It’s been quite a while since my most recent day out on the VW, this time from East Hoathly to the very pretty Alfriston. I did it in May, but got kinda busy and behind on the blogs!
Alfriston is of course the famous site of my being chased by a cow, playing some kind of twisted game of hide and seek. Seriously, I almost ended up in the river. My MIL thought it was hilarious; never fails to to remind me of it when we come across cows on our rambles.
Anyway, the good-web-developer-him-indoors dropped me off pretty much where I left off in East Hoathly and I continued my way south easterly towards Chiddingly before tacking back south westerly to Holmes Hill. This is sheep country and I passed through gently undulating fields with fine local specimens of Sussex breeds and gorgeous views.
There emerged an early sign that I might be accidentally going on a bear hunt. Uh-oh, grass; long, wavy grass. Can’t go over it, can’t go under it….
You get the idea. As the path wended its way south through copses and fields I managed to avoid wading any deep cold rivers but found plenty of thick, oozy mud to keep the theme alive!
This is a part of the world where you can walk for miles over cultivated land without seeing a soul. I didn’t even bump into a farmer making his rounds, my only company a panoply of bird life. Which suited me fine.
I passed a number of old farm buildings and traversed my first solar farm but otherwise relished the peace and tranquility of a rural landscape. There were some isolated ‘big houses’ with spectacular views over the landscape but all slightly reminiscent of an EF Benson ghost story (Google him).
This was soon to end as I emerged just south of Arlington Reservoir by the railway line at Berwick. Crossing here and heading west on the Cuckmere Pilgrim Path was the first proper sight of my beloved South Downs. I reminisced on the last time I walked in this area, across the top of the Downs descending steeply into Alfriston when following the Old Way.
This time I had an easier time of it; after playing chicken with cars on the A27, my final 3km was a gentle slope down into the village for a welcome stop at the village shop for a refuel.
Alfriston has a volunteer bus service at the weekend (heroes) and I took this to Polegate Station, whereupon a train back to Gatwick. Plenty left in the legs to walk home from the airport.
Overall an unremarkable but very pleasant 18km stroll through quintessentially English landscapes. No bears. Or cows thinking they are funny.
There’s only 10km left on the Vanguard Way, the bit down to Cuckmere Haven and along the coast to Seaford. I had planned to do this tagged on to this section, but then was saving it to do with a chum who was sadly unwell. So instead, before the summer is out, I’m going to pack all my kit into a dry bag, walk out to the sea, swim and then head to Seaford for fish and chips. And finally I will have bagged a long distance path in 2024!
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