COVID 19
Track-and-Trace: please provide email address (preferred) or mobile phone number at the start
Rule of Six: from start to finish please, and up to May 16 Length: 25.5 km (15.9 mi) [longer and much shorter walks possible, see
below]
Ascent/Descent: 488 m
Net Walking Time: ca. 6 hours
Toughness: 9 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 10.22.
From Clapham J take the 08.52 stopping service to Portsmouth &
Southsea, direct to Rowlands.
The 10.00 train would be sufficient for the short walk.
Return trains: xx.45 (direct).
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 (rated 4/10).
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. The extended walk is rated 10/10.
All three routes share the start, up to West Marden, and the end, from Compton.
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. The extended walk is rated 10/10.
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) seems to have lost its publicans
and is for sale, but there is a recent review on Trip, so they may still be
open for biz; The Royal Oak in Hooksway (12.6 km/7.9
mi, food to 14.00, bookings only!), The
Coach & Horses in Compton (8.7 km/5.4 mi on the short
walk, food to 14.30).
Tea: The Village Shop & 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
1 comment:
The blue, yellow and white walk, that's what it was.
Plenty of wildflowers of said colours were in abundance, especially so bluebells in vast quantities, in places still in stunning displays and only a mere fraction past their best, especially in the early woods (along the Lady's Walk option in North Coopers Wood and in Withy Piece), later again in large numbers (Germanleith Copse comes to mind) but probably a touch further past their best. Wild garlic was here, there and everywhere, most tantalising in the wood with the "precipitous" (and slippery) descent, and later in the woods west of West Marden. Several large meadows had abundant buttercups as well, plus of course there were plenty of rape oil seed fields in near full bloom.
It was overcast most morning, with some breaks in the clouds, then for about half the afternoon there was rain or drizzle, then the sun came out again.
There were a herd of Belted Galloways with lots of offspring in one field, plenty of lambs in others.
'Daisy and Ben' were getting wed at 3 in the church in East Marden, so the thatched well and the church were beautifully decorated (but the rain will have spoiled the day a wee bit).
What about the people? 15 off the train plus 2 car drivers, an 18th walker had missed the train at CJ and went back home I'm told. 2 lunched in West Marden (and presumably walked the short walk), almost all else had picnic near the Hooksway pub, from where some then followed the main walk, some had a drink at the pub then did the extension, others did the extension straight away.
For us extensioners, the skies cleared just in time for the "views of Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight"-stretch, and at the end, apart from the 2 car drivers and 3 who stayed in Rowlands for dinner, all else were on the 17.45 train.
n=17 w=some-rain-in-the-afternoon
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