Saturday 27th October 2007
Lewes - Alfriston - Berwick
15 miles
It was time we had a much longer walk with lots more uphill sections than recently, so we planned a 15 miler
from Lewes train station, South along the River Ouse past Rodmell to Southease,
then East along the Downs over Firle beacon and Bostall Hill to the pretty
village of Alfriston. From there we would go North to Berwick church and then
onto the small train station of Berwick a mile or so further on. We were hoping
for lots of fungi on the Downs at Firle beacon and we were not disappointed.
There were so many types there that if we had stopped to identify them all we
would still be there now. We also had great views of a
Peregrine flying over towards Newhaven for its lunch.
There are lots of
tumuli
on the downs here and we made use of their cover to take in the stunning views
of patchwork Sussex away as far as the North Downs and southwards to Newhaven.
The hills are very broad here and the rolling patterns they create, covered in
dots of sheep, are very special. We did actually came across a sheep lying by a
fence in apparently a bad way. We don't have any idea what was wrong, but it
allowed us to come up to it and stroke its head.
We had a huge piece of chocolate cake in the tea shop in Alfriston as well as
about 4 cups of tea before setting off again as the sun started to sink so the
last stretch of the walk was done in darkness, which was great and gave a
completely different view of things.
The weather today was perfect for hiking with a fresh breeze, lots of sun and
interesting cloud patterns, we even saw a colourful
parhelion
or "sun dog" as the
sun was going down.
Goldfinch
Firle beacon in the distance as we walk along the Ouse.
Gill crossing the Southease Road bridge, built for hikers and riders and
opened last year.
An Eyed Ladybird that visited us while we were eating lunch.
Sick sheep.
Berwick Church. The inside is covered in paintings by members of the
Bloomsbury Set
who
all lived in nearby
Charleston.
