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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.

Sunday 14 July 2019

Sunday Walk: Lewes to Berwick

Book 2 walk 25 + additional download
Length: About 17.5km (11 miles), Toughness: 4 out of 10
A favourite walk visiting two of Mr Tiger's  favourite pubs (not that he drinks a lot these days). The morning goes over the downs, through Glynde, and on to lunch in the characterful Ram Inn in West Firle, a pretty flintstone village.
The afternoon is more low-lying, passing Charleston Farmhouse and Berwick Church, both decorated by members of the Bloomsbury Group.
In summer, hollyhocks put on a bit of a show both in West Firle and on the approach to Berwick church.
Trains:
For the full walk, get the 09:46 Hastings train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:53), arriving Lewes at 10:49.
Trains back from Berwick are at xx:55, changing at Lewes.
Get a day return to Berwick, Sussex. (NOT Berwick, Northumberland).
(For a shorter 8 mile walk avoiding the climb out of Lewes, start at Glynde. Get the 09:55 from Victoria to Brighton (Clapham Junction  10:02). Change at Brighton for the 11:05 to Hastings (platform 7). Don’t hang about, you have four minutes to get to platform 7. You'll arrive at Glynde 11:29. The others will still be huffing and puffing their way across the downs but that's their problem. They'll catch you up at the Ram. Try not to look smug.)
Lunch:
The Ram, West Firle 01273 858222 is an officially designated Mr Tiger favourite.
Firle’s cricket ground, shortly before the Ram, has conveniently placed benches suitable for the consumption of comestibles.
The earlier Trevor Arms (mentioned in the directions) is closed.
Tea: 
Charleston Farmhouse has a tea shop, which is accessible without entry fee.
The Cricketers Arms (01323 870 469), 4½ km after Charleston, another Mr Tiger favourite. They have a nice garden. Depending on the route taken, you'll still have a 2 or 3 km. walk to Berwick station, so allow time to reach it (30 or 45 minutes).
There’s also the  Berwick Inn 01323 870018, near the station. It too has a pleasant garden.
Charleston Farmhouse costs £12.50 for the whole visit (that's the “Green Traveller” price for arriving on foot) or £4.50 for the garden only. Art pass holders get 50% off
Berwick church, reached later, is free and open at most times. The vicar's photos of local butterflies and orchids are available as cards..
Directions:
You need two sets of directions, both available here.
 - Pages 1-4 of the main Lewes via West Firle walk (the "Download Walk" button) plus
 - the Berwick ending (the “Lewes to Berwick option” button)
If taking the shorter route to Berwick Station, the cycleway on the left is preferable to the final stretch of road. But the long way is best of all.
T=2.25.variant

2 comments:

Mr M Tiger said...

10 out of Lewes and 1 from Glynde makes n=11 on a w=warm_cloudy_muggy sort of day. Wild flowers in profusion up on the downs. Plenty butterflies too. And don’t get me started about the hollyhocks.
The Trevor Arms is still closed. The Ram lived up to its reputation as an officially designated Mr Tiger favourite but, being busy, was not particularly fast with the food. And so on to Charleston, where some were intending to visit. The subgroup I was with didn’t but sped past to Alciston and an encounter with an overfriendly horse. In Berwick we were waylaid by a local who practically dragged us to the church (we were going anyway) where there was an open day to promote the forthcoming restoration of the paintings and show off recent archaeological finds. I never found the finds table so I can’t tell you what they found. There hadn’t been much interest - most people preferring to watch celebrities bat a ball over a net (yawn). Anyway, here, we were plied with FREE tea and homemade cakes. And the hollyhocks on the way in were magnificent, probably the best hollyhocks I have ever seen. (Don’t get me started). The downside of the free tea was that it diminished any desire to visit the Cricketers. However, having arrived at Berwick station a little early, enough desire had been rekindled to justify a visit to the Berwick Arms which was pleasant. Almost pleasant enough to be officially designated. Some commented that the directions on the last bit could do with a little more clarity and that bit also still overgown in places. Good day out.

Mr M Tiger said...

And don't get me started about the 'Per' perry in the Ram either.Cloudy, still, chilled.