South Downs Way - Day 3

Clayton to Findon
Distance: 17 miles
Ascent: 630m
Weather: sunny, persistent wind
Places called Bottom: Wellcombe, Ewe, Anchor, Stump and Bushy
Places not called Bottom: Steyning Bowl, Scabes Castle.

Horses, cyclists, bunnies, kestrel, buzzards, goats, piggies, cows, sheep (possibly Cotswolds sheep tbc), water snails, great crested newts.

We left the Inn after a leisurely breakfast,  passing a very ostentatious railway tunnel entrance, and heading up a bridleway under Wolstonbury Hill. It was very horsey and muddy here, with sticky, slidy mud which involved clinging on to tree branches hoping they would hold, while getting stung by stinging nettles.

The path dried out as it went up through bluebell woods, with yellow flowering nettles (safely away from the path) and then became grassy as it opened up on to the ridge. Along here there were loads of mountain bikers. At Saddlescombe the fancy racing mountain bikers went the other way, although we saw plenty of others during the day, and we dropped down to cross the road and head up to Summer Down by the Devil's Dyke which is very impressive. The legend goes that the devil wanted to dig a dyke so the sea would flood the churches in the Weald, but he saw a light that he thought was the dawn coming and disappeared, the light actually being an old woman with a candle. It doesn't really do much for his reputation to be so put off by someone on their way to the privy in the middle of the night, or that he didn't check first, but that's legends for you.

There were great views and strong winds at the top of the escarpment,  which leads over Fulking Hill (the sign had been much felt-tipped) and Edburton Hill. From Tottington Farm we joined a lane which lead down to Shoreham Road, which was very busy, we had to wait quite a while before we were able to cross.

We spurned a bench here, that was on a busy corner, in the shade, with lots of road noise, and then had to walk a couple of miles farther on (past the pig farm) before there was a bench that we made good use of.

From here the path leads up on to Chanctonbury Hill, which has some lovely grass you can lie on, Chanctonbury Ring -a pretty copse on an old fort (allegedly haunted)  and a site of special scientific interest pond where we saw newts.

Soon after we took a left turn down a bridleway to Findon, it was decidedly warm by now.

We have now had dinner and a few pints of Otter Bright, and Rob has suggested we go for a walk up Steep Lane just to see how steep steep is round here.