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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.

Saturday 20 July 2019

Saturday Walk Pulborough Circular

Pulborough Circular swc.14
Length: 21 km (13 miles), with shorter afternoon options. Toughness: 4/10

This walk climbs to give a panoramic view of the South Downs from the low hills above Pulborough, where it joins the Wey-South Path. This goes past two medieval bridges on the canalised River Arun, and continues across the extensive water meadows of Amberley Wild Brooks to the picturesque village of Amberley.

After lunch the walk goes through the landscaped grounds of Parham Park, with its dark-coated fallow deer and views of Parham House. You might see gliders taking off and landing at close quarters as you go along the edge of Parham Airfield. You then have the opportunity to  bird-watch in the RSPB Pulborough Brooks Nature Reserve at Wiggonholt, which has a tearoom in its Visitor Centre, before a final stretch across the water meadows back to Pulborough.

Trains: 09:36 Southampton & Bognor Regis train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:42, East Croydon 09:52), arriving Pulborough at 10:51. You need to be in the rear portion, for Bognor Regis. If doing the shortcut, buy a return to Amberley, which is the same fare as Pulborough.

Return trains from Pulborough to Victoria are at xx:24 & xx:55. If you finish at Amberley, trains are hourly at xx:17.

Lunch: There are two pubs in Amberley, after 8½–9 km. First the Black Horse (01798-831183) has been fully refurbished and looks rather up-market, but its website points out that it is “perfectly located for walking on the SDW” so could be worth trying. You might also be able to get a light lunch at the nearby Amberley Village Tea Room (see Tea below), but the recommendation is to carry on for another ten minutes to the Sportsman (01798-831787), which has fine views over the water meadows from its terrace.

Tea: The RSPB Visitor Centre at Pulborough Brooks is conveniently situated for a mid-afternoon break and has fine views over the water meadows. Its tearoom stays open until about 4.30pm.

If you get to Pulborough in time the Little Bean Café open to 4.30pm is on Lower Street at the point where the route enters the village, about 1½ km from the station. The Oddfellows Arms a short detour off to the right.

1 comment:

David Colver said...

No idea how many did this at the appointed hour on Sat, but two regulars did it independently on Sun, taking different trains and eating at different pubs, the Black Horse and The Sportsman, meeting briefly at the latter. Both were very happy with the lunches served in these places. Some slightly menacing cloud in the morning dissolved into warm sunshine by the afternoon.