Day Four – Cocking to Amberley

Posted on 19/09/2012 by southdownswayandbeyond

Or Oh No Not More Ancient Monuments

Waxing lyrical about the anicent nature of the South Downs Way – me, no not ever. I promise hardly a mention of such a thing in this episode, I’ll ignore the Roman Road between Chichester and London (Stane Street), the Barkhale Neolithic Camp (one of the largest causewayed enclosures ever discovered) and more Bronze Age burial mounds at Heyshott Down – I promise!!

Hmm so what to say now?!

Well perhaps time to extol the delights of the Sussex Countryside – Hampshire is very beautiful too but we crossed from there to West Sussex before we got to Harting Down yesterday.

I really liked this section of the walk, there was lots of woodland as well as open downland, farmland and fine views. I had a chance to enjoy this standing in a field above Cocking while John did an extra mile or two of walking after being rung by the Bluebell Inn to ask if the room key was still in his pocket – it was! The fields up on  this hill were full of ripened corn which crackled in the morning sun as it dried out a bit more. Pheasants grazed in the far corner and would fly up at the least disturbance.

We stopped briefly on re-joining the Way to chat to a cyclist about the joys of travelling slowly, and watch swallows and martins swooping round the farm yard. Everyone has been very friendly so far.

Towards Graffham Down the Way passes through a yew wood. It was so quiet you could hear the nuthatch tapping on the tree trunks and other birds calling in alarm as we passed by. It was also easy to imagine travellers from distant ages past treading softly through the trees alongside you. The areas of beech woodland we also passed through seemed to rustle with the approaching autumn (and squirrels burying stashes of booty for the leaner months).

We stopped for lunch on a perfect bench, with beautiful view towards the sea, on the edge of the Slindon estate. Our choice of picnic site was the envy of all who passed by – well two ladies who’d stopped before they’d found it anyway!

I can’t say much about the next bit as it involved Roman roads and Neolithic camps and I promised I wouldn’t!

The views across the Arun valley from beyond Bignor hill were stunning and it is always good to see that you are progressing towards your destination. In our case today – Amberely. I think I saw a couple of red kites on the way there, but I couldn’t be sure.

We had a while to wait for a train so we; sampled the delights of both the Riverside Tea garden and the Bridge Inn, watched a hot air balloon go directly overhead, chatted to one of the locals and marvelled at the old fashioned signals operated by a man in signal box with old fashioned levers!

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Day Three – Petersfield to Cocking

Posted on 11/09/2012 by southdownswayandbeyond

Or Are You Going Via the Milky Way (I hope not it’s far enough to Eastbourne as it is?!)

Our next leg of the South Downs Way began with an early start from Brighton in order to catch one of the rare and illusive buses from Petersfield to Buriton. After a bit of a wait (the transport connections aren’t exactly seamless) we arrived at Burtion pond only to have a bit of a confusing conversation one of the residents about the Milky Way (as it happens a local path up to the South Downs Way, but without the view). We were helpfully pointed in its direction but proceeded in the opposite one, as we didn’t want to go that way. We had to get to the Way where we left off last time and also see the view!

We crossed at last from Hampshire into West Sussex, the one county we’ll walk all the way across, and on up to Harting Down, a good place to stop for lunch, to look at the view and watch the gliders, hang gliders and model airplanes flying about.

Once again we found ourselves walking through a landscape that has been influenced by humans for thousands of years. Harting Down itself was inhabited 5000 years ago while the Iron Age Hill fort at another Beacon Hill dates from about 500BC. A memorial to a German Second World War pilot (Hauptman Joseph Ostermann) and Telegraph House which commemorates the sending of semaphore messages from the area during the Napoleonic Wars are more recent. But then we were catapulted  back into our ancient past walking past cross dykes and onto the Devil’s Jumps the best preserved group of Bronze Age burial mounds on the Downs. A visit to those was slightly curtailed by the presence of some frisky looking bullocks but we got the feel of this impressive burial site. It was slightly different from my previous visit back in 2003 as trees have been cut down and the grazing is to assist its conversion back to chalk down land.

Onwards and nearer Cocking was a more modern addition to the landscape in the form of Andy Goldsworthy’s “Chalk Stone” sculpture, there are a whole group of them but as we were dusty and hot the Blue Bell Inn in Cocking beckoned, what a treat. Again this place is somewhat changed since my last trip along the South Downs Way when it was cheap and cheerful. Now it’s still cheerful and welcoming but, with a former Masterchef Tony Bale and his partner Julia Dent in charge, not cheap. In fact we enjoyed a very fine dining experience, followed by a comfortable night in a bed supplied by the Victorian Bed Company (apparently)!

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Day Two – Meonstoke to Petersfield

Posted on 29/08/2012 by southdownswayandbeyond

How old are Yew?

With breakfast at 8.30 we thought we were in for an early start – but we were thoroughly diverted, transported even by the delightful Corhampton Church (a few yards away from the Bucks Head).

Initially it was the old Yew tree which took my breath away. It hasn’t been formally aged but has a girth of around 23 feet which apparently gives it a date of planting at least 1000 years ago – What really amazed me was how healthy and majestic it seemed, truly a venerable entity.

The church (dating to 1020) and possibly built on an ancient mound of some sort or other is also a gem of a place. Much of the original Saxon building remains including its chancel arch, altar stone and sun (or Tide) dial. There is a sanctuary chair (possibly also Saxon or early medieval) and amazing wall paintings probably from the 1200s. It was humble but simply exquisite.

With that as the start of the day it was difficult to top, but Winchester Hill was amazing too – an Iron Age hill fort with Bronze Age burial mounds and like Beacon Hill fabulous wild flowers. A tad bit breezy when we were there but again worth a visit.

We headed on to Meon Springs where we ate our baguettes provided by the Bucks Head and watched people fly fishing in the trout lake. Seemed somewhat sad these beautiful fish were just being farmed for catching but even so it was a tranquil spot. We got talking to one of the fishermen who turned out to have been an official at the Olympic badminton event. You just never know who you’re going to meet.

I would have liked to stop at the Sustainability Centre in East Meon after that, but we’d never have got to Petersfield. As it was, after ice cream and scones, we got lost in Queen Elizabeth Country Park. I have to say we found the signage there rather confusing. Walking on cinder/rubble paths was also a bit exhausting, especially as my right leg had well and truly seized up by this point!

It seemed a bit of a shame that we had to break off from the route at Buriton and take the Hangers Way into Petersfield but, there’s always the next leg to look forward to (Buriton to Cocking and then on to Amberley).

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Day One – Winchester to Meonstoke

Posted on 28/08/2012 by southdownswayandbeyond

Or who put all those cows there?

Being on occasions an early riser I was up and out in Winchester on Sunday morning to take a few photos of: the oldest (or one of) pub in the country (the Royal Oak – a gift from Ethelred the Unready to his wife), Winchester High Street and of course the Cathedral – such history, St Swithan’s shrine, burial casks of kings including Canute and William Rufus not to mention the grave of Jane Austen. All this before breakfast!

Despite all the interesting things to see in Winchester, the South Downs Way beckoned. Donning boots and crossing out of the city over the M3 we headed for the tranquillity of the South Downs. It seemed quite strange walking out of the city which it felt should be the end of the journey. Though later we heard that people often walk from Winchester to Eastbourne – with the wind at their backs – makes sense.

Apart from a Labrador puppy licking the top of John’s flask we had a very pleasant and uneventful walk through; Chilcomb, along Temple Valley, down Kings Way, Gander Down and Holden Lane to the Milburys where a tasty Chocolate Fudge cake fortified us. Legs thus strengthened we headed for Beacon Hill– a beautiful nature reserve full of wild flowers and fine views over the Meon Valley. I was hoping to see lots of butterflies here but alas like the rest of the summer, the day was rather too breezy.

We headed down Beacon Hill towards Exton & Meonstoke our stopping place for the evening. Just one last hurdle crossing a field full of cows – somewhat daunting, but with shouts of “Go Girls” we crossed the pasture and the sea of cows parted! We did wonder if the farmer put them there on purpose.

We stopped for the night at the Bucks Head Meonstoke a pleasant, welcoming and cheerful country pub.

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A Bit of Rant about Transport Logistics

Posted on 20/08/2012 by southdownswayandbeyond

Walking the South Downs Way is something I’ve always wanted to do. So the chance to walk and raise a bit of money for charity seemed like a brilliant option. Alas time pressures mean that we have to do it in chunks. All well and good until you start trying to work through the logistics. Finding somewhere to stay was straight forward. More on this later. But organising travel to Winchester with a side trip to Steyning and a return from Petersfield took some doing and raised some issues.

So issue 1 why under the Southern Rail Downlander ticket (which allows you unlimited travel on Southern Trains between Southampton and Ashford and bus travel in the area) can you not use the 2 or 2A to Steyning – surely a missed opportunity not to mention a pain for anyone wanting to get from Shoreham station to e.g Chanctonbury Ring?

Issue 2 why is there not some sort of connectivity on tickets to allow travel to Winchester (start or end of the South Downs Way depending which way you’re walking) and Petersfield. Different train companies I know but where is the sense?

Issue 3 distinct lack of buses on a Sunday or Bank holiday Monday – er when do people like to go for walks…!

Oh the joys of the privatised transport system.

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Hello world!

Posted on 19/08/2012 by southdownswayandbeyond

Hi there everyone, seems a long time since I had a travel blog (Australia 2000 as I recall). But thought it would be great to update you all with details, for a start, of my adventures on the South Downs Way raising money (there is still plenty of time to sponsor me, via my Just giving site) for Dolphin House Charity

I hope you enjoy the read.

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