SWC Walk 283: Christ’s Hospital to Billingshurst t=swc.283
Distance: 16.9 Miles or 27.1 km for those more metrically minded (with shorter bus options available)
Difficulty: 4.5 out of 10
Train: Take the 9:35 AM Portsmouth Harbour train from London Victoria (East Croydon at 9:57), arriving at Christ’s Hospital at 10:41. Return trains from Billingshurst are at 14 past the hour. Buy a day return to Billingshurst.
This interesting walk explores a re-wilding project taking place a Knepp Castle, featuring Old English Longhorn Cattle, Tamworth Pigs, Fallow Deer and Exmoor Ponies (unfortunately, no native elephants or giraffes…) As an added bonus at this time of year, we may be lucky enough to see some deer rutting taking place…..Although long, the route is more or less flat, so probably not as challenging as you may think just looking at the numbers…..You can find more information about the walk and download the walk instructions here.
The recommended lunch spot is the Crown Inn (01403 710 902) in Dial Post (what a name!) (8.9 miles/14.3 km into the walk), food served until 2.45pm. Tea and other post walk refreshments can be had at the Railway Inn across from Billingshurst Station.
Enjoy the walk!
2 comments:
There were #5 at the start joined by two later making #7 in all. We saw three juvenile Tamworth pigs four or five dear some ponies lots of longhorn cattle with young and two storks feeding in a field. All 7 had lunch in Dial Post the pub was busy but well managed and food worth waiting for. Long man ale and a sussex smokie (haddock in a cheese sauce) were very good. It was getting rather late so four of us ended there. Three continued hoping to see the stock nests in the afternoon
After lunch three carried on the main route and were not disappointed...a fully adult Tamworth pig crossed the path just in front of us and seemed completely oblivious to our presence while it routed around in the leaves and tree debris at the side of the path. At the watering hole we saw several deer and heard some rather interesting noises from the nearby woods... We continued to see more and more deer around many corners, including one young stag with small antlers -- but no rutting activity. We arrived in Billingshurst just before 7pm with time for a quick stop in the Tescos for supplies for the slightly delayed 7:14pm. The weather was w=cloudy-with-light-showers-in-the-evening
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