Length: 13.7 km (8.5 miles). Toughness: 4/10
09:54 Brighton train from St Pancras (Blackfriars 10:03, London Bridge 10:09, East Croydon 10:27), arriving Burgess Hill at 11:10. Buy a return to Hassocks. You can get a Super Off-Peak Day Return from London on this route – which is even cheaper than a Boundary Zone 6 extension – but it's marked “Thameslink only” so isn't valid on Southern services to/from Victoria.
If it's more convenient and you don't mind paying the higher fare, you can take the 10:02 Brighton train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 10:11, East Croydon 10:24), arriving Burgess Hill a few minutes earlier at 11:04.
Thameslink trains back from Hassocks are at xx:28 & xx:54; Southern trains to Victoria are at xx:07, xx:17 & xx:47.
After my recent experience with flooded watermeadows I've decided to postpone yet again a planned new walk on the North Kent marshes. This rarely-posted Sussex walk starts with what looks like an undemanding four-mile stretch to Ditchling where the walk notes recommend the Bull Inn (01273-843147) for lunch, although if this popular pub is full you could try the nearby White Horse (01273-842006) in West Street.
After lunch you climb up onto the downs to join the South Downs Way (SDW) at point [5] in the directions. If you're training for an arduous walking trip you might want to stay on the GPS track and complete the (much longer) main walk, but lesser mortals should switch to the directions in Walk Option 6. This is essentially the reverse of the Hassocks – Lewes walk in Book 1: past Jack & Jill windmills, then down past Clayton church onto a footpath heading north alongside the railway to Hassocks station. There's a pub and a café nearby, although the café will probably have closed by the time you get there.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.108.b page. Unless you want to do the full walk, be sure to switch to Walk Option 6 when you reach the top of the downs.
2 comments:
There's been a landslip on the line near Hassocks. It looks as if most of Southern and Thameslink's Brighton-line trains are still running but check on Sunday morning before committing to this walk.
If you get to Victoria or Blackfriars 20-30 minutes earlier than necessary you'd be able to switch to the Shoreham walk (09:55 from Victoria; 09:43 from Blackfriars). See the other walk post for details.
7 regular to occasional Saturday walkers gathered at the station, along with a younger group of 8 who semi-joined us. So I thijnk we can say #15 although I'm afraid three of us got fed up waiting for the others to assemble and started walking. Although the youngsters duly overtook us, we didn't really regroup.
It was #sunny but until we got up onto the south downs ridge, very wet underfoot with numerous fields transformed into water meadows and other waterlogged paths. Just before the climb my boots got a nice wash in a path with a stream down it which had washed away most of the mud. My companions climbed a fence into a field to avoid the resulting river.
The three of us picknicked by the church in Ditchling and, after a nice and contrastingly dry short walk walk along the south downs ridge, we had a refreshing tea and cake from a kiosk at the Jack and Jill windmills. Good views of the other windmill from he ridge btw, with its sails going like the clappers. Down to Hassocks and we got various trains around 4.30.
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