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Lynchmere Walk on 28th January 2026

We gathered together in the Iron Hill car park near Hollycombe for Jay's adventure over Lynchmere Common. The recent weather for at least a week had been historically wet but our walk ended up being virtually dry all morning. After welcoming a new walker, we set off through the conifers, following The Serpent Trail and the Sussex Border Path northwards. We eventually turned east, passing Danley Farm, originally the home of the Dimbleby broadcasting family. The area must be a little special as the first rooftop we could see through the trees was the childhood home of Rachel Portman, the first woman ever to win an Oscar for Best Soundtrack. We continued up hill and down dale through to Linchmere Common and The Ridge. After a muddy walk through to Lynchmere village we took a path down to Poison Copse where we had to deal with a couple of stiles, then onto Stanley Common and eventually back to our cars. Road works made it exceptionally difficult to reach the Deers Hut but fortunately the food was worth the effort.

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Walderton walk on 14th January 2026

Even with a frosty start there were a good number of eager walkers gathered at the Barley Mow in Walderton for John's 5 mile walk. We were promised a steep climb but had to first pass Watergate. Watergate Park has nothing to do with Richard Nixon or even Watergate Forest near Gateshead - the house is just a rebuild from the latter part of the last century. However the name actually dates back to the 13th Century.  The steep climb came shortly afterwards as we had to ascend Watergate Hanger, however we all made it without incident, emerging at the top in  bright sunshine.  After passing Broadreed Farm we found the ideal spot for a drinks break adjacent to Oak Copse, the Copse having donated a large number of suitable seats. Suitably refreshed we skirted past Lumley Wood before taking a turn east onto the Monarchs Way. This route was an excellent choice as it led us back to The Barley Mow and all the hills were downwards. The new licensees looked after us very well, especially as we had all seemed to have chosen a different meal.

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Elstead walk on 7th January 2026

Our first group walk of the year assembled at the Moat Pond Car Park on Elstead Common for a 5 mile walk led by Jay and Lindsay.  Because the terrain was flat and we made faster progress than normal, Jay added a detour at the end to make it 5.5 miles.  The cloudless blue skies and sunshine had not been able to overcome the recent frosts so there were plenty of puddles to crunch the ice on and even a few ponds for the bravest amongst us to walk on.  We walked alongside Pudmore Pond on the Elstead Common heath, through woodland up to Guinea Common where we turned east through more woodland and a pond crossing Royal Common reaching Bagmoor common.  A perfectly placed felled tree trunk provided a suitable perch for our coffee break.  Our rapid pace past Borough Farm and onto Okley Common allowed Jay to include the boardwalk on Thursley Common around Pudmore Pond.  Returning to the car park, we changed and drove to The Three Horseshoes at Thursley for a delicious lunch.

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Stedham walk on 17th December 2025

Our last walk before Christmas had a good turn out at the car park on Stedham Common.  We took the Serpent Trail across the heath of Stedham Common over Minsted Road towards Woolmer Bridge.  At the bridge we stayed on the Serpent Trail over the Severals, crossing the Petersfield Road onto the Woolbeding road and over the stone multi span 16^th Century bridge.  The footpath on the National Trust land took us across the field but we needed to take a detour up the hill to avoid the footbridge under repair.  At the top we stopped for our coffee break before coming back down the hill to Stedham Mill.  From there we followed the bank of the River Rother to Iping where we walked up Iping Lane onto Elsted Road back to the car park.  We retired to Fratelli’s for our Italian lunch.

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West Dean and Trundle Christmas Party walks

 With our Christmas party being in the Selsey Arms in West Dean it seemed a good place from which to start our walks. The more energetic members chose to conquer the Trundle, the large hill that overlooks Goodwood horseracing course. The other members chose a flatter walk along the  tracks towards Lavant.   

We all set off together and parted ways  along the Monarch's Way, next to the West Dean park wall.  The Monarch's Way is roughly based on King Charles escape route to Europe but why he wanted to ascend The Trundle is anyones guess. We reached the lower slopes and were much tempted to have a drinks stop, but bravely voted to top the Trundle first. At the top the views were fairly good but there were a number of dark clouds heading our way and there was also a strong wind. A quick circuit of the site of the Iron age hill fort and we retreated to a sheltered corner further down to have our refreshments. We turned down onto The New Lipchis Way for a gentle descent and as we reached the bottom of the valley, we turned north and headed for the pub.

Meanwhile the shorter walkers had taken the valley route towards Lavant and then turned back along the route of the Midhurst to Chichester railway that closed to passengers in 1935. Some of the walkers were a bit nervous about ghost trains still running. Can't think why........What's that? Part of the line was used for goods up until 1991. A nice walk, perhaps because they had no hill to climb, but it also meant they got back to the pub a lot earlier! We had a spendid Christmas lunch and were joined by several of our social members, which made it even more special. Pauline had organised a Secret Santa so we had a difficult time trying to chose a mystery present after our lunch, so we all left the premises fairly full, a little tired and clutching a Christmas gift!

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