The South Downs Way Day 3

This afternoon we hiked the section from Amberly westwards this time. Today was gorgeous and sunny and the views over the countryside were beautiful. We passed Bignor Hill and finished our hike at the village of Cocking, stopping at the Bluebell for a pint. The nice lady at the bar worked the phones, trying to get us a taxi on a Friday evening which proved a bit difficult and took some time. Over all, an enjoyable day.

Met a Scottish lad, wearing a kilt, who was doing the entire South Downs Way at a pretty good clip.

The South Downs Way Day 2

We were staying near Arundel and so decided to hike the section from Amberly eastwards. Francine had a bad cold so we didn't get going till about 11 am. Drove to Amberly, parked the car and started walking. It was quite cool and very windy. We stopped to walk around the Chanctonbury ring - originally a hill fort built in the Iron age and which was also a Roman religious site at one time. The fame of the Ring, however, is due not to the hill fort but to the beech trees, which were planted in 1760 by Charles Goring within the earth bank of the fort, which we could still see today. The trees became a famous landmark, very thickly wooded, however, the Great Storm of 1987 destroyed most of the trees and the replanted trees are only now beginning to restore the ring to its former glory.  Afterwards, we walked as far as Steyning, only to find there was no bus to Amberly. Stopped at a pub for a pint and the owner, who also drove taxi, offered to take us back to our hotel.

Chanctonbury ring

The South Downs Way Day 1

Started off at Eastbourne at the east end of the trail. Beautiful chalk cliffs all along the coast. Since we still had our car, we hiked sections and drove on to others. Hiked along the estuary and back to get the best view of the Seven Sisters and then realized that we still had a two hour drive to get to Winchester to meet up with our friends Jonathan and Anne for dinner! Barely made it in time.

Cape at Beachy Head - the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain at 162 metres (531 ft) above sea level.

The Seven Sisters viewed from the east

Memorial cairn at Cuckmore Haven see: http://www.rclbr50.ca/news/item.asp?T=0&NID=-1032866338

The Seven Sisters

The South Downs Way

The South Downs Way - Southern England  

The South Downs Way is a long distance footpath in Southern England and is one of Britain's National Trails. It runs for around 100 miles from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in Sussex, with a small loop around Eastbourne. The South Downs Way pases through the South Downs, a beautiful natural area.
We only had three days so we picked particular sections to hike.