Easy Sunday Walk in the South Downs

This is a splendid little 3 hour walk, starting and ending in Patching, West Sussex, just North of Worthing. Its weaves and meanders around paths on the South Downs.

 Map: OS Explorer No: 121. Start Point Grid Ref: 880068

To reach the start of the walk, follow the A27 and come off on the roundabout at the A280 heading North and you will see a small 'B' road to the left, drive down it past Patching Pond and turn right to Patching village. Drive as far as you can go, passing Patching Church and at the very end of the road you will find parking places next to a farm gate.

The Route we followed was a zigzag loop, so that we could have the rare January sun in our faces as much as possible.

Start: facing the farm gate next to your car, you will see three footpaths, take the far left option and head up North West over open ground. Some great views from the top of Patching Hill, wind in the hair and up your kilt if you are wearing one! You will eventually come to the boundary of Angmering Park Estate and a thick wood ahead of you.

Approach to the Angmering Park Estate Wood

Walk into the wood climbing over over a stile or through the gate as you go. Keep walking and you will happen upon a cross roads of paths.This is the point where we meet the Monarch's Way,  take the track to the right, down the Monarch's Way it follows the contour line of the hill to the heading left as it goes down.

Track down along the Monarch's Way

 Follow the track down and you meet a small, 'friendly' tarmac road.

Track Meeting Small Tarmac Road

 Keep Going until you reach a set of red Estate Gates, standing out at you.

Road Approach towards Estate Gates

Estate Gates

Pass through the Gates and keep enjoying the surrounds, you pass by a few old buildings,  and then you wander out into open country again.

Footpath Gate

Out in open country by Jove

Follow the road and on a left bend you will see two footpaths heading off to the right up a small incline. Take the one that goes to the North East, it zig zags down into a small quaint little valley.

Path follows fence line heads down the contour line into a small valley

You eventually reach a gate in a fence at the top of the other side of the valley, pass through it and turn left, heading up in to great open country. Depending on the time of year and crops grown the field will be flourishing with winter crop. On this occasion winter rape crop.

Winter Rape Crop

Keep walking and enjoy 360 degrees of good vista with the sea glinting in the distance to the South. 

Keep walking and in due course you will reach another path to the right, heading sharply back to the South East, pass through the gate and follow this path.

Looking South East towards Blackpatch Hill

Sea Glinting in the distance!

Maintain your route and skirt the base of Blackpatch Hill. Keep going down the path, after a while you will come across a jumble of horse stables and onto another rather 'friendly'  tarmac road. Follow the road and take the first path to the right, which takes you again onto the Monarch's Way. Follow the way and you pass through small farms plots and horse paddocks and then a long and old crumbling wall, covered in ivy and character to your left.

We spied what looked like a Red Kite flying high over the wall

Mosey on and you will reach again the tarmac road Estate Gate that you went through earlier. Turn left and follow the road down, instead of going up the Monarch's Way back to the car, which is the same path you came down from the thick wood, keep going for a nice little alternative route back to HQ.

Byepass the Monarch's Way path to the right and follow tarmac for a while

Walk down towards the trees and little farmstead ahead

As you walk through the small farm , you will spy a footpath to the right, climb over the stile and keep left going behind a couple of wooden stables and up a hill. Carry on up and over to Patching Hill.

Up Patching Hill

Keeping a stiff upper lip for the squelchy track, veer to the left and in due course you will see your car parked up ahead, perhaps you may spy a dog relieving itself on your car tires as i did, adds body to the rubber. You have just completed a 3 hour section of the South Downs National Park. Enjoy!

Mr Fox Goes Christmas Shopping!

There is a great little shop in Brighton that sells unusual and rather cool and very colourful funky lights  called Cable and Cotton: www.cableandcotton.co.uk in Meeting House Lane, in the Lanes, Brighton. Yesterday the staff were rather surprised to see a good looking wild Fox at the door in broad daylight at about lunchtime. They opened the door of the shop and the fox trotted in and looked the wares up and down, then wandered through to the back of the shop, into the toilet and jumped up on a shelf and sat there, quite calmly for an hour. 

After a while, the fox jumped down, wandered through the shop again, looking rather intently at the lights for sale, went up to the door and was let out into the street. Perhaps he took a real shine to my lights on sale, but could not pluck up the courage to talk to the staff and ask them for a box, for fear causing a fuss...a talking fox in Brighton?!!

Mr Fox Goes Christmas Shopping

Backwater Gems

Britain has many rivers, streams, and waterways. If you happen to pass over an old stone bridge and peer down below, you may just find a little magic. A perfect place for a picnic or to spy a coot or water-rail with its chicks bobbling along on the surface and disappearing into lush grassy reeds...

                        Arundel: Inlet to Swanbourne Lake  
                      

Glorious Countryside

Britain has a plethora of natural gems. Green rolling hills, fields of golden wheat and barley, these images spring to mind when one is abroad for a while and thinks back and longs for 'Blighty'.

Footpaths galore, hills, lakes, rivers, mountains, seas, valleys, spinneys, forests, magic, laughter, fish and chips and amazing people. Its all there, never too far...and if you just try a little, you will find it and then loose yourself in its magic...  

                                     West Sussex Summer Field, Houghton Forest, Arundel

                                   South Sands, Devon: Transport out to meet the Ferry to Salcombe

                                                           Arundel Castle: Eccentric Water Gardens

                                                  Croyde Beach: North Devon...great spot to hike and surf