Gallery

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Chalton walk on 6th November 2024

Maureen and John’s 4.4 mile walk started at The Red Lion Chalton crossing South Lane past St Michael and All Angels church climbing gently on Chalton Down on the Sussex Border Path and Staunton Way that take the same paths at this point.  Passing Idsworth Down to the east, we skirted The Folly and turned east down to the railway.  We crossed under the railway through a cattle creep where some bovine bellow imitations set the scene then wandered up the slope to the 11th Century St Hubert’s church, Idsworth with its medieval wall paintings to provide the perfect backdrop for our coffee break.  We passed the church on its north side, crossed the field and road to pick up Staunton Way again heading north.  When we got to the disused quarry site on Huckswood lane we turned to the west and then north onto Shipwrights Way heading up to Woodcroft Farm.  Taking the footbridge over the railway we made the steep clamber up Chalton Down back onto the road by Manor Farm and the downhill scamper back to the pub.  The Red Lion, believed to be one of the oldest pubs in Hampshire dating from at least the 16^th Century served a delicious lunch.

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Redford walk and 2024 AGM

There was no problem starting our walk on time because everyone turned up earlier to leave their fantastic contributions to the AGM faith lunch before walking.  Three talented volunteers stayed at Redford Village Hall to set up and decorate the Hall for our AGM and lunch after the walk. 

Jay had prewarned us about the mud and changed the route from the pre-walk to avoid some excessive marshy parts of Stedham Marsh.  We set off crossing Linch Road, across Stedham Marsh to Titty Hill where we turned south climbing up through Upper Bowley Copse to Bowley Farm.  A gradual descent through fields brought us to Oakham Common to continue down a wooded gully to cross the stream in the valley and pick up the New Lipchis Way heading north east.  The path followed the contours of the hillside and we took advantage of some logs and stones to perch on for our coffee  break.  We left the New Lipchis Way soon after Woolhouse Farm back on Stedham Marsh, squelching our way back to Linch Road for a short spell before detouring off into the Marsh again and back to the Village Hall. 

A magnificently decorated feast was laid out before us to sample a variety of delicacies ahead of our AGM.  We returned to sample the excellent selection of desserts once the AGM was over.

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Goodwood Walk on 23rd October 2024

Our walk to the Trundle at Goodwood, led by Mark and Jo, started by finding the route of the old railway line from Chichester to Midhurst. Luckily no trains have used this route since 1968, so we were quite safe! Travelling south we reached a junction with the New Lipchis Way, then turned uphill on the West Sussex Literary Trail. This led us to the lower slopes of the Trundle where there was an excellent pop-up coffee shop. With views as far as the sea and Chichester Cathedral in sight, a few felt they were quite high enough and declined to make the final assault to the very top. A party of 9 finally set off to reach the peak. The Trundle had human activity around 4,300 years ago but they didn't get around to building a fort until about 2,000 years ago. It wasn't until 1802 that someone had the bright idea of building a racecourse nearby. There is little evidence of a fort on the Trundle today, but it does have 2 large radio masts. We eventually descended and were reunited with the other well rested walkers. The route back down was on the Monarch's Way, past the walls and perimeter of the West Dean Estate. We finally reached the Selsey Arms where we all enjoyed a good lunch. The walk was over or under 5 miles, depending on your head for heights!

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Duncton Walk on 16th October 2024

After meeting in the car park halfway up Duncton Hill, Jennifer successfully led us on a walk through Teaglaze, Waltham Down and Crown Teaglaze. The path was initially a challenge as fallen trees had blocked the footpath, but a diversion had been created by previous walkers so we were soon back on track. We then emerged into fields with great views north over Woolavington Down. At one point the map said we were crossing a Cross Dyke. There was no evidence of anything at all but evidentally many of these Bronze age earthworks have been destroyed by modern agriculture. We eventually turned south through the woods of Teaglaze and found a very long fallen tree which just managed to support the weight of  8 walkers but made creaking noises, so we didn't test it any further. Refreshed, we continued, made a sharp left hand turn and headed through woods and fields back towards the cars. At one point tumulii were on either side of our route, more evidence of ancient burials thousand of years before Stonehenge was even erected. We eventually reached the safety of our cars, having remained dry for the morning. A short drive took us to The Badger for a great lunch. The walk was about 5 miles.

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Chalton Walk on 9th October 2024

From the Red Lion car park in Chalton, Jay led us on a walk through to the Queen Elizabeth Country Park. Taking the Staunton Way path we found our way through Chalton Park and eventually reached the Queen Elizabeth Forest.  After skirting the edge of the forest we turned up hill to eventually reach the site of a Roman Villa. Little remains today but it would originally have been an ideal spot for watching shipping in Chichester Harbour. Continuing on the Shipwrights Way we found our drink stop, upturned logs being available to most of us.

Refreshed we soon turned south and eventually found the Staunton Way once again. The more straighforward way was to return via the road but a diversion near to Newbarn Cottage avoided the traffic and took us through an area of large beech trees below Head Down Hanger where the strong sunlight trying to penetrate the canopy was a remarkable sight. We still had to do a road stretch before finding a path up to Chalton Peak and then on to the Red Lion where we were rewarded for our efforts with a great lunch. The walk was about 6 miles.

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