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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Monday 17 April 2017

Easter Monday Walk - Two Quiet River Valleys and a South Downs Ascent: Uckfield to Lewes

Length: 20.9 km (13.0 mi)
Ascent/Descent: ???/???m; Net Walking Time: about 4 ½ hours
Toughness:  4/10                       

Take the 09.08 Uckfield train from London Bridge (Croydon 09.22), arrives Uckfield 10.21.
Return trains from Lewes are on xx.07 (chg Brighton), xx.16 & xx.54 (direct), journey time between 63 and 77 minutes.
Buy a Lewes return, this should be accepted on the Uckfield line.

This walk suffered from very overgrown paths on its first proper outing at the end of last summer (it had been ‘in development’ for a few years after a first test), but this should not be a problem this early in the year (in the same way as it wasn’t a problem on its test outing in June 14, from memory).

Much of the walk traverses fields, woods and riverside paths through two quiet river valleys (the Uck and the Ouse), before finishing with an invigorating climb over the South Downs above Glyndebourne. There are swimming opportunities along the River Ouse for the brave (or foolhardy), and the lunch pub offers boat hire if you fancy spending time on the river before continuing the walk. In the afternoon you can shorten the walk, and avoid the one climb, by following the river all the way into Lewes.

Note: this is one of the very few walks on our site now still without a gpx file and therefore also without a printable route map.

Lunch: The Anchor Inn and Boating, Barcombe, a country pub and restaurant set on the west bank of the River Ouse, in a very isolated spot. It is very popular in good weather: bring a picnic in case the waiting time for food is unbearably long.
Tea: several places in the centre of Lewes.

For a summary, some photos and the walk directions click here.T=swc.272

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Planning to do this with a map as a Lewes circular.

Chris L said...

The first third of this walk really was severely overgrown in parts last summer, and I'm not convinced it will be significantly easier now. Before the full walk is done again, could it be re-checked by the walk's author (oh, that's me!) to verify that the obstructed sections are now passable?

In the meantime, it can be done, as someone has suggested, as a Lewes circular by going out along the river and back across the downs, or vice versa.

I will check the first part of the walk again on Monday, but I can't honestly recommend it until that's been done, unless you're up for a potential tussle with rampant undergrowth.

NickH said...

Thanks for the updates. Will try the Lewes via West Firle Circular walk instead.

Anonymous said...

On second thoughts, will try the Uckfield walk tomorrow. Hopefully not too overgrown at this time of year.

Thomas G said...

n=6 w=dry-with-passing-clouds-initially-then-sunny
6 off a slightly delayed train, embarking on a not so interesting route out of Uckfield (there are no good ones in that direction), then some paths along fields (which were not overgrown today, but one or two will be late in summer). An astounding bluebell wood, and then the stretch that brought tears to walkers last time around: an 800m track prone to being overgrown and/or very muddy. An alternative route was explored and the routing will be amended accordingly.
After that it was meandering through the Uck and Ouse valleys, mostly close to the rivers, all the way to lunch, including one drive-by of the Lavender Line, a Heritage Diesel train with its 1.5 km of track.
The Anchor Inn seems to have had a change of Mgmt, and - at least today - impressed with fast service, nicely done-up interior, and very plesant food. Lots of guests but not bursting full...

The three sandwichers had joined us for a drink, and on we went together, further along the Ouse and then through Ringmer, where we stopped for tea, then up to the Downs by Glyndebourne Wind Turbine. The sun broke through just then and blue skies stayed with us all the way to Lewes, for this very lovely stretch of the South Downs (Bible Bottom). A walk that just got better as we went along.
One last drink at the pub nearest the station for three of us. 17.16 train.