After an ‘eggsellent’ breakfast (poached, served with smoked salmon, hollandaise sauce on an English muffin with a whole pot of tea) at the Townhouse, I sallied forth from Arundel in gorgeous morning sunshine, headed for Steyning, around 26.5 (16.4 miles) away.
The route leads straight out of town, over the River Arun and then picks up a path that follows the meander of the river. I don’t think I’ve ever had a more spectacular ’leaving’ of a town, and was a timely reminder to look back occasionally.
This path is part of the Monarch’s Way, a long distance path that follows the wanderings of Charles 2nd (the king, who brought back partying) before he left England in exile during the country’s brief republic. I’ve walked sections of it before near Winchester, and we’ll be staying on it for a while today…
Crossing the railway line and through Warningcamp the path climbs up Warningcamp Hill (steep!) to Wepham Wood, part of the Angmering Park estate. The estate is vast and the next hour of walking was all in beautiful managed woodlands and all still on the estate. What goes up, must come down, and a precipitous downward slope brought me out to Michelgrove and then over farmland to Myrtle Grove farm. I must confess, for a man on the run from presumably hostile Parliamentary forces, some of the terrain he supposedly travelled wasn’t exactly strategic. The words ‘turkey shoot’ spring to mind….
Skirting around the bottom of Church Hill, the path passes the 12th century parish church of Findon, next to Findon Place. It seems that 12th century churches litter Sussex, in part because pious Normans built a lot of fortifications in the vicinity to protect the coastline. I didn’t tarry because there was the promise of lunch in Findon village.
I stopped at the excellent Gun Inn, where the staff were friendly and very attentive, the beer was cold and the food simply superb. I rolled out of there a very satisfied customer, fortified for the afternoon ahead.
The afternoon’s walking was characterised by visits to two ancient hill forts, the Cissbury Ring and the Chanctonbury Ring. I had heard of both but never visited. And I do love an ancient hill fort.
The Cissbury Ring was about 45 minutes walk out of Findon. Accessed via a steep chalk path, the huffing and puffing to the top was well worth it for the genuinely stunning views over the Downs and the coast. Apparently, the ring commands a view of 78 miles of coastline, making it an important strategic feature. No photograph could do justice to it; I could even see France on the horizon.
Cissbury is under National Trust care and as such is awash with interesting facts and tiny signs with QR codes that link to a trail of videos. Check out a few to get a feel for the site.
Coming back down from Cissbury I took the link path that heads north to eventually join the South Downs Way. This was a gently sloping chalky farm track, heading up through farmland dusty with the chaff from combine harvesters. Where the path met the South Downs Way I took a left and headed north west to the Chanctonbury Ring, of dubious reputation. Also thought to once have been a fort of the Bronze and Iron Age, there is also evidence of Romano-British temples being built on the site. A copse of beech trees was planted in the 18th century to beautify the place (many replanted after the hurricane of 1987). It makes for a very recognisable landmark, perched up high on the edge of the Downs. Chanctonbury Ring has some darker legends associated with it, not least that if you run backwards around the trees six times the Devil will appear and give you soup in exchange for your soul. Seems a little paltry after all that exercise; it would have to be a pretty mean minestrone.
The view from the ring was stunning; looking north I could spot Box Hill over on the North Downs. Taking 5 minutes here I could completely understand why some have had spooky experiences here; it’s almost eerily quiet among the trees, even though there were plenty of people about.
Retracing my steps back to the junction of paths, instead of joining the South Downs Way I instead headed down the hill through woodland to the plain below, turning east again, passing Wiston House and so into Steyning.
Steyning is originally an Anglo-Saxon town, but has grown over the centuries to quite a large and relatively modern conurbation. The high street is still full of character, including the Chequer Inn where I lodged for the night. Fair to say, it’s a pub first and a B&B second, but it was clean, spacious and comfortable. The good people of Steyning enjoyed their karaoke and I enjoyed my noise cancelling headphones!
Here's the map for day 5; definitely more challenging territory than the previous day and much more exposed so in summer, sun cream a must! It took me about 5 hours (excluding stops). I stopped quite a bit for water, but the small post office and pub I ducked into along the way seemed very happy to refill my water bladder without the need for a purchase.
Its worth noting that there is a longer alternative route the Old Way team have mapped out that gets to Steyning via Storrington; I picked this option because I wanted to see the Rings, but the other looks just as glorious!
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