Sussex Scrapbook
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Nature walks in Sussex throughout the year
Saturday 25th July 2009
Rye - Pett Level - Cliff End - Pett - Icklesham - Winchelsea - Rye
15 miles
The
bike got its new MOT
yesterday from
Beakie's and was declared roadworthy and sound. The engine's also running
really well and the handling is great, so the 60 mile ride down to the eastern
edge of the county, in the beaming summer sunshine, was a true pleasure.
This weeks walk started at the Bittern watch point at the north of
Rye Harbour
Nature Reserve and meandered its way past Camber Castle through to
Winchelsea. The amount of birdlife on this section is overwhelming and in
addition to Sand Martins, Common Terns, a Sparrowhawk and a kestrel, we twice
had views of Marsh Harriers floating over the reed beds.
At
Winchelsea we took the path alongside the
Royal Military Canal all the way down to the coast, from where we headed north
through Pett village and on to
Icklesham. From the church there we picked up the
1066 Country walk back to Winchelsea and then retraced our steps through Rye
reserve as the sun went down.
Painted Ladies seemed to be on every bush, shrub and plant today: we were near
enough walking on them all day long. A huge butterfly convention seemed to be
going on in fact, with Clouded Yellows, Peacocks, Red Admirals, Common Blues,
Commas,. Small Tortoishell, Coppers and Skippers all in abundance.
Today was extremely hot as well, the only sunny day in a week of rain and we had
very little shade to hide in.
Greylag Geese in the long grass.
Camber Castle, surrounded by very sleepy sheep.
At Winchelsea we took the
Saxon Shore Way along the
Royal Military Canal
The Pipewell Gate, the Northern entrance
to the hill town of Winchelsea.
At Pett village there was a flower show on and all
manner of amusements.
An 18th century gravestone in
Pett graveyard (or is it Pet cemetery?).
As far as we can tell, only the long distance footpaths are signposted in Kent
and the eastern part of East Sussex.
None of the other public footpaths have any form of signage whatsoever.
For example, which way is the footpath
here?
Wrong - it's through the holly bush on the left. The signpost is completely
invisible.
When we did find the footpaths they were all beautiful but unused
(unsurprisingly).
This one wound its way through the large orchards of
Manor
Farm, Icklesham...
...past the windmill on top of the hill...
...to the bench of the month, overlooking
the whole of Pett Levels.
Quite a few permissive paths about, which seems to be in contrast to the
attitude to footpaths in the area.
New Gate, the old, southern entrance to Winchelsea.
St. Thomas' Winchelsea and the ruins of the old priory.
Pipewell Gate, Winchelsea
Camber Castle close to sunset, where we saw two Barn Owls hunting.
This area is very flat, so the sky seems very big!
