thoughts towards summer.

From Beachy Head there are a couple of hills to bounce over before you finally head down towards Birling Gap where the Seven Sisters stretch out towards Cuckmere Haven. Today they were glistening in the sun, brilliant white against the blue sea - it was almost like they had just been whitewashed. The Seven Sisters is a bit of a misnomer really because there are nine hills to deal with. Today Lizzie was striding up them as though they weren't there. The downhills still jarred the knees though.

About half way along the Seven Sisters we came across a very large cow, just sitting on the path enjoying the view out to sea, it was obviously too warm for grazing and it had decided that there could be nothing better to do on a day like this than sit down, enjoy the scenery and watch the world pass by. We tended to agree but with an hour to go before Badgers Tea Shop was due to close we pressed on making light work of the flat but winding path along the Cuckmere back to Alfriston and the garden behind Badgers.

Sadly they did not have any gluten free cake, so it was left to Kev to finish off the chocolate cake, the end to a perfect day.

 

 

Written by kevanliz Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

15:16:02 o'clock GMT

One of the closest Long Distance Paths to home, with most places along the route being less than an hour and half's drive away and the furthest point only about 2 hours away but this one will probably take us the longest time to complete as we are doing it in stages as part of day walks.

 

We started in March 2005 with a series of day trips to Alfriston as training for the Dales Way. Alfriston makes a great base for either day or weekend trips as it is possible to walk a variety of distances on easily marked footpaths with a variety of terrain, riverside meadows, coastal cliffs and chalky downland hills. The long term car park is secure and looked after by a really helpful attendant.

Added to this the village itself is home to our favourite Cafe, Badgers Tea Shop. The owner, Michael Luttig and his staff are so friendly, when the weather is good you can sit out in the garden with a never ending supply of tea and great cakes. Just the thing after you have walked 15 -20 miles!

As we didn't complete the walk in any order or linear from East to West it was diificult to get an impression of what it would be like to do as a Long Distance Path, some sections were better than others but as our journey was  fragmented over time, we just added sections into daytrips, it wasn't a case of having consecutive bad or good days.

We were generally covering about 6 miles of the actual Long Distance Path as part of a 15 - 20 mile circular walk in summer, less mileage in Winter. Due to the poor maintenance of paths off the main route in Hampshire we decided tostick to the SDW even if it did mean a few 'out and backs' along the same route to fill gaps or where there wasn't a convenient car park.

Generally if we were completing the walk in one go our preference would be to start at Winchester and head East, that way you will be over the M3, pass through Hampshire and still have most of the best parts of the walk to look ahead to.

Chanctonbury Ring seemed to be a dividing point and i could imagine that if you had walked the route linearly from the West this would have been quite a fitting spot to contemplate what had been and enthuse about what lay ahead, the views on the later parts of the walk through West and East Sussex with the sea and White Cliffs to your right appear more invigorating.

We discovered that certain sections are better maintained and signposted than others, with the sections around Winchester and Hampshire being particularly bad. In fact here there appears to be a little conflict and confusion as to the correct route and considerably more road walking.

Hampshire in fact appears to be quite a bad county generally for maintaining public rights of way and we have encountered many instances on circular day walks  where footpaths - in particular sections of the Monarch's Way had been ploughed up or blocked and signs removed.

Things improve slightly around The Queen Elizabeth Forest but even here it is only the main bridleways and South Downs Way that are really maintained.

Once you move into Sussex the signposting and the scenery improves as does the welcome from local farmers, almost all we passed stopped to say hello or ask if we were having a good walk. Unfortunately though for one this proved rather uncomfortable as he pulled up at a farm gate jumped out of his Land Rover to open the gate and slipped into a very large mudbath

Our favourite sections included

The Seven Sisters and Beachy Head

Alfriston and The Long Man of Wilmington

Devil's Dyke

Beacon Hill, where we saw half a dozen Buzzards circling in the warm thermal air with two Red Kites and a herd of deer in the field below

Butser Hill

Ditchling Beacon

Cissbury Ring - Great views across the Downs and out to sea, big blue skies

 

Things we didn't like

HAMPSHIRE

Shooting Parties, very evident throughout the walk

Fox Hunting, thankfully no longer with us but we were caught up amongst a hunt and it was terrifying especially hearing the hounds baying across fields and through woods

Newhaven, not on the South Downs Way but unfortunately included as part of one of our treks.

 

Filling the gaps.

November 26th 2005

On one of the coldest days of the year, as most of the country shivered and the first snows fell, we braved the cold icy wind and walked over the Downs from Southease to Housdean thereby completing a section from Eastbourne to Devils Dyke and just leaving a 25 mile section between Devils Dyke and The A28 to complete. Although we walked there and back along the same route it still seemed to be quite varied with graet views on the way back across the sea and towards the Seven Sisters cliffs. A brief storm passed by leaving a nice rainbow in its trail, it wasn't anything more serious than a little bit of sleet, luckily as it was on our backs we hardly noticed.

December 10th

We only have about 18 miles to complete and decided to do this in sections walking to the next car park and back. Today a short 10 mile ( 5 mile there and back ) along Summerdown, Edburton Hill to Castle Town. Great weather big blue skies and It was almost warm enough to be back in shorts. I ended up carrying my Winter jacket all the way in the rucksack adding more weight along with a set of unused walking sticks. Little surprise that for the first time ever Liz started to overtake me on the hills!

January 2006

New Years Day and the Bank Holiday, we swap the snows of Alpine France for the mud of Sussex. With blue skies and very mild almost spring like weather we had hoped to  spend a few days completing the final few miles of our South Downs Way, unfortunately due to a bit of miscalculation in distance it took a few more trips.

Thinking that there were only 3 miles from Amberley to the point we had previously reached on the western side of the South Downs Way we set off on News Years Day for what should have been a short 6 mile walk but ended up closer to covering 11 miles and finishing in the dark. Luckily i had a torch which proved to be invaluable for the last final few miles back to the car and just goes to prove that you should always be prepared, even if it means packing and carrying things you may not use all the time.

Next day we were heading East, having completed all of the path to the West for a 12 mile walk and moving closer to our final target by another 6 miles.

January 7th

We have done it! Bitof an odd feeling to have completed a linear walk almost in the middle of the route but there we were by the A24 with the Downs ahead of us to the East and Winchester behind us to the West having finally walked along every mile of the path. A cold day with a bit of frost on the ground but the Downs mud still managed to splash up our legs.

One final nice scene as two deer just popped up out of a field and crossed the path right in front of us, stopping briefly to have a look at us before wandering down to a small wood below just proving that even on a short journey the magic of the South Downs is not far away and a reminder that despite the worst attempts of man the area still has areas of outstanding natural beauty and wildlife.

 

 

Written by kevanliz Link to this entry | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own