East Dean surprise

We started the day in the car park on Butts Brow and watched a flock of cormorants flying in 'V' shaped formation overhead. "Never seen that before" and we exchanged bemused amazement as they flew across Eastbourne.
The third member of our intrepid expedition group arrived and we set off in the direction of Beachy Head. Our route would divert once we arrived at the Golf Club.
For the second time in a week, we encountered worried golfers avoiding their shots until we passed.
As we headed down the concrete path toward East Dean, we exchanged further pleasantries mainly regarding the weather and querying our route. "Stopping at the Tiger for lunch?' said one of the golfers.
We waved a further group through before we passed them by and avoided being run over by the local postman who was delivering at high speed down the same track to the farmhouse at the bottom of the drive.

We soon transferred onto the grass footpath and headed into East Dean.
It was Market Day and the place was buzzing. Car Park attendants directing traffic gave a cheery 'hello' to us as we passed.

We entered the village hall which was looking full to capacity as well as stalls outside selling sausages, fish and other garden ware plus much more.
With all the activity we took to sitting on the bench outside the Tiger Inn and soaking up some more Vitamin D. The sun was beating down as we took a break and consumed some pasties that we bought from one of the stalls.

It was all too easy to sit and watch the activities and ponder the opening time of the pub, but there was a steady trek up the hill to the church, where a newly carved 'coffin gate' had been installed.

The final couple miles provided stunning views across to Jevington whilst the sheep wondered across from field to field. A couple of jet planes broke the silence briefly, flying out across the channel.
I was distracted by a sign for the Old Dairy... which indicated that it was 100 YRS (years?) on the Right... surely it was to read 100 yds??

It was just after midday by the time we got back to the car park. No more Cormorants... just blue sky and sunshine. 7.5 miles completed and 3 hours well spent.

Mid-week special

It's time to clean the boots off from last weekends dry walk around the reservoir and get out on the Downs. The weather looks stable for the rest of the week, so the plan is to meet up at 9.15 Wednesday morning at Butts Brow.

Bewl Water? walk

We'd seen news over recent months about the reducing levels of water at Bewl Water, and thought it was useful (especially on a sunny day like today), to see for ourselves what the water level was like.
We drove into Ticehurst which was busily going about its Friday morning routine of local, regular shoppers and delivery lorries causing the village congestion.
We parked up the car at 10.05 after some brief negotiations with a local lady who was filling one of the 9 hour parking spaces after realising that we were parked in a 2 hour space. Careful consideration of the proposed 7 mile walk concluded that we might take a little longer.
The first task was to find the alleyway between shops which would lead us across recently ploughed fields awaiting the sowing of crops.
Tinkers Lane awaited and headed to Three Leg Cross. The sight of the Bull Inn already had us considering the lunchtime refreshments.
A sharp right and then a walk down a long farm drive we encountered a couple of cyclist who were using up more energy than we had any thoughts of using. A brief conversation about the condition of the water levels in the reservoir and they were soon gone.
We turned a few more corners then spotted how low the level was. We were attracted to take a closer look and note how much lower the levels were since the last time some of us walked around sections of Bewl.

Rather than return to the path, we remained on the lower level, noting that there was a well trodden path forming, not only from humans but horse-shoe marks were also to be seen.
Dog walkers had more space to allow their pets to roam whilst the fishermen had less water to fish in. But perhaps that might not be a bad thing. The fly fishermen were trying their best to attract the attention of any remaining fish.

We eventually headed into Ketley Wood, onwards to Flimwell. Crossing the road, we were to walk towards Dale Hill Golf Course. The directions said to follow the waymarks through the golf course, taking care when crossing the fairway. At one point we courteously waited whilst one golfer in a group of 3 took his shot. He scuffed it, and the ball bounced with resistance and stopped hardly 50yds from where he had hit it. Well short of the green, he kept his head down as he walked on, and we made our way further down the fairway where the next waymark directed us across the fairway and into Stumblett Wood, until we reached the main road. We had to walk for approx. half a mile before turning into some more fields, then across another section of the golf course, where it was populated by more women than men. In fact as we approached to cross the fairway we were asked by one of the women if we wanted to join them. We gracefully declined the invitation saying that we were already walking with a handicap.

The final roadside walk back into the centre of Ticehurst and some of the group were ready to take on some refreshments at The Bell. Harveys Best being sold by the pint. Perfect!
Distance - 7 miles. Time - 3 hours (steady pace)

Next trek... Friday 23rd March

Just in case there's any interest from the usual suspects who haven't got my usual reminders... we are planning to congregate in Ticehurst this Friday morning in the car park in Pickforde Lane at 10.00am for a 7 mile exploration taking in a review of water levels on Bewl Water. click on this link for more details.

Chiddingly check up

Three stalwart members congregated in Chiddingly Village Hall car park and set off as the church bells chimed for 9.30. The usual encounter of styles tested the balance and flexibility of us and nodded politely to stable occupants on the first few fields.
A little muddy underfoot, but manageable as our hiking sticks were used as probes to test out the firmness of the next step. The weather was grey and overcast but with no threat of rain, we soon made progress across towards the spectacle of Old Stream Bridge. A place some of us had visited a few times previously, however looking a little faster flowing on the stepped weir beneath the bridge which we stood and observed for 5 or so minutes.
Greeted at the next stables by a ferocious looking german shepherd dog, we were pleased to see it called away from our path by one of the stable girls providing treats for the dog. Easily distracted, we passed without further hindrance and joined the next lane. It was simplest to stride on towards The Gun Inn and complete the full circuit.
We walked down the lane towards a row of houses and found the next style and walked across some freshly planted fields which would yield its crops (sweetcorn I think?) later in the year.
Another wooded area which was heavy in sprouting bluebells, which would in a month or so time, be ready to display its full bloom. Whilst daffodils were still in abundance, we were distracted by confirming our identification of the small outcrop of garlic besides the path.
It was becoming a walk of dogs... as we encountered 2 more dogs in a large garden enclosure. A chocolate coloured Labrador was escorting us on the other of the fence giving more ferocious barking. We showed no fear all the time he was the other side and hoped there wasn't a gap in the fence further along the enclosure.
There were only a few fields left and had Chiddingly Church spire in out sight for the remaining half mile.
Back to the car park which rounded off our 4.2 mile walk as the church bells chimed for 11.30

Long Man - Frog Firle circuit

parking the car at 9.20 in the Long Man car park, the last thing we expected was to be approached by a representative of the 'Sussex 12 Milers' who thought we might be joining them for their jaunt to the Tiger Inn at East Dean. I had a different route in mind... in the opposite direction as the 12 mile hikers.
We set off across the fields towards, being accompanied for a short while by a black and ginger cat, who weaved itself across our path. We gave him the slip at the next style as it clawed itself to the top of a post.
The fog which was thick an hour earlier, was being burnt off as the sun beamed through on our left. We reached Alfriston and walked across the main high street and through to the main south downs route. Up the steep track, it was starting to feel warmer and the energy levels were to be tested.

The sheep occupied fields on the top of the Downs and the bank of fog was still lingering on top of the ridge ahead of us.

We then turned left and headed down into the valley then climbing again to see the Seaford golfers teeing off onto a nearby fairway. It was midday and the sun was as high as it needed to be. The visibility was improving all the way across to 'High & Over'. An occasional walker and runner passed us in the opposite direction. We reached Frog Firle about half an hour later then cut across a newly ploughed field which was a grazing field the last time we went through.
We crossed the main Alfriston to Seaford road and descended to the river. At this point there should have been a couple options about which route we might take however our choices were severely restricted as we found the bridge over into Littlington was closed and work was noisily happening.

We therefore remained on the same side of the river and made our way back into Alfriston passing by Deans Place Hotel. We stopped for a short while and sat on a bench outside the church before crossing over the white bridge.
We re-traced our path back the same way as we had entered Alfriston and arrived back at the car park at 1.45pm.  The walk worked out at 12 miles and our legs were letting us know that we had achieved this distance.

next options for walks

Spending some catching up with a couple of walks over the next couple of days.
Tomorrow (15th March) meeting up in the Long Man Car Park at 9.30 with every intention of walking across to Frog Firle and back to the river into Alfriston.. might be a good 3 + hours on that one.
Friday (16th March) a shorter route starting at Chiddingly Village Hall Car Park at 9.30 for a 3 mile steady stroll.

Access and Public Right of Way under Threat

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) - a membership organisation for landowners and rural business owners in England & Wales - is calling for a 'radical shake-up' of the access and public rights of way system.
Read more information and to download the full report from this link
Also worthy of noting... A £3 million plan to safeguard endangered chalk downland in the South Downs National Park has been awarded £608,000 by the Secretary of State for the Environment. see this link for further details...

Dallington Walkabout

Four intrepid 'summer wine' hikers congregated in the car park at the Swan Inn at Woods Corner for a 3.5 mile walk around the fields and lanes of Dallington.

The weather was overcast and although the first mile or so took us down through lanes and some muddy gateways, we discovered Dallington Church without too much problems. The High Street in Dallington was full of old cottages some dating back some 900 years and featured in the Doomsday book.

We couldn't help but notice the evidence of early blossom on what we later discovered to be Azalia (or as it Camelia?). It looked a very prominent appearance with the church as a back drop as we walked down the next lane.

We ventured on through a wooded area and observed numerous fields full of mole hills. They didn't appear to be in threat of extinction around the Wealden area. The Beggars Well House was surrounded of 'soon to bloom' daffodils which we thought would be good to return and see in about a months time.

We observed on the horizon, one of Mad Jack Fullers Follies, the Observatory, then into Deer Park, where the boundary was marked with a wall in need of desperate repair. The original wall had been constructed under the direction of Jack Fuller.

We eventually walked passed a reclamation yard and up the hill to see the Sugar Loaf. A final folly which was constructed again by Mad Jack Fuller as part of a wager to prove that the spire of Dallington Church could be seen from his house in Brightling. In fact, he couldn't. so had the imitation spire built in order to win the wager.

We all agreed the walk was extremely interesting and whilst it took just around 2 hours, the pub wasn't open, as we took off our boots. Another good excuse to come and extend the walk and time our return a little better next time.