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Sussex Scrapbook ~ Nature walks throughout the year
Green Man
Saturday 24th July 2010
Amberley - Arundel - Burpham - The Burgh - Rackham Hill - Amberley.
11.5 miles

I didn't seem to have a moment to myself this week, what with working a late shift, so when it came to planning a walk we just reverted to default setting and decided on Amberley. You can't go wrong from Amberley: every direction takes you on a brilliant Sussex walk. Today we thought it would be good to make our way south along the river, through the Duke's land and over the Downs to Arundel and then back to Amberley via the little village of Burpham, the conservation area called the Burgh and one of our favourite beauty spots - Rackham Hill.
Even though this longish walk is quite strenuous, it's also very relaxing. Maybe it's the lazy river, the bank of which is strewn with intoxicating Meadow Sweet, or maybe it's the pattern of the land: rising and falling like a sleeping giant's belly. It could be the feeling of old-worldiness that takes over you when you can see fields of sheep, a castle and a cathedral all in one unencumbered view. We don't know, and quite frankly we don't care. All we know is that by the time we got to the Burgh we were in seventh heaven. That's when things started to get exciting - a Marsh Harrier and a Red Kite within ten minutes of each other and footpaths heaving  with leverets (well, a few anyway).

We've added a simple Guide to this walk so that you can do it for yourself. For further help & advice see our Hiking Tips and Links pages.



Climbing up into Arundel Park gives a superb view of Houghton (centre), North Stoke (right) and Amberley Mount above it.
The fields in the foreground are all on the Arun floodplain and can be inundated in the winter. The view then can be very different, but just as impressive.


Arundel Castle. For much of the walk the castle can be seen surrounded only by trees, as if no other modern buildings were in the area.




Gill's favourite furry things were everywhere at The Burgh. The leverets were having lots of fun in the sun.

 


Golden sheep on Rackham Hill. The walk downhill back to Amberley while the sun was setting was just the icing on the cake.