Gallery

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Harting and Beacon Hill walk on 8th March 2025

We met up at the National Trust car park near Beacon Hill where the fantastic views that normally greet us were shrouded in mist.  Jay and Lindsay led us on The South Downs Way towards Beacon Hill to the crossroads at the base of the hill where our route headed south climbing up the side of Bramshott Bottom.  The paths were a bit muddy, made more slippery by the damp chalk underfoot as well which resulted in some good saves as we slipped.  The southward route took us past Telegraph House towards Germanleith Copse when we turned to a downhill path, crossing the Harting Lavant road.  At North Marden we turned past the 12th Century St Mary church, crossing the fields as the sun started burning off the mist and made our way towards Edgar Plantation.  At this point we turned north walking at the edges of fields and copses until we recrossed the road taking the path parallel to the road through woods on Harting Hill back to the car park.  We retired to South Harting and The White Hart where we enjoyed a hearty lunch.

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Frensham walk on 26th February 2025

Our 4.8 mile walk in rain and around puddles started at the recreation ground car park of Shortfield.  We walked down Shortfield Common Road past The Holly Bush and on to Spreakley when we took a turn right onto a footpath that took us through fields, besides woods and into Hallsgrove Copse and Woodhill Lane.  We then walked east back to Shortfield Common Road to head south towards Dockenfield, then turning left over River Wey on a footbridge to the east bank.  Following the river bank we reached Frensham Great Pond and onto the information centre and café where we stopped for coffee and cake.  The rain had eased off before the stop but returned to dampen our break, goading us to get going again.  Our route took us across Frensham Common, over Mill Lane and behind some houses in Frensham, past St Mary the Virgin Church, across the River Wey again back towards Spreakley and onto the vehicles to deposit our wet gear and retire to The Holly Bush for an excellent lunch and refreshments.

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Duncton walk on 19th February 2025

Thankfully Jay and Lindsay had spent much time to sort out our ramble in Duncton so that we avoided most of the mud caused by the recent poor weather. After parking in The Cricketers (once owned by the creator of Wisden Cricketers' Almanac), we headed for the Burton Park Estate. Burton Park Estate, which dates from the 13th Century contains a Grade 1 listed mansion with a chequered history. Once home to a Baronet, then an MP, it became an Army Camp, a girls school, a police dog-training centre and is now split into flats.  We then took a route around the  House and Burton Mill Pond, much of which is surrounded by marshy areas, luckily navigable over large wooden boardwalks. We were also fortunate to find a handy tree for our coffee stop. As we passed by the House again we took a look inside the tiny Church of St Richards. Of Norman origin it was updated in 1636 by Bishop Juxon who was so trusted by Charles I that he was the man to offer the King his last rites 13 years later - luckily we had no need for his services. A little further on we came across another church - the Church of St Anthony and Saint George but sadly all the doors were locked so we could only wander around the gravestones. Even so we missed the headstone inscribed "The originator and leader of the women's suffrage march from Edinburgh to London 1912", Florence de Fonblanque.  A walk alongside the A285 and we eventually found our cars and drove to The Badgers for some excellent food.

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Hooksway walk on 12th February 2024

John led the 4.3 mile walk from The Royal Oak, Hooksway.  The numbers were a little depleted because of injuries and illness but there were still fourteen of us to brave the cold and misty day.  We got the uphill part of the walk over in the first half heading up through Phillis Wood and across fields towards Monkton Farm and the site of the abandoned medieval village and Scheduled Monument of West Monkton.  The site has been cleared of scrub and mixed trees by West Dean under guidance from Historic England and Natural England which gave us our first opportunity to see the ruins despite passing the site on walks in previous years.  Walking up the valley we joined the South Downs Way at the edge of Philliswood Down where we encountered our first significant puddles and mud baths.  On Treyford Hill we stopped at the memorial of Luftwaffe pilot Hauptmann Joseph Oestermann 1915 – 1940 shortly before our coffee stop where the woods to our north gave way to a field.  Staying on the South Downs Way until reaching Elsted Hanger where rather than ascending Pen Hill, we turned south descending from the Downs into Germanleith Copse before reaching the pub car park.  Dave and Sarah at the 16^th Century building that is The Royal Oak made us welcome, and fed and watered us in style.  The photo of Alfie and his wife who were a previous landlord brought back some memories and stories of rural pub life long passed.

If you want to know who Alfie was, have a read here:-  Hooksway History

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Rogate walk on 5th February 2025

Isabel led our walk of just over 4 miles having pre walked it and modified it a number of times due to the mud.  Setting off from The Jolly Drover at Hill Brow near Liss we crossed the road onto Rogate Common walking through the woodland to Commonside where we saw a Robin and a squirrel diving under the eaves of an outhouse.  Isabel had seen deer here on the pre walk, but we made too much noise and must have scared them away.  The path across the field with the remains of corn stalks was clear and firm under foot with a surprise of snowdrops as we made our way onto the local roads and up towards Rogate Lodge where we stopped for our coffee break taking the benefit of low walls to sit.  We made our way back into the woods of Rogate Common climbing slowly, crossed the Hill Brow to Borden road, back into the woods dropping down the hill to Tullecombe where we picked up the Serpent Trail, following the slope of Combe Hill marvelling at the insane twists, drops and jumps for the mountain bike courses that crossed our path.  We made our way back to The Jolly Drover where our lunch was excellent.

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