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)