General Interest

South Downs Way

Luckily it hasn't been spoilt on the whole by excessive development and there is still some stunning scenery to be appreciated in its new boundaries. One way to observe it is to walk along part, or if you're feeling brave, all, of the South Downs Way. In good summer weather with plenty of long hours of light, this is an excellent way to completely immerse yourself in another way of life for a week. Forget the jet set, I'm talking about the sturdy boots set here!

The walk covers 100 miles in all from Winchesrer to Eastbourne with about 4150 m (13600 feet) of hills to climb and ascend whichever way you travel. It takes about 8 days to walk it (3 to cycle it) and you will climb as high as Butser Hill in Hampshire to 270m (900ft) and also Ditchling Beacon (East Sussex) at 248m (814ft).

You will mainly be walking on well maintained wide grassy or flinty tracks across the chalk downland, grazed by sheep on the hills with arable crops below; whilst the western part of the Downs tends to be composed of rolling farmland, the mid section of the West Sussex Downs are dominated by steep, sometimes wooded escarpments with good views across to the Weald and the East Sussex Downs are open grass lands running down to the sea cliffs.

As mentioned above the good news this year is that on March 31st, Hilary Benn, the secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced that after 60 years of campaigning the South Downs was to become a National Park. A National Park Authority with be created by April 2010 and it should be fully operational by April 2011. The South Downs Way will become the natural backbone to this new National Park. The great landscape, wildlife and culture of the area will now have a secure future and the landscape of the Walk will hopefully be enjoyed for generations to come.

If you are planning to walk the route there's the 2009 official National Trail guide for the South Downs Way to look out for by Paul Millmore (ISBN 978 1 84513 311 5 Aurum Press/The Countryside Commission, £12.99), and the 2009 edition of the South Downs Way strip map as a baseline (the waterproof 1;40,000 strip map by Harvey can be found at http://www.harveymaps.co.uk & is also excellent for cyclists) and there's a variety of free circular walks leaflets, public transport guides and a Mountain bike guide too, available from the downloads section of the website shown below (National trails-South Downs).

So perhaps on a summer's week that the weather forecasters suggest looks likely to be fine, why not plan a couple of days out on the trail and explore some of the finest countryside England has to offer?

Links to further information:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/protected-areas/national-parks/south-downs/index.htm
http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/southdowns/