Length: 14¾ km (9.2 miles, toughness 3/10), or 12¼ km (7.6 miles, 2/10) if bypassing Arundel Park at the end.
09:35 Portsmouth Harbour train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:42, East Croydon 09:56), arriving Arundel at 11:02.
Trains back are hourly at xx:54.
The meadows in the Arun valley are sometimes flooded in winter but two recent expeditions haven't reported any problems, so I'll take the risk of posting this Short Circular Walk from Arundel. The outward leg alternates between riverside paths and low hills on the eastern side of the valley as far as South Stoke, with its distinctive little church. This variation crosses the river here and returns through water meadows, then skirts around the Arundel Wetland Centre. There's a choice of routes into Arundel: a gentle climb through Arundel Park or a level stroll along Mill Lane.
You could stop for an early drink or pub lunch at The George at Burpham, but if you can hold out for another hour I suggest pressing on to the Black Rabbit in its enviable riverside setting at Offham. At both places you might be able to eat outside without booking, but you'd certainly need to call ahead if you want a table inside. If they each decline your custom it's not much further into Arundel, which has plenty of possible lunch and tea places. It's a ten-minute walk from the town to the station.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.100.b
4 comments:
The London Victoria train arrives 11:55 not 11:02 as posted.
The train arrives Portsmouth at 11:55. The walk is from Arundel, at 11:02.
My mistake thanks
Nine walkers plus small dog met at the start and a tenth caught up at the George; later we overhauled another regular who'd started an hour earlier, so n=11. [It should have been 12 but I was told that one of the group had unaccountably failed to alight from the train at Arundel]. The weather was w=a-bit-of-everything; pleasantly mild with sunny intervals at the start, but soon followed by much cooler conditions under scudding clouds with occasional light drizzle.
From the train the walk poster had viewed the flooded water meadows around Pulborough with some alarm but his worst fears proved unfounded. Slithery mud on the embankment paths made for slow going in places but the specified route turned out to be quite manageable.
The Black Rabbit had claimed to be fully booked but a group of five had previously managed to reserve a table at the George and had lunch there. The rest of us had a drink and pressed on. The rain had started by the time we reached the Black Rabbit so two carried on down the lane to Arundel, but there was plenty of space in a tented area on the riverside veranda and the pub delivered food there with commendable speed.
As the rain had eased off by then we took the longer route through Arundel Park, with the result that we arrived in the town just as all the tea rooms and cafés were closing up. We'd briefly met up again with some of the George lunchers as we were leaving the Black Rabbit, but didn't see any of them on the 16:54 train.
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