The South Downs Way: Ditchling to Cocking
|
menu
|
|
Home
|
|
SDW index |
|
|
|
Download Adobe Reader free to read the logs |
Click here to go to the log page (Acrobat
Reader required)
8 August 1998: Ditchling Beacon to Devil's
Dyke.
This was a hot day. We spend time exploring the 'Jack and Jill'
windmills at Clayton and enjoyed cool lemonade in a cafe on the Way at
Pyecombe before tackling the stiff climb up to Devil's Dyke. Matthew, aged
9, did find this hard going so we took plenty of breaks. It would probably
have been better to do it on a cooler day. There was the promise of ice
cream and a pub lunch at the Dyke hotel though, and we finished off the
day with an open-top bus ride along the Dyke road to his grandparents'
house.
7 November 1998: Devil's Dyke to Botolphs.
Matthew, now 10, for the first time genuinely found the walking well
within his physical capabilities.
28 March 1999: Botolphs to Washington.
We had time to spend at Chanctonbury Ring just before the drop down to
the A24 where Barbara would meet us. Some children playing near us at the
Ring lost a tennis ball which we later found and kicked all the way down
the hill - and so returned it to some very surprised owners!
30 October 1999: Washington to Amberley.
We average well over two miles an hour for the first time. If nothing
else, the walk plots Matthew's growing physical maturation - he is now 11.
No doubt in a few years we will plot his father's decline! Near the close
of this walk, from Rackham Hill, is one of Peter's favourite views in all
England, looking across the Arun valley to the very different wooded
downland above Chichester, the town where he went to school.
23-24 June 2000: Amberley to Cocking.
The direct route
is eleven miles - quite a hike for many adults. We chose to break the walk at
Gumber bothy (near right), a National Trust camping barn at an
isolated farm (far right) one mile off
route.
