The South Downs Way. A personal journey.
Day Five
Two weeks after the last days walk, we met my folks in the Car Park of Rogate Village Hall as agreed at 8:30. They had once again kindly agreed to taxi us to the next departure point. We were early (yes, my fault again), and I took a picture of the playing field behind the Hall in what I thought was a lovely light.
We didn't at that time appreciate that we should have enjoyed it a little more.
First, we drove to Cocking, leaving our car in the Car Park conveniently situated right on the path where it crosses the A286 south of Midhurst. Today was to be a one off affair, walking back to Cocking. We then jumped in parents car and had a very pleasant drive back to Kithurst Hill, where they collected us on day 4. I guess it might have been a longer route than absolutely necessary, but passing through Lavant, past Goodwood and joining the A27 before taking the A24 and heading up towards Amberley was worth it, because the weather was so good. We noticed the Industrial Museum and Station, which we would come very close to on the walk as we drove through it to be dropped off at the Car Park, back on top of Kithurst Hill.
After a promising start, today proves to be the most boring so far. After an hour or so, we drop down into Amberley, passing a disused quarry that is pretty spectacular, and, it turns out, contains the aforementioned museum. Unfortunately, the path is to the south of the village and north of the museum. We really didn't fancy walking in either direction and then back again to where we were, so we stopped for a break, and then carried on down the path.
There is a nice place to fill your water bottles at a tap tucked into a corner. The photo unfortunately highlights the downside of dog owners picking up their canine's deposits - because they don't want to dispose of them by taking them to a suitable bin, you find little white bags of dog turds in the most inappropriate places. I guess it has to be better than strolling down a DSA (refer to Day Two).
The path goes over the River Adur, and then climbs into trees, and we looked back to where we had been, not knowing that the view was to be one of a very few similar sights all day. It is not right to suggest it is view-less, but the woodland walks and enclosed fields weren't expected. I suppose it is very pleasant, but after the granduer of the views in East Sussex, followed by the wide open spaces of Ditchling and Devils Dyke, being enclosed in trees is a bit depressing. It's not all like this, but we were not as inspired as we had been on earlier days.
A typical vista to demonstrate the point.
We stopped at a barn and small field complex at the bottom of Bignor Hill for lunch. The stop was made very interesting, because in one of the small fields, there were some sheep. Now, we'd seen loads of sheep, and initially these seemed no different. However, at one point, they suddenly took an interest and started walking down the field towards us. We then realised that they were all rams. The giveaway was these guys' lunchboxes. Linford Christie would be seriously shamed. And most surprisingly of all was the smallest chap, clearly of a different breed. He was rather picked on by the others, but we were intrigued to see that he was the only one with woolly bollocks. Does this breed suffer from frostbitten tackle?
We carried on through more woods and fields enclosed by trees. We also noticed fewer other walkers compared to previous days. It was 2 weeks later than the last day, but even so we attributed it to the lack of scenery. Those we did see did not appear to be those out for a walk, or exercising the dog, but walkers like ourselves, with rucksacks and sticks or poles. There were fewer bikeists as well.
Eventually, we come out on the road down past the Sawmill to the Car Park where we left the car. The black clouds that have been looming for the last 4 hours or so start to get really threatening.
We break into a trot, and pass some Americans (accents are clear, even on the run), who are a little surprised by our very brief "hello's" and our haste is rewarded. At the car, we are taking our boots off as large raindrops start to fall, and we dive into the car just as a full-blooded rain storm hits. We drive home in the downpour, counting our blessings.