I've been waiting to start this walk for weeks now. Kaz continually checked the weather. It was going to rain. No, it was going to be sunny for three days. No, it was going to rain... etc, etc. The walking party consisted of Kaz, Dad, John (Kaz' bro) and myself.
We caught the bus to Lower Beeding and started walking. Almost immediately it started to rain, a fine downpour and we quickly entered a woodland which bordered Leonardslee Gardens. The first 
village we got to was Slaugham which has a unique ols style telephone box- painted white. Then we entered Handcross and the rain intensified. We decided to beat a hasty retreat to the pub. We sat there relaxing with a pint and watching the rain falling with increased intensity. We finally got our sacks together and headed back onto the track. From there we entered more woodland (Nymans wood) and desended towards a small lake, as we watched fish coming to the surface we looked up to see a large male Heron flying across the water. The bird was huge with black, white and grey markings, it reminded me somehow of those massive seaplanes from the second world war. Dad couldn't believe his eyes.
Eventually we arrived at Staplefield, where we had yet another pit stop at the pub!! I put my jacket onto a radiator to get a bit dry... this was pretty sensible
except I had forgotten that I had a piece of chocolate in my pocket! Yuk! I pulled my hand out of it and it looked like I was cleaning up the H blocks after the dirty protest.
village we got to was Slaugham which has a unique ols style telephone box- painted white. Then we entered Handcross and the rain intensified. We decided to beat a hasty retreat to the pub. We sat there relaxing with a pint and watching the rain falling with increased intensity. We finally got our sacks together and headed back onto the track. From there we entered more woodland (Nymans wood) and desended towards a small lake, as we watched fish coming to the surface we looked up to see a large male Heron flying across the water. The bird was huge with black, white and grey markings, it reminded me somehow of those massive seaplanes from the second world war. Dad couldn't believe his eyes.Eventually we arrived at Staplefield, where we had yet another pit stop at the pub!! I put my jacket onto a radiator to get a bit dry... this was pretty sensible
except I had forgotten that I had a piece of chocolate in my pocket! Yuk! I pulled my hand out of it and it looked like I was cleaning up the H blocks after the dirty protest. From there we headed towards the Ouse Valley viaduct. We could see it occasionally on the horizon, then it would dip below a hill or a hedgerow. We climbed up a slight incline and crossed a stile. There in front of us, dominating the skyline was the viaduct. An alter to the industrial age. The harbinger of urbanisation running across a beautiful rural scene. It was built in 1842 and carries the railway to Brighton. The arches of the viaduct were hollowed out, and when you looked down the length of the structure, it creates a kind of optical illusion. It was one of the main reasons Kaz and I wanted to do this walk, and it was even better than we had imagined.
The path took us long the river into the woods aptly named "River Woods". Soon we were crossing over the railway rather than walking under it, then onto a golf course and through more woods to emerge on the road just above Lindfield. This was our first stop over and we stayed the night in the Bent Arms Inn. It was ok. The rooms were nothing special, but we were glad to have a shower and clean up. Heidi, John's pregnant partner, joined us for the evening and brought out our bags containing fresh clothes etc. We ate in another pub that evening. By this time our muscles were starting to stiffen. Its a long time since I walked 14 miles in day. When we got back to the Bent Arms Dad went to bed and the rest of us stayed up for another drink, but then we too went off to bed, tired after a day walking along the SOVW.
No comments:
Post a Comment