There were only four of us out today. We parked on the muddy verge outside Herstmonceux Church and laced up boots and strapped on back packs to head off to find the 1066 route, at the very end of Church Lane. The gateway was entirely flooded, and would not be the last we saw of flooded lanes during the days walk.
The view across the Pevensey Levels towards Hailsham and the South Downs beyond in the misty distance gave an encouraging feel for the day, however our well shone boots were soon muddied as we crossed through the Science Centre of Herstmonceux Castle and traversed our way downwards along a very muddy track. The gate at the bottom opened out into a field where the sight of one of the large telescope domes stood above the wooded area.
To our left, the Castle itself was adorned by a collection of white vans and several people going about their work.
We headed toward the Castle and passed through another gate and onto a short tarmac section.
The next option of gates were in sight, however we were distracted by a french (maybe French/Canadian as there was a large Canadian link with the Castle) accented security man, who started to demonstrate his authority by checking out our route and direction plus following up this enquiry by informing us that we were walking on 'Private Property'. Quick to correct him I had the OS map in hand and assured him of where we had come from and in what direction we were heading. His rapport with us was warming and when we told him that these walks were reported in a Blog, he became even more animated and informative about the entire encampment. He confirmed that our options of gates into the next field were divided between a metal gate or a wooden kissing gate. "Now you might need to be careful through that one" he joked. "Oh, and just over there is a church".... We let him know that our car was parked outside it, and that we would be popping in, on our return, and say prayers for him. He smiled with a degree of resignation. We were more than a match for him and concluded that he was probably bored and wanting someone to talk with.
We'd have loved to stand there and chat all day, but we had more new footpaths to discover, so we bid the merry security gent a farewell as he started to wave his arms frantically at some more vans arriving. We chose the metal gate and traversed the next moistened field toward a gate at the opposite side of the field.
The next wood set us a detour test as we followed the guide notes by turning right and heading along what we thought was the correct path. At the end of this small wood, we came up against a barbed wire fence defended by a wall of wild growing bracken. We pondered for 5 minutes back and forth as although seeing the footpath we were destined to walk, the access to it appeared to defeat us. We back-tracked into the wood and discovered the signpost which gave all the necessary directions we required and provided comforting orientation for all.
We were out of the wood and treading carefully downhill with Herstmonceux Place to our left and scattered sheep all around.
The next mile upwards was a carefully navigated affair as the track was muddy. Through gates and eventually reaching the end of Comphurst Lane, we found the next signpost and turned right around a large barn, some farm machinery and a field with a couple horses wearing their winter protective coats.
We'd started through the Castle grounds earlier with a glimpse of blue sky around and during our trek to this point had seen the sun occasionally shining. However during the last 10 minutes the clouds had become darker and the spits of rain had caused us to consider putting our raincoats on. We continued a little further and after walking across a couple more fields and through even more muddy almost impassable tracks, we entered another wooded track upwards with rain hitting down with more intensity than 15 minutes ago. Fields containing old gnarled Beech trees (some fallen) drew our attention from the difficult pace of mud laddened trekking.
We found shelter under the trees and took refreshments for around 10 minutes and reflected on the different elements of this new walk.
With all raincoats now adorned we walked further upwards through the remainder of the wood and crossed Wartling Road and started the tarmac ¾ mile walk down Wood Lane. The firmest underfoot section of the walk we reached the other end of the lane without interruption of any other traffic.
The sound of a chain saw and the smell of burning wood filled the air after walking along the main A271 Hailsham to Bexhill road for a short distance and turning into the next footpath. It was the final phase of the walk and we'd soon be back joining the 1066 country walk route through fields. The rain had stopped and the need to disrobe our raincoats prevented us from quietly melting and dehydrating.
After crossing several paddocks with horses by a sequence of 'need for repair' stiles we climbed into Jenner Lane where for the third time we were confronted with a flooded section and had to strategically walk on the verge between fence and water.
Back on grass tracks, on the edge of a large field, we made steady progress toward Wartling Road again where we felt obliged to put on our hi-viz vests as the traffic was more frequent than any of the other road/lane sections. It was only approx 300 yards before we were again walking downhill toward the view of the castle grounds.
At this point, we considered optional paths to walk back toward the church, to avoid the steep muddy track down which we'd walked a couple hours previous, however thought that our boots would not be preserved any more by optional routes and decided to trudge the final half mile back to the car from this point. But not before examining the old fallen Elder? tree that lay hollow and almost dormant but for growth that it appeared to be supporting.
The church came into view around the next corner and we unlaced our boots and collapsed into the car after a 5.5 mile walk.
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