Gallery

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Wisborough Green Day Walk 18th July 2018

Jeff's walk was from the Mens Wildlife Trust car park to Wisborough Green and back. In several places we walked alongside the Wey and Arun Canal, completed in 1816 and then abandoned in 1871, suffering too much competition from the new-fangled railways. Originally it was designed to connect London via the River Wey at Godalming with the River Arun so the supplies could reach the south coast without being endangered by the French warships in the Channel. Heroic efforts by the Wey and Arun Canal trust since 1973 have restored many parts of the canal, rebuilding bridges, locks, aqueducts as well as clearing the canal itself. With the absence of any recent rain, many parts were devoid of water and the very impressive waterwheel at Lordings Lock wasn't running.    The lunch at The Cricketers was much appreciated before we set off on a slightly shorter route back to the car park. The walk was just over 9 miles, but the walking was flat and well maintained, so we were finished by around 4.00pm.

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Ambersham Morning Walk 11th July 2018

Isabel's walk was slightly shorter than normal as the heat was still somewhat uncomfortable. However after a delightful 4 miles we eventually recovered ourselves in The Unicorn Inn in Heyshott with a leisurely coffee stop in Heyshott near to the aptly named Marsh Pond.

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Ebernoe Morning Walk 27th June 2018

Kate and Nigel led this morning walk in Ebernoe Common, a National Nature Reserve. A lot of nature was seen!  We heard and sometimes saw blackcaps, whitethroats, dunnocks, song thrush, chiffchaff, robin,  greenfinch, bullfinch, little grebe, muscovy (aka barbary) duck and a buzzard. When we weren't birding, we found time to spot silver washed fritillary, meadow browns, marbled whites, skippers, ringlets, large and small white and speckled wood butterflies. It was a hot day but we spent most of the time in the shade which was very pleasant. The reserve has a great variety of vegetation and animal life, carefully nurtured by Sussex Wildlife Trust. They hadn't had time to clear some rapidly growing ferns from the footpaths but nobody complained! At the end of our 5 mile flattish walk we had a look at an extraordinary tree/trees. Almost gowing with a single trunk was an oak and a beech and over a century or two neither had won the battle for life and both seemed very happy in each other's company. Excellent lunch in the nearby Stag Inn.

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Stopham Day Walk 20th June 2018

Excellent walk in excellent weather. This was Isabel's walk previously scheduled for January but flooding stopped it happening. After parking in a lane we walked alongside and then crossed the route of the Wey and Arun Canal, now dry, before walking through leafy woods and flourishing fields of the Stopham estate. The Stopham estate has been in the hands of the Barttelot family since 1379. Many members of the family are buried in Stopham Church and commemorated on floor brasses and in the 14th Century (modified in 1853) East window.    We had a very satisfactory lunch in the White Hart adjacent to Stopham Bridge before making a return past the extremely sucessful Coombelands Racing stables with the Toat Monument on a distant hill.  The Toat monument was erected in 1827 to commemorate Samuel Drinkwater, supposedly buried beneath, with his horse.

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Milland Hills Morning Walk 13th June 2018

Isabel led us from Older Hill down to Redford and across the road  to Titty Hill (the map shows Titty Hill as a collection of houses, with a hill immmediately beyond them called Dunner Hill). We stopped for coffee at this point before continuing past Bowley Farm and Tentworth before turning North towards on the New Lipchis Way. Woolhouse Farm had several farm carts and caravans on display. A little further on Isabel had cleverly provided a car for those wishing to avoid the final drag back up Older Hill. An excellent walk with plenty of shade available as the sun was quite hot.  Great lunch in The Royal Oak.

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