Sussex Scrapbook
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Wildlife walks throughout the year
Thursday 30th December 2010
Washington - Chanctonbury Ring - Steyning Round Hill - No Man's land - Cissbury
Ring - Chanctonbury Ring - Washington.
12 miles
The thick snow has now
entirely gone from Sussex, leaving behind mixed feelings of regret and
rejoicement. White Christmases are as rare as rocking horse dung in the South
East and the unexpected event had enhanced, nay, extracted a great feeling of
snowed-in festiveness over the holiday period, in our household at least.
Our Sloe Gin was a great hit (literally) with all of our friends and our
Gingerbread House was enjoyed by kids of all ages.
Now however, a great dampness has been left behind. With the slight rise in
temperature plus high humidity the whole county woke to a dismal, dank morning
with mist and fog predicted. With low visibility expected but a punishing bout
of post-feasting exercise urgently needed, we went to the place which we knew
would wake our lazy, sugar-laden carcasses up and where the fog would only add to
the atmosphere greatly - Chanctonbury Ring.
Sure enough, the climb up to the old fort highlighted that sitting around in
front of the fire eating lard was not the way to carry on. Puffing, hacking and
sweating pure duck fat we got to the top to find the whole of the ring missing!
Snatched, stolen, ripped up and torn out, completely gon...oh no, there it is!
Out of the pea-souper it finally loomed, even more mysterious-looking than
normal.
A dark, dank morning gave way to mist and finally fog as we climbed.
Low visibility, very little noise and almost no people made it a memorable visit
to the ring.
At Steyning Round Hill the fog started to clear, starting with a bright patch of
light on the sea near Shoreham.
Looking across Steyning Bowl at the
revealed view.
Many birds were now revealed, including these Corn Buntings.
At Cissbury conditions were perfect, but looking north Chanctonbury Ring was
once again invisible.