SWC 50 - Hassocks to Brighton
Length: 22-5 km (14 miles). Short walk ending in Falmer: 12 km (7.5 miles)
Toughness: 7 out of 10
London Victoria: 09-55 hrs Brighton service CJ 10-02 hrs EC 10-11 hrs
Arrive Hassocks: 10-51 hrs
Return: Brighton to Victoria: (non-Gatwick Express service) 03 and 33 mins past the hour
Rail ticket: buy a day return to Brighton
Leaving Hassocks you have a choice of routes to the South Downs. For shade you should take the route through Ditchling Village. If it is a nice day and not horribly hot then you might like to take the route via Clayton, to enjoy the lovely views from the South Downs Way ridge path.
Having climbed up onto the Downs you now drop down to the village of Stanmer, where you can stop for lunch at its Tea Rooms or at Stanmer House. Otherwise, you continue through the extensive grounds of the House then up and through the campus of Sussex University, to Falmer Village, for lunch at the non-pretentious, artisan Swan pub, which serves good old fashioned pub grub, good English ale and German Eurofizz. If you wish you can end your walk in Falmer - the railway station is below the Amex Stadium (home of Brighton and Hove Albion FC). There are three trains an hour to Brighton.
Continuing with the main walk you head for the village of Bevenden then up to Kemp Town Racecourse. You now walk the length of the racecourse, passing the grandstand on your right. You then take a path downhill through light woodland and before you have time to say "Robert is your father's brother" you find yourself close to the centre of Brighton. The walk through Brighton up to its railway station is a bit tedious (when you have done it many times before) but it becomes more bearable if you stop en route for tea at one of the cafes in the famous Bohemian Lanes.
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Walk directions here: L=swc.50
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3 comments:
Whoops apocalypse - I've just noticed from the sports pages of my newspaper that Brighton (horse)races were on this afternoon - you probably had to take a different route avoiding Kemp Town racecourse. Sorry about that - I thought I had posted today's walk on a day when there was no race meeting - but I slipped up. I hope whatever diversion(s) you were forced to take did not spoil your enjoyment of the walk.
4 of us arrived at Hassocks and elected to take the direct route to Clayton and the Jack and Jill windmills, arriving, under high cloud and a light breeze, on the (surprisingly busy)South Downs Way. Directions thereafter a bit vague in places, but one walker had the GPS map on his phone, enabling us to head south at the right place. One elected to carry on east on the SDW, leaving three of us to enjoy an al fresco lunch on the green before Starmer House (and use its toilets)before heading to Falmer station where I dropped out, taking the train to Brighton, leaving the other two to carry on on foot.
N=4 w=overcast with pleasantly cool breeze. Only a few minutes delay crossing the racecourse road, with the added pleasure of seeing No.4 win the 4.30 race. The directions on the direct route at Falmer, avoiding the pub, were skimpy to put it kindly!
After the racecourse, we hopped on a station bound bus, but would have been quicker walking, due to it’s circuitous route and rush hour traffic. Just made the 5.33 for London. It was the fifth consecutive day’s walking for my companion on the final leg.
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