A South Downs Way Story
Segment:
© 2004 by
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The prevailing wind and the bus schedule conspired to make us walk this segment in reverse too. Snow had fallen the night before and the downs were white. The sky was a brilliant blue but the wind was strong and cold enough that we kept hats and hoods firmly tied on. Ellen and I took the bus up the Adur River to its intersection with the South Downs Way above Upper Beeding. There, we disembarked and headed straight up Beeding Hill on a well used bridle path. We saw lots of farm animals looking anxiously for forage and we passed a shuttered youth hostel. Eventually the path led us through an Iron Age earthen fort to Devil’s Dyke, where we had a wonderfully warm, albeit not very tasty lunch. Children were making the most of the snow, buildings snowmen, throwing snowballs, and sliding. Then we continued around the dyke and down through a sunken lane to little Saddlescombe, where the South Downs Way passes a farmhouse with a wonderful garden and all sorts of chickens, ducks and geese. A final climb over West Hill brought us to Pyecombe and the Plough, which served a wonderful early dinner before our bus home.
Pyecombe-Upper Beeding
6.9 miles
4 January 2003
Walked in reverse from Upper Beedingto Pyecombe