9.35 train from Victoria (9.42 Clapham Junction, 9.53 East Croydon) to Pulborough, arriving 10.52
Buy a day return to Arundel (unless you have absolutely resolved to do the standard Pulborough Circular walk, in which case a day return to Pulborough will do...)
The morning of this walk is a fascinating expedition across flat riverside and marshland terrain that is quite different from anything on other walks. Out on the Wild Brooks one feels a good way from civilisation. Wet conditions underfoot might usually be a problem here but there will be no such issues in the present drought conditions.
Lunch is slightly awkward, in that the most conveniently placed pub - the Black Horse in Amberley - is all high-falutin and gastro. The Sportsman, 500 metres away, with a fabulous view across the Brooks, sounds a better and more basic choice: it serves lunch till 2.30pm and was doing food as recently as 8 July, if Facebook posts are to be believed.
I was going to add that another option, not requiring too much of a diversion, is the Bridge Inn in Amberley, but what do you know, this is their annual staff holiday, so they are CLOSED. The nearby Riverside South Downs tea gardens by the river do offer some meals, however, so could be an alternative.
Talking of alternatives, while you can just do the main circular back to Pulborough in the afternoon (13 miles or 10.9 miles according to option chosen) , I am going to suggest today the Extended Alternative walk via South Stoke, to enjoy more nice Arun riverside scenery...
...Except that with the Bridge Inn closed, ending up back at Amberley station is not so attractive, so we could instead carry on along the river from South Stoke to Arundel. This brings you in 1.5 miles to the very nice riverside Black Rabbit pub, and you can then walk to Arundel station in another 1.7 miles (if you leave the riverbank and cut inland through the town).
This is only 2.2 km (1.4 miles) longer than route back to Amberley in the walk directions, making the walk 20.5km (12.7 miles) in all. GPX tracks for it could possibly be disentangled from the Amberley Circular via Arundel Park walk, but once you are at the Black Rabbit, Google Maps could probably suggest a route to the station.
Trains back from Arundel are at 14 and 44 past, calling at Amberley at 18 and 48 past and Pulborough at 24 and 54 past.
3 comments:
Except that with the Black Horse closed, ==> Except with the Bridge Inn closed, presumably,
Thanks. Corrected
Careful attention to the weather forecast paid off for the intrepid n=10 on this walk, because as predicted the much-heralded heavy rain had cleared northwards by the time we set off from Pulborough. Waterproofs remained in bags and were not needed all day. Instead it was w=cloudy-and-then-sunny, the blue sky breaking through around lunchtime.
There was the novelty of walking on damp ground - occasionally through a puddle - and brushing past wet vegetation. But it is amazing how quickly the July sun dries things out and by 2pm paths were almost entirely dry.
The morning of this walk was interesting, taking us to lots of hidden away places. The marshland section at the start of the Wild Brooks proper was a lot of fun - a sometimes barely visible path through a jungle of reeds that we nevertheless managed to follow without difficulty. Interesting flowers for the cognoscenti (me).
For lunch all but one of us (?) went to the Sportsman, whose staff were friendly and efficient. The menu is the usual pub standards (pie, fish and chips, burgers) but everyone seemed pleased with their dish. Three sat inside: the rest of us outside on a table perched with a fine view of the Brooks below. A nice chatty meal, covering a range of topics.
In the afternoon we followed the alternative route out onto the Amberley Wild Brooks, through Houghton and down along the River Arun. Summer had now returned and it was hot and humid, with good flowers and butterflies. The shade of the woods we soon plunged into was very welcome, though the path here was a bit narrow and twisty in places.
At South Stoke there was a wedding - everyone dressed very posh - and about 20 swallows (and possibly house martins) flying about. Holding back to look at the latter, I then took the field path below the road, another lost world experience. I got to the Black Rabbit to find no one else from the group there. I wondered if they had blindly followed the GPX to Amberley - but no, they had just taken the somewhat longer riverside path and soon turned up at the pub. Six of us sat in the shade and had tea or beer according to taste, enjoying the view of Arundel Castle.
We were all pretty tired by this point, and the skies were clouding up a bit. So we did the riverside-reserve-road route into Arundel rather than the longer river loop, and had time to do a bit of shopping before the 6.44 train. That meant three of us could share a bottle of red on the not overcrowded journey back to London.
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