South Downs Way April 2006: South Downs Way

South Downs Way - 19th to 26th April, 2006

Wednesday 19th April, 9:55 am, Winchester Cathedral

In April 2006, sister and brother Diane Salter and Doug Freeman walked the South Downs Way (SDW) from Winchester to Eastbourne. At the time of the walk, Diane was 59 and Doug was 57. The inspiration for the walk came from Diane who lives in Peacehaven near the SDW, and she had previously walked various sections of the way as day or half-day walks.

Diane had always done a lot of walking, but a car accident a couple of years previous had resulted in a bad leg injury, and walking a long-distance trail was going to be a test of the strength of her leg. Doug had been a keen walker some years ago but had done little walking recently, preferring cycling, and had a dodgy right knee from a sporting accident some 30 years previous. So these two old crocks needed a challenge.

Diane decided that late April would be the best time for the walk and then delegated nearly all the planning to Doug. For planning, and use on the walk, we found the Trailblazer guide "South Downs Way" by Jim Manthorpe invaluable. This handy pocket-size book has lots of useful planning information, which includes names and phone numbers of B&Bs, and very easy-to-follow trail maps.

We had originally allowed nine days for the walk, Doug pre-booked B&Bs for the first 4 nights, and Diane a Youth Hostel for the 5th night. We had not booked accommodation beyond the fifth night, as we wanted to see how we managed over the first half of the walk and to get an idea of comfortable daily distances for the rest of the walk. We planned for distances between 10 and 15.5 miles a day on the SDW. We also guessed an additional 6 miles over the walk to get to and from B&Bs, making a total of 106 miles. We had forgotten to estimate for walking to the pubs in the evening.

In the end, we managed the walk in 8 days, walking a total of 112 miles, of which 100 were on the SDW. Our longest daily mileage was 18 miles on day 6, and the shortest 10.75 miles on the last day.

Statistics:

SDW	Total	To SDW	SDW	From SDW	Evening
Miles	112.00	4.25	100.00	4.25	3.50
Hours	54.00	2.00	48.82	1.92	1.26
MPH	2.07	2.13	2.05	2.21	2.78

We had good weather for April. The temperature was just right for walking with four excellent blue skies and fluffy clouds days. One day it rained on and off during the walk, and we had some early morning drizzle on another day. We had another day of mostly thick fog, and on the final day there was some sea mist on the coastal section, but we finished the walk in beautiful sunshine.

The standard of the B&Bs we stayed in was good to excellent, and the owners could not have been more helpful. It was difficult to single out one B&B, but our vote for "B&B of the walk" goes to the Old Hop Kilne at Buriton. A wonderful house in a fine village, with an excellent host and what a breakfast.

We only stopped at a pub once during the day on the SDW, that was on the first day as the walk went straight past the pub. We preferred to stay on the SDW, and only have a snack bar and fruit for lunch which was all that was needed after all the fine breakfasts. We, of course, went to a pub every evening for a meal and found the quality of the pubs, beer and food, to be very acceptable. The vote for "pub of the walk" goes to the Red Lion at Shoreham, but this might not be very helpful to other walkers as we were driven there from our Youth Hostel by Diane's husband Keith. The Red Lion is a proper pub, with an excellent selection of real ales, value for money good pub food, and friendly service.

If we had to select a pub within walking distance of the SDW, it would be the Greyhound Inn, Cocking Causeway, near Midhurst which got the vote for “pub food of the walk”. This was a good 2 miles from the way, but if lazy you could get a bus or taxi. The pub served excellent organic produce and fresh vegetables, and the beer and service were spot on.

A final mention to the Pilot, Meads Village, Eastbourne, only 5 minutes from the end of the walk served Harveys and a Guinness for Diane. A fine pub to finish the walk at.