Lunch

It was time for lunch. The strong, cool breeze whipped across the Downs and GF huddled with his back to the wind as he burrowed into his pack for a Cornish Pasty, some sparkling water, and some dried apricots.

GF has finally learnt that opening sparkling water, after it has been bouncing around in the backpack, is a delicate and time consuming affair if he wishes to stay dry.

As you can see, once more the Gorse Fox was alone on the Downs. The world seemed a better place, and the soul seemed to have a direct link to its Maker.

Dew

Dew Ponds are the traditional way in which water was collected for the sheep, prior to the introduction of piped water (or bottled water for the chique sheep).

The South Downs are made up of a porous chalk, so in order to retain the water in these dishes, clay is puddled into the depression. (Nowadays a liner is usually laid beneath the clay).

SDW

At Ditchling Beacon, the Gorse Fox was about 3.5 miles into his walk. It was at this point that he came across a few fellow humans out in the sunshine.

It never ceases to amaze the Gorse Fox that strolling a few hundred yards into the countryside you can get almost total solitude for miles, and yet towns such as Brighton, Shoreham, and Worthing are right on the doorstep.

This stretch of the walk took a westerly path along the South Downs Way. To the north, the drop to the weald below, to the south the body of the downs and the se beyond.

The Edge

Almost at the edge of the escarpment the land falls away nearly 200m metres to the weald below.

The Surrey Hills (or is it the North Downs?) can just be seen on the horizon. Small villages are strewn haphazardly across the plain.

Denscher Bottom

Continuing towards Ditchling Beacon the view just keeps getting better.

Standing on the edge of Big Bottom, GF looked back to the south-west and into Denscher Bottom (which is bounded on either side by Hogtrough Bottom to the south-east and Home Bottom to the north-west.

A better view

A better view of North Bottom.

The clouds were starting to bubble up, and a breeze was picking up. A few weeks ago, the GF walked the opposite way along the bottom of this valley.

North Bottom

Having crossed Ditchling Road near Highpark Corner, the Gorse Fox took in the view past North Bottom towards Lower Standean.

Moss Side

In Highpark Wood, nature had its own way of slowly dealing with the remains of an old tree that had fallen in previous years.

A thick, almost luscious, blanket of moss smoothed the profile as the rotting wood slowly returned to its constituents.

Whither

Can you tell where he's heading, yet?

As the route pressed on along the muddy tracks of Highpark Wood, some helpful waymarks pointed out the route.

North Scarp

Hardly the Eiger or the Matterhorn, but the north scarp of the South Downs, as you look east, still throws up a complex and beautiful landscape.

Moon's Bottom

Having scampered up past Limekiln Wood and Granny's Belt the Gorse Fox found himself at a junction where he would turn north west.

Pylons carried power into Moon's Bottom and onwards toward Bow Hill. As attractive as Moon's BBottom seemed, GF was more interested in Green Broom and the muddy track that led past there.

Stanmer Village

Turning past the church and heading north, GF passed the quaint Sussex flint cottages that lined the only street in the village. (Only residents can bring their cars to this part of the Park).

A little Tea Shop seemed to be doing a good trade, a few children were being shown the cows in an open byre, but silence was barely broken.

Stanmer Park

Stanmer Church stands within the grounds of Stanmer Park. Once home to the the 1st Earl of Chichester, Thomas Pelham, it is now maintained by Brighton & Hove City Council.

According to the website:
"This huge landscaped park with its wide-open spaces, woods and farmland is perfect for bracing walks and woodlands strolls.

One of its most unusual features is an entire village - including an 18th century stately home - that was completely private and hidden away until bought by the city in 1947.

English Heritage, under the National Heritage Act 1983, registered the park as a park of special historic interest as a Grade 2 site".

Stanmer Church

Leaving the car, the Gorse Fox headed towards the elegant church, nestling amongst the trees and bordered by the village pond.

Apparently, "The original church on this site was destroyed by fire in 1838, and when the church was rebuilt, many of its original contents were saved and are today housed inside the present building." (Stanmer Church)

The sun was out, it was warm (about 12C), and there were only one or two people about. This put a spring in the step as GF strode purposefully off into the countryside.

Walking from Stanmer

The super start to the day encouraged the Gorse Fox to gird his loins, pack his rucksack, grab his walking boots and head out to the Downs.

This walk started at Stanmer, just north of Brighton, at the car park shown at the righmost extremity of the map.

From there the route wound counter-clockwise towards the Ditchling Beacon, along the South Downs Way at the northern edge of the escarpment, then back down, passing the Chattri Monument towards Patcham, and finally back along the route of the A27 toward Stanmer and the car.

Nothing too strenuous, nor too long, just a gentle stroll !

Chelsea tractors

Recalling a conversation from dinner earlier during the week, it would be interesting to see a graph showing the growth of "Chelsea Tractors" in London plotted against the installation of road humps. We would assert (mischievously) that Ken Livingstone (and his ilk) are directly responsible for the increase in the use of big vehicles (with high ground clearance) such as 4x4s, because they are better equipped to cope with the speed bumps.

Idling

Gorse Fox has a day off from work. No specific plans at present, just idling.

Cousteau-cub should be checking-in at Heathrow at present. She's en route for Thailand where she'll spend the next month. She's carrying a fold-up bike with her. She was told that it folded up such that it wasn't much bigger than its from wheel. GF can only assume the bike was a penny-farthing, as it seemed huge.

After the debacle that was the Needlework Nazis, the Silver Vixen met with her Quilting Queens today. GF assumes that thousands of gallons of tea were consumed and expects that the amount of energy expended on talk far ouweighed the amount of needlework performed.

Squalls

The squalls that rattled through yesterday have subsided and this moring Worcester is bathed in sunshine but freshened by a stiff breeze.
The morning will be filled with reviews... oh joy!

Travel

A travel theme was evident in the evening's proceedings.

GF declared that it was time to leave the office. We all dispersed to our Worcester Hotels and then met up in an Austrian Pub for a beer, before changing continents and trying out a Mexican restaurant (Amigos) that we hadn't tried before. Very pleasant evening, but worrying when a bunch of geeks refer to someone else as a geek... that must make him an uber-geek.