Saturday Walk - Rowlands Castle Circular (bluebells past their best, wild garlic and rape oil seed at their best)

[From 2/10 (16.1 km /10.0 mi) with 213m ascent/descent to 9/10 (30.0 km /18.6 mi) with 716m ascent/descent.]

Length 25.5 km (15.9 mi)  

Ascent/descent: 520m  

Net Walking Time: ca. 6 hours 

Toughness: 7 out of 10

 

Take the 09.00 Portsmouth Harbour train from Waterloo (09.25 Woking), change at Petersfield (same platform, 10.04/10.13), arriving Rowlands Castle at 10.23. 

From Clapham J, take the 08.52 stopping service to Portsmouth & Southsea, direct to Rowlands. 

Later trains would be sufficient for the short walk.

Return trains: xx.58 (change at Petersfield to cut 18 minutes journey time to Waterloo).

 

This demanding West Sussex walk in the undulating western part of the South Downs is characterised initially by a mixture of park- and woodland, then steep lonely valleys and some far views to the main South Downs Ridge.It starts off towards Stansted House along a 1.5 km-long beech avenue – one of the best in England according to Pevsner, and then heads north along the easterly edge of Stansted Forest and across fields via the hamlets of West, Up and East Marden to a very remote pub in Hooksway, with particularly nice views on the route between the hamlets, including up to the northern escarpment of the South Downs.From lunch you climb back out of the secluded valley on a westerly route to Compton, from where another couple of hills need to be crossed to finish along the westerly edge of Stansted Forest back into Rowlands Castle, with its teashop and a choice of pubs.

The walk (especially the extended version) features several sustained, steep climbs and descents.

Walk Options: 

A shortcut around lunch cuts 9.4 km and 307m ascent/descent. 

An extension after lunch adds 3.4 km and 162m ascent/descent. It follows a lonely, narrow, wood-fringed valley to the main northerly escarpment of the South Downs and then follows one of the most undulating sections of the South Downs Way with unrivalled far views from Pen Hill and Beacon Hill, making this a real challenge. 

All three routes share the start, up to West Marden, and the end, from Compton. 

Bus Service 54 (Petersfield – Chichester) serves West Marden (the early lunch stop) and Compton (the late lunch/early tea stop), about every two hours, to late afternoon (last at 16.37/16.39).

Lunch: The Victoria Inn in West Marden (6.3 km/3.9 mi, open all day, food all day); The Royal Oak in Hooksway (12.6 km/7.9 mi, food to 14.00), The Coach & Horses in Compton (8.7 km/5.4 mi on the short walk, it looks as if this pub is still closed!). 

Tea: Darcy’s Tea Room in Compton (7.4 km/4.6 mi from the end, open to 17.00), plus three pubs and a café in Rowlands Castle; check page 2 of the walk directions pdf.

 

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.t=swc.68