Saturday 12th April 2008
Washington - Chanctonbury Ring - Cissbury Ring - Findon - Washington
15 miles
We got the 8:40 bus
(23) from Crawley to Washington to start today's wanderings. It's only 3 months
since we last did this walk, but each time we do it, it seems different. We took
a slightly different route up to Chanctonbury Ring this time and it turned out
to be even steeper than our usual steep route up. The weather was very
changeable (to say the least) and we were hit by painful hail storms between
bouts of hot sunshine. Our waterproofs were on and off all day long to cope with
the many April showers. There were new lambs everywhere and with migrants such
as: swallows,
chiffchaffs and blackcaps seen, it all seemed like a stereotypical April day.
The visibility was perfect and at one point on the Downs above Storrington we
were able to see: Bognor Regis, Selsey Bill, Chichester Cathedral, the
Spinnaker Tower at Portsmouth (over 30 miles away to the southwest), as well
as great views of the Isle of Wight. At the same time in the opposite direction we could clearly see the North
Downs too.
Other sightings today included: willow tit (1), sparrowhawk (2), buzzard (2) and
quite a few Arabian horses competing in the Endurance GB.
The gorgeous view northeast from our
"Bench of the county" at Cissbury Ring.
Another hail storm coming towards us as we
leave Cissbury Ring
.JPG)
Primroses in Findon churchyard. The church
was shut today though.
Coming off the Downs near Cross Dyke near
Washington