The South Downs Way. A personal journey.
Day Two
Breakfast reveals the company of 4 other walkers who are also doing what we are. It seems that our initial objective, Rodmel, is as I suspected an easy walk, and we should aim our sights a bit higher. They are being met at the Newmarket Inn on the A27. We determine to study the map more closely.
The meal is as good as we expected. Not only does the fry-up meet with the high standard we've come to expect of Riverdale House, there are all the extras that you could possibly want but other similar establishments don't seem to provide. For sure, they might provide Tomato Ketchup, but how many Heinz Tomato Ketchup? And how many offer Maple Syrup (the real stuff, not concentrated sugar), and Marmite?
A conversation with Rory, our host, agrees that Rodmel is a lunch stop. "Yes, piece of cake, no problem." We talk a little more, receive a card from a Junior Menzies, and say our goodbye's. Highly recommended.
We walk back and through the village waving to our fellow Breakfasters from Riverdale House on the way. And shortly, we branch off up a road that starts the climb out of the village and onto the walk proper. A theme is becoming apparent. First job of the day - climb a bloody great hill. Having studied the map earlier and agreed that the Newmarket Inn is a good target, we take a break half way up and call my folks who kindly agreed to pick us up and drive us home this evening. The new rendezvous is arranged, and we set off again, having been passed during the conversation by the Breakfasters.
Carrying on, we walk past the Breakfasters again, and shortly after, we stop for a photography break. One of them kindly insists on taking a photo of both of us.
Looking fresh, huh?
After that, we set off having said our thanks, and see you laters, and never see them again. We appear to be somewhat fitter than we thought, because we are not racing along, but these people were fit, had done it before, had the right kit, and we just walked away from them. Surprising, and not a little satisfying.
The rest of the morning is really special. There isn't much to say, but the views are amazing. The walk at this point is set back from the coast, so you don't get the coastal vistas that we experienced the day before, but they are expansive, and on both sides. The walking is easy, on soft springy turf, and with thousands of sheep. We coined a phrase of "SSA", meaning "Sheep Shit Alley", going back to the days when we walked Barney and there were places where it seemed that the dogs all liked to defecate. Sheep are not as specific, but there are so many of them, it is everywhere. Having said that, it doesn't smell, and is nicer than walking through a CSA, where the cows are.
Sheep and views.
We saw some masts in the distance, and decided that we would aim for them for a tea break. Well, we didn't have any tea, but a drink and an apple would do nicely. They looked a long way away, but as we were discovering, though something looks a long way, in fact, it won't take long to reach, and we were there earlier than expected. But we decided to have a break anyway. We noticed that the cloud was coming in from the direction we were walking, and the temperature had cooled somewhat, but that wasn't a bad thing.
Walking on over similar territory, it was not long before we came to Southease, which is just short of Rodmel. Coming down off the top of the Downs, you walk down into the village via a new bridge over the busy A26, over the Railway Line, across the River Ouse and a short walk along a little lane. This goes to the Station at the level crossing (unmanned by the look of it), and nowhere else, so it was a surprise to see several cars parked there. Most of them were people walking, but there was one van with someone enjoying their lunch, and another with a rep on the phone having an animated conversation. There but for the grace of God...
Following this lane on, you shortly come into a lovely village green with a church and some very convenient seats. We sat down and munched on some sandwiches and fruit.
So, we walked on, a couple of hundred yards up to the main road. This goes into the village, but we followed the path by turning right along the road for a short distance, and than left. The path seems to follow the road down to a farm track, where you turn left and carry on. It's not easy to spot - it might be better to go into Southease Village, but we didn't know that, and that wouldn't be following the path. This farm track is long and uneven to walk on, but presently, you turn right and follow another steep hill up to the top of the Downs again. There were cows on both sides of the path, and one cow on the path itself. We didn't know how it got there, but we said hello anyway, and left it to go on it's way.
On the left hand side of the path is a big drop into a natural bowl. As ever, the camera doesn't do it justice, not least because it was too big to get in even on the widest angle setting, and trying to do so loses the perspective and sense of depth. The Farm isn't tidy or particularly attractive, but has its own scenic quality.
The path goes past a house on the top of the hill, and then opens out onto more of the same spectacular and expansive views we had experienced in the morning. At this point, you are really looking mostly to the north, across towards Lewes. We spotted the roadworks that had caused Nigel and I so much grief the day before. They hardly scratched the surface from here, and it seemed so long ago.
The last mile or so is interminable. For a start, it loops round, and seems to almost go back on itself. However, it is an extended downhill bit, and not unpleasant except for the traffic noise from the A27, which increases as we get closer. We walk down through a field that contains some lovely looking cattle, with lots of calves in tow, and farmer checking up on them. Seems unusual to have the calves still in the fields with Mum in these days of intensive farming, but then this was good to see, and I know nothing about the farming on this little bit of Sussex..
Of course, the other downside (pun intended) of the long downhill has to be that the next stage will start with another big pull uphill... Anyway, because our lift was arriving at the pub, and the path bears left down to the A27 and crosses on a bridge, we cheated a bit here - well, quite a lot actually. We thought about doing it the purists way, and walking down to the road so we could start there again when we came back. But that was quickly vetoed, and we carried on down to the pub.
My folks arrive exactly as we do at the Newmarket Inn. This is not really remarkable, because both my Dad and myself have a thing about timekeeping, and we are always early for everything. What's the point about arranging for something at 8pm, and turning up at 10? Why not just say 10? So we were 15 minutes early, and so were they. Good stuff - I like it when a plan comes together. Fortunately, they had time to stop, so they had tea and I had a beer. Mmmm, mmm.
Our lift.