St Swithuns Way - Day 2 and North Downs Way Day 0

Alton to Farnham
Distance: 16 miles
Ascent: 180m
Weather: warm and sunny
Buzzards, deer, red kite, long-tailed tit, french partridge,  bunnies, horses that can't spell (or win), Austin Healeys 

As we left Alton this morning, a lady pulled up in her car to ask us something about the ramblers, not sure what as a truck went past, possibly were we looking for them, did we want to join them, or did we know where she could find them... It seems they are an illusive lot. We just said no.

Today's walk could potentially have been quite boring,  as it follows the side of the A31 road, but as it happened it was very pleasant and although we were in earshot of the road it was not intrusive and we rarely saw it.

We had a sit on Walter's bench, with views across the fields - buzzards were circling overhead and there was a small herd of deer. It was very peaceful.

A short distance on, we walked by a reservoir (or, more accurately, pond) and were passed by a horde of noisy ramblers, one of whom joked we were going the wrong way. Nope.

The path was mostly along and through fields,  with some woodland and a few bits along lanes through pretty villages.

In Upper Froyle we saw gnarly trees in the church yard, Hampshire sheep and very pretty thatched cottages. A wooded drive led towards the grounds of Pax Hill which  was once the home of Lord Baden-Powell,  now a nursing home.

The day was warm and still, and the butterflies were out in force - we'd not seen many earlier in the week.

At Farnham we stopped at the castle (worth the entrance donation to use the loos) and had a look at the keep and battlements,  and had a picnic.

St Swithun's Way ends in Farnham, which is a pretty little town with terrible traffic.

The North Downs Way begins near to the train station,  on a horrible junction with many pedestrian crossing buttons and many pedestrians taking their lives in their hands.

Thankfully we soon left the side of the dual carriageway, and walked down a leafy track where there is a commemorative bench for the start of the Way (not sure what was carved into it, possibly a thistle,  possibly something else) and up into a pretty nature reserve at Furze Hill. Here the footpath that we'd meant to take down to our accommodation stop had been moved, due to a landfill site, so we took the next one and had to walk down a very busy little road that was rather worrying for a couple hundred yards but from the t junction there was a pavement. Opposite the pub there is the end of the footpath that we would have taken,  and Rob had a bit of an investigate.  We shall attempt it in the morning to avoid the road.

We are staying at The Princess Royal, a Fuller's pub - they have Sky Sports so we were able to watch the end of the test match.

St Swithuns Way - Day 1

Winchester to Alton
Distance: 22 miles
Ascent: 600m
Weather: mostly sunny,  brief shower
Two deer (I saw two, Rob saw one and heard one), fox, more fast fish, an interesting beetle, squirrels, hare, no bunnies,  pigs, nosy cows, kestrel, buzzards.
Horrible big Chinese dragon/lion things: 4

After posting yesterday's blog, we went out on the town. We borrowed a cute union jack umbrella and visited the cathedral, with rainbow adornment, and then had a pint in the Royal Oak, which claims to be the oldest pub in England but frankly we didn't see much evidence of this. The beer was good though.

We had waffles for breakfast.

St Swithun's Way leads eastwards out of Winchester by the River Itchen, along with numerous other footpaths, and may have given me slightly higher expectations of the footpath's condition than could be sustained throughout the day.

The day started through the Itchen Valley nature reserve, which is beautiful and we saw many critters, and met a chap who was photographing beetles.

The St Swithuns Way goes much the same way as the Itchen Way (which with hindsight is probably a nicer walk), the King's Way, The Three Castles Way and the Oxdrove Way.

There are lots of big posh houses along here and we were able to have a good look into their back gardens.  Or grounds, which might be a better expression.

We have seen quite a few bonfires recently and there was an especially large one this morning,  turning the sky an interesting orangey brown colour, and we joked that it was appropriate to light pyres on an saint's pilgrimage route. Turns out the village was called Martyr Worthy.

We were met (a couple of times)  by Dad and Diane, with their dogs Holly and Ben, outside Ovington and we walked a little then stopped for a pub lunch at The Bush. After a lovely hour of good food and catching up,  we continued on.

The route of the trail now became less well signed, more overgrown and the stiles in often distinctly dilapidated conditions. From Teg's Down Road to Park Lane above New Barn, the Way disappeared completely in a rapeseed oil field,  and we followed cut path which thankfully came out at a stile at the other side. We saw a fox along here, and later another deer also emerged from a similar field.

Quite a lot of the way is along track lanes and by the side of minor roads, but there were also some very nice bits through Old Down Wood and New Copse, where we stopped for some tea (fancy green tea), leftover pork pie from lunch, and biscuits, in amongst a carpet of bluebells,  stitchwort, cuckooflower and dead nettles.

Then we followed the disused railway line into Chawton, where we passed Jane Austen's house and museum (shut by this time), and then used the Jane Austin underpass, into Alton. We are staying at The Swan, which is very comfortable and does a nice pint of Hogs Back T.E.A.

South Downs Way - Day 6

East Meon to Winchester
Distance: 19 miles
Ascent: 550m
Weather: sunshine and showers

We retraced our steps back to the South Downs Way this morning, passing the furry sheep again,  who were sheltering under the hedge,  so I had to use the zoom on my camera to get a picture - as I promised furry sheep, I've attempted to take a photo of the camera display to give an idea of the furriness, with less than brilliant results.

There was a short but very heavy shower as we were walking through a field with some very clean looking cows, who were standing in the middle of the path, but one by one trotted off to the shelter of some trees.

The sun soon came out again,  as we got to the nature reserve at Old Winchester Hill.  In the nature reserve we saw a pigeon,  a blackbird and some crows. Apparently Rob has a pigeon,  blackbird and crow song, but he won't tell me how it goes. At the top of the hill there are very impressive ancient burial mounds and forts, which are 4000 years old.

A nice track led down the hill on the other side to Exton, on the way there was a footbridge over the River Meon, where we saw lots of very fast fish.  I don't have a clue what sort of fish they were.

The path heads diagonally across fields, quite steeply  and the Cumulonimbus clouds, which are very nimbus indeed, started to leak, we were just underneath some beech trees so decided to shelter under them for a while.  We'd just sat down when the rain stopped, but we had some tea and biscuits anyway.

The next shower, which was hail, happened a little further along, as we were walking on a pretty path sheltered by trees.

A good path led across and around fields, where we were escorted by a pheasant and saw a red kite and a buzzard.

Under Cheesefoot Head, they let complete beginners drive tanks. Great big tanks. Thankfully none of them came crashing through the hedgerow, despite what it sounded like.

There was also a red flag flying over the danger area, where the military were firing guns. Winchester is a lively place.

We made it unscathed into the city and had a visit to the cathedral,  which is still mostly visible despite the scaffolding over one end of the roof.

We are staying at The Westgate Hotel, which is very friendly and we've even had some proper vegetables with our dinner. Plus Red Cat beer.

South Downs Way - Day 5

Cocking to East Meon
Distance: 21.6 miles
Ascent: 950m
Weather: rain in morning,  sunny but windy in afternoon
Buzzard, kestrels , red kite, bunnies, Southdown sheep
Electric toothbrush incidents: 1

We were off at about quarter to ten this morning,  stuffed full of breakfast and coffee. The weather was not good,  heavy rain and strong winds. I tried wearing my hat, which is waterproof but not when the wind is blowing the rain horizontally into one's ear. Hat was duly stuffed into rucksack and hood pulled up.

Our first notable place of the day was Crypt Farm on the link footpath between Cocking and the South Downs Way, which was much prettier than the name suggests.

There were not many views to be had this morning,  and it was a relief when we got to the shelter of the woods near to Didling Hill (where we were careful not to get diddled.) 

A little further on we passed The Devil's Jumps which are burial mounds, where we didn't see any rabbits, let alone the devil.

At Pen Hill we met a couple of other walkers coming the other way,  one of whom was the most cheery person we've met in, well, ever, and another was a very optimistic lady who'd taken off her waterproof trousers.  Too early. I'd got my camera out of its protective waterproofs,  and regretted that. Especially when the interesting little birds were long gone by the time I was ready.

At Beacon Hill we decided to take the steep path up to the trig point and were rewarded with a toposcope and views over to Butser Hill.

The Way goes towards Queen Elizabeth Park, through the Buriton Estate where you really, really are not welcome.  There were signs on each side of the path stating that the woods and fields are private, keep out, no access, private land, strictly private. So many signs.

Here there was a statue of a Southdown Sheep, well Hampshire Down Sheep (which actually does look a bit different, furry faces and black noses) even though we've not seen any of them yet.

At the entrance to the park there were signs about cctv in operation,  and then no using the picnic tables signs. At this point the picnic table police helicopter flew overhead.

At the Country Park, the South Downs Way has been moved around loads, so we just picked a path that led to a picnic spot that was marked on the map and found a bench at a picturesque spot. The sun had come out by now and it was nice and warm. There was much faffing with socks and clothing. 

After a quick visit to the visitor centre,  we headed up to Butser Hill, bit of a detour to the actual top was well worth it for the views.

Then a fairly dull track led near to Leydene Park and Mercury Park, which we think were army barracks now replaced by huge fancy houses.

The nicest part of the walk today was here at the end, a pretty holloway with very old beech trees, lined with flowers.We risked the footpath into East Meon, which was fine and on the way into the village we saw some Southdown Sheep! They appeared to be pet sheep in someone's garden but still Southdown sheep. Will try and get a better picture tomorrow. We are staying at The Olde George Inn, where I had a pint of Sussex Best and Rob had some Badger Beers, plus amazing food and a very comfortable room.

South Downs Way - Day 4

Findon to Cocking
Distance 20.7 miles
Ascent: 650m
Weather: warm and sunny
Butterflies: brimstones, green veined white and small tortoiseshell,  peacock
Kestrels,  buzzard, deer, bunnies,  skylarks,  pheasants,  goldfinches, blackcap.

We started off along the Monarch Way this morning out of Findon. The monarch way is a long path that meanders over England following the route that King Charles II took when he was fleeing after being defeated at the Battle of Worscester before the monarchy was restored. Anyhoo, this morning it seemed quite appropriate that we were walking with the sound of gunfire echoing around the hills and woods.

Amongst this, we saw some bunnies, pheasant and deer that didn't seem particularly bothered by it all.

Between the monarchs way and the South Downs Way we followed a byway, a lovely peaceful walk along a pretty flower lined track.

Up on the south Downs Way,  it got much busier especially so in the vicinity of a car park where we nearly got swallowed up by a massive horde that set off just as we were walking by.

We managed to walk fast enough to get out of earshot by Rackham Hill. There are lots of earthworks and things in italics here.

At Amberley we followed the signs, which led around by the sewage treatment works,  which was rather unpleasant, and then up across the River Arun through a pretty buttercup meadow that was much nicer.

We stopped for lunch at Coombe Wood and then went up to Bury Hill, which is the subject of a poem by John Galsworthy,  of whom I had never heard of before but he's mentioned in the guide book and this part of the route is also part of the Literary Trail. His poem, Bury Hill goes as follows:

To this green hill a something dream-like clings, 
Where day by day the little blunt sheep graze, 
Threading the tussocks and the toadstool rings, 
Nosing the barrows of the olden days. 
An air drifts here that's sweet of sea and grass, 
And down the combe-side living colour glows; 
Spring, Summer, Fall, the chasing seasons pass 
To Winter, even lovelier than those. 

The dream is deep today, when all that's far 
Of wandering water and of darkling wood, 
Of weald and ghost-like Down combinèd are 
In haze below this hill where God has stood. 

Here I, too, stand until the light is gone, 
And feed my wonder, while the sheep graze on.

This was written quite a long time ago,  the hill now being all arable farmland with no little blunt sheep at all.

As the day went on the route became more wooded, and at Grantham Downs we walked through the woodland nature reserves, with the obligatory burial mounds and tumuli, plus Orchids and bluebells.  Rob stopped to put some tape on his foot, and I saw what I think was a blackcap in the trees behind.

A direct path leads to Cocking,  we are staying at The Bluebell Inn where we have been well fed and watered.

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.

South Downs Way - Day 2

Alfriston to Clayton
Distance: 22.2 miles
Ascent: 750m
Weather: overcast, bright spells

Sheep, cows, bunnies,  skylarks, heard cuckoos, pheasants, goldfinches, kestrel, buzzards, long barrows, pickleitious sandwiches. 

After an early breakfast, we set off at about ten to nine, laden down with large amounts of packed lunch.

The first part of the day was along the escarpment towards Firle Beacon,  dotted with tumuli,  mounds, barrows (no wights) and dew ponds. On top of all these things were sheep. In the guide book, it mentions South Downs sheep but although we saw a wide variety of sheep including Herwicks, surprisingly, none were official South Downs ones.

Where the sheep had been kept out, there were lots of wild flowers including cowslips, campion,  buttercups and daisies.

Off Ilford Hill we dropped down to Southease, over a railway line and then over the River Ouse - where we resisted the urge to go bait digging - and then stopped for elevenses at the pretty 12th century church.

Back up onto a ridge we passed a lot of places called Bottom: Breaky Bottom, Whiteway Bottom,  Stump, Long, Falmer, Balsden, Home and Loose Bottom (we gave this one a wide berth) and some places that thankfully weren't called Bottom, like Pickers Hill and Front Hill. I have to stop now before I get into trouble with the Sheeptrods Technical Manager.

There was a nice bridge over the A27,  so nice that a family and a group of DOE'ers had decided to stop for a picnic on its verge (including a sad girl with no shoes on who couldn't find anywhere to pee) and then we turned off up to Balmer Down. On Sunday there will be a bike race here, for very insecure or possibly shortsighted cyclists that require signs and ribbons every hundred yards,  even though there's no where else for them to go.

We had lunch with some sheep up on Plumpton Plain, they seemed a bit surprised when we sat down with them to eat our sandwiches but soon seemed to relax. Then we realised that we were surrounded. We got stared at a bit and then they wandered off.

A wide grass path led to Ditchling Beacon,  where we sat by the trig point for the last of the tea and chocolate bars, and then exercised our right to roam by walking through the grass in the fields rather than along the muddy track.

At the Jack and Jill windmills we turned off the South Downs Way down to Clayton,  where we are staying at The Jack and Jill Inn, enjoying a couple of pint of Sussex Best from Downlands and Sussex Pride from Weltons.