The South Downs Way. A personal journey.
Day Seven
As ever, someone did us a favour. We're very grateful to those who put themselves out for us - and hopefully our Thanks and acknowledgements page goes some way to express our gratitude. As promised the previous evening, Nigel arrived at 6:40am sharp, and we drove down to Harting. Once again, the day promised good weather, and we chatted about what was to come. On arrival, we said our goodbyes and thanks, and made our way to the gate where we had finished the previous day. A suitable photo was taken that shows the wonderful light at that time in the morning.
Perhaps the subjects could have been better...
We set off, following the path through the woods, and looking to the right saw the road drop away down the hill. As with the end of the walk the previous day, we were in beech woods, and the verdant green of the leaves together with the bright early morning light was superb. Shortly, we came to the "other" road over Harting Hill, where the B2146 goes down past Uppark House and on towards Compton. There was one lonely car struggling up the hill, presumably taking the driver to work. We once again commented "how lucky we are" (an old in joke with Nigel, referring to us agreeing that we are fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK), walking on a lovely summers day when others were off to claustrophobic offices.
The next part was a really nice, easy walk, along a flat(ish) ridge, on a wide and well surfaced track, and we made good progress, though stopping frequently to admire the views. These were mostly through the hedges, and gave glimpses of ripening corn with woodland in between. The views were also different, due to the early morning mist. The photos we took are not worth showing, because we don't have a super flash SLR to take them with - and even if we did, we wouldn't want to carry it!
The next road is marked on the map as a Private Road, and there is a house with a beautiful garden, again with great views. Going on, the track continues, if now much more between hedges, and more gravelly (is that a word?). Many gates off to the left and right with dire warnings about their being of The Buriton Estate, and to Keep Out. So we did. As the path dipped down towards the next road, we came across the first walkers we had seen that day, though they were just taking the dogs for a walk rather than proper walkers like us (ahem). The two dogs couldn't have been more different, in all ways. The first was a big and slightly scruffy hound - maybe an Otter Hound? - with liver coloured spots. He was very wary and growled as we got close. He was admonished by his owner - "Henry! Whats the Matter?", so it was all for show. He wasn't interested and ran off after we'd passed. Bringing up the rear was a gorgeous Cairn called Tigger. He was getting on a bit, but was gamely trotting up the hill, panting heavily and wagging his tail, and smiling. Well, it looked like he was smiling.
At this point, the path follows the road which eventually leads to Ditcham Park School. Again, tree lined, but still with nice views.
Looking back
Still following the road, we went sharply downhill and round a corner as the road then became a track again, past another two farms (seems to be a lot of farms today) and some more houses with once more nice views down over towards Compton. Then the path again turned into another road that took us down to the road along the back of Queen Elizabeth Country Park. Crossing this road took us into the Car Park that held so many memories, because this is where we used to walk Barney in his younger days. We stopped for breakfast, and to remember.
Breakfast
Replete, we marched on up the steep hill away from the Car Park. Halfway up, with me ahead (as ever when going uphill) I saw a deer. It was in the middle of the track, walking slowly, and clearly hadn't seen us. We weren't that far away from it, and had 30 seconds to stand quietly and watch as it meandered into the undergrowth and away. Had we tried to take a photograph, it probably wouldn't have been all that good, what with our little point-and-shoot Nikon, and we would probably have frightened it anyway. But it was a lovely sighting, and the colours still great, even though it was now not so early in the morning.
In the Country Park, the walks are well made, well signposted, wide and clear. Familiar territory, but still very lovely, and in particular the light through the trees was fabulous. More people walking dogs, including two Weimaraner's, one considerably younger bounding through the woods having a great time. The older one was a lot more sedate, but not disdainful in the slightest. The track turns into a road that leads up to a barbeque area at the top pof the hill. It is very wide, and clearly made for large numbers of visitors. The Rangers were out in their pick-ups tidying the barbeque areas, and the signs showing the prices and who to contact to book demonstrated the commerciality of the park.
Rounding the corner at the bottom of the hill, we came into the Centre, which was stuffed full of people. The main Car Park was full, and the overflow filling rapidly as we walked through. Most of the Centre was closed - it was barely 9:30 - but we ventured onto the loos. I wished I hadn't, because not only was it crawling with people, but it was extremely smelly. Apparently, the Ladies wasn't too bad. We decided to get out smartish, and walked up the road past a constant stream of people coming the other way.
Under the A3 and and out into the other car park, the were even more cars and people. As we came out into the field that leads off up Butser Hill, we were amazed to see a huge long line of people all walking up the hill. Jackie thought that they were the walkers who had taken one of the tours that takes your luggage from one nights stay to the next. They also take you to the start of the days walk, drops you off and then meets you at the end of the day and delivers you to your hotel for the night. A mighty fine idea, but we would rather walk on our own.
This doesn't show it too well, but just look at that long line of dots...
Finally, we came to the top of Butser Hill, full of people. This marked the end of the South Downs Way objective for us today, because we were to walk back home from this point, and start the next leg from here. We asked one of the more sensible looking people to kindly take our photo for the record, said our thank-you's and went up towards the top of the hill, which was our way home. Because we had started so early, it was barely midday. As soon as we branched off the main path and took the route down the back of the hill towards home, all the people and the noise disappeared, and all was well with the world again. We had walked this before, quite recently, and as we had then, we took in the views commenting "aren't we lucky?"
The back of Butser
Hopefully, it won't be too long until we do the next bit. And with the plan being to start as early as possible, we hope to avoid the crowds on top of Butser, and be away over Hyden Cross and HMS Mercury to wonder at the views on our own.