Mud . mud, glorious mud! 11 miles from Itchingfield.

6th February 2021

With lockdown still in place I met up with a friend to walk in Itchingfield which was on my way home.

As it turned out, the predominant feature of this walk was mud; from thick sludgy mud to wet slush, we got to experience it all!

The walk started from Itchingfield church and wended its muddy way to the Downs Link which is a path along a disused railway line (so slightly less mud here!).

Although we've had a lot of rain recently we did get some sunshine and blue skies early on in the walk.

And from the Downs Link there was a view of Christ's Hospital in the distance.  Christ's Hospital started as a school to educate and take care of the destitute children of London in Tudor England.  It moved to this location in 1902 and has its own railway station.

Not long after passing Christ's Hospital (sadly, no good views) we turned off the Downs Link and went back to crossing fields - and more mud - as we headed south.

I loved these very cheerful flowers - there is a sunflower in the background too.

More mud!

Thick oozy mud and lots of water made walking very interesting!

Having gone about six miles we turned west and had a short stretch along a lane and we passed a house with this in their garden.  A lovely collection of old signs and bikes as well as the old style petrol pump.  

Have I mentioned that this was a muddy walk?  Unbelievably the footpath went straight across this ploughed field and the mud was so deep I wasn't sure I was going to get across without leaving a boot behind!

These are my boots after crossing that mud!  Fortunately the field we then walked through was flooded so the boots were clean by the time we got to the next stile!

After that we turned north and started back towards Itchingfield Church.

The walk was 11 miles in total.  I quite enjoyed it even with all the mud.  There is some lovely countryside and in better weather there might even be some views.

The GPX of this walk can be downloaded here and you are welcome to try it out for yourself.  Please remember that you walk it at your own risk and don’t forget to follow the Countryside Code.

If you do download the walk I ask that you make a £1 donation to my fundraising which can be found here.

Many thanks and enjoy this walk. 

Forest Row chicken run - 7 miles

27th December 2020

I wasn't sure this walk was going to happen as we had been visited by storm Bella overnight which had caused a certain amount of chaos on the roads but the sun was shining and we decided to risk it.

The walk starts in Forest Row and goes north along the old railway line.  This is part of a ten mile route known as the Forest Way which runs from Groombridge to East Grinstead.  We walk the last few miles from Forest Row to East Grinstead.  

Trees had their own lakes this morning

This path is flat and easy to walk
It is also a little bit on the boring side but there was some interesting gardens to look into.

This family share their back garden with their pig.

Whilst whoever owns this field has an abandoned plane.

. 

The pathway was very busy - not a problem usually but a bit daunting in the current circumstances.  However everyone was very careful to keep to their side of the path.

Once you get to East Grinstead you turn off and walk through a housing estate and down a short section of the A22.  Today the road was closed due to a fallen tree.  Most drivers going south were going up onto the curb to go past but a local resident was complaining to drivers and bullied the little white car into turning around and finding a new route.

It is only a short section on the A22 and you soon turn off for a more cross country walk....

.....and lots and lots of mud!

The path has been filled with stones to make it clearer to follow and less muddy - sadly however we weren't going in that direction!

Not a great photo of Stoke Brunswick which is shown on the map as a school but from research it appears it is now a private house.  As a school famous pupils include Winston Churchill (except he attended whilst the school was located in Hove) and Jonathan King.  The school went up for sale in 2009 for £6 million for the part medieval, part Tudor property set in 28 acres.

Home stretch!  After Stoke Brunswick we follow a paved road for a while and then turn off onto this path for the last mile or so.  Which takes us back to the Forest Way route and the end of the walk.

The bits through the fields were very very muddy and we had to make our way through a lot of big puddles.  At the end of the walk my feet were still lovely and dry thanks to my boots.  This is my second pair of the same boots - the first pair lasted for ten years until the sole fell off them mid walk last year.  As a vegetarian buying walking boots could be difficult except for the Vegetarian Shoe Shop in Brighton.  I really like these boots, they are comfy and as I said they keep my feet nice and dry.  (No one reads this blog so no one pays me to say that - I really do like my boots!)

The local pub was of course closed but Java & Jazz was doing a very popular takeaway service.

The GPX of this walk can be downloaded here and you are welcome to try it out for yourself.  Please remember that you walk it at your own risk and don’t forget to follow the Countryside Code.

If you do download the walk I ask that you make a £1 donation to my fundraising which can be found here.

Many thanks and enjoy this walk. 

 

Sotuh Downs loop - Bo Peep to Bishopstone - 7 miles

 25th December 2020

Christmas Day in a very strange world.  Fortunately for me I am 'bubbled' with my daughter so Christmas Day saw us walking together on the South Downs.  We wouldn't usually have time for such a long walk but with not much happening today we decided to make the most of the winter sunshine.

This walk starts at the Bo Peep car park which is a car park with a view!  There is a steep climb to the car park so I never liked driving there in my last car which had very little power but it's great in my new(ish) car.  It is a free car park but it is small - it only takes about 15 cars.  On Christmas Day it was packed out and we had to park at the side of the road facing the view below.  Such a hardship!

I did the planned walk back to front because the most obvious footpath turned out to be the end of the walk and it made more sense to keep walking in that direction.  It is a very nice, easy to walk path which goes past the intriguingly named Five Lord Burgh tumulus.  

We spotted what we think are WW2 bomb craters
scattered around the South Downs

We could see Brighton and the i360 in the distance

The walk loops around to Bishopstone and then walks through the very pretty village.  Bishopstone was connected to the See of Canterbury and the name means dwelling place of the bishop - or more succinctly the bishops farm.  The village is tiny with about 200 residents but it is surrounded by Newhaven and Seaford.

The war memorial in the church includes 'Nell Standish-Barry' on the list of those who died in the 1939-45 war.  Eleanor, who was better known as Nell, was born in India and grew up in Ireland.  After WW1 she moved to London but would spend her summers in Seaford when she would attend the church of St Andrews in Bishopstone.  She was a very exotic woman who claimed to be a clairvoyant and after successfully predicting the death at sea of Lord Kitchener she became a bit of a celebrity.  She also predicted her own death by a 'fiery streak' and it seems she died when her home was hit by a doodlebug but other reports were that she was only missing or had died in a car accident.  The official wording of her death is that she was believed to have be killed through war operations.  If you want to find out more read Kevin Gordon's account of her life and mysterious death.

A local farmer getting in the Christmas spirit

A beautiful blue sky with a very clear moon
(you might need to squint to see it!)

Can we go home now for Christmas dinner?

Find the route here.  As always you walk at your own risk.

Hartfield north walk

Covid restrictions mean that my walking group is on hold again and after two close encounters with the virus I am being very sensible (unusually for me).  So here's a walk I did earlier this year.

Back on the 6th March we started the walk but very quickly found that we could not go any further as the path had become a lake.

We did the walk again on the 10th July in glorious sunshine and it turned out to be a lovely walk when it isn't underwater!

This walk heads north from Hartfield and meanders through some lovely countryside and past some very nice properties.  There are a few hills to climb but the reward is some stunning views.

The walk took us past Bolebroke Castle (not to be confused with Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire).  Bolebroke is a fifteen century hunting lodge which was build around 1480.  It is thought that Henry VIII would stay there whilst hunting for wild boar and deer in Ashdown Forest and it is just five miles from Hever Castle which was home for Anne Boleyn so he no doubt found it very convenient for courting her.

There are some lovely photos online of the castle which was restored after being vacant for a few years.

Bolebroke Castle

At the time of this walk pubs were allowed to open and serve drinks so we ended our walk with a very welcome drink at The Anchor in Hartfield.

GPX of the walk can be found here.  As always you follow at your own risk but my suggestion is not to try it after a lot of rain!