Buriton to Cocking

Today's walk and the weather were both quite varied, with classic downland walking, but also some meanderings across agricultural land and woodland, whilst the weather varied from dry and sunny to cold and windy to wet...

We slept extremely well and woke to a sunny morning. The weather forecast was for rain later in the day, so we went down for breakfast at the earliest opportunity, which was 8am. We had a delicious cooked breakfast, but we weren't as organised as we might have been so it was nearly 9am when we left The Village Inn. We had been talking to two Americans who are also walking the South Downs Way (and staying in the same place as us this evening); they managed to get away before we did!

We retraced yesterday's route along the Shipwrights Way/Hangers Way from the centre of Buriton back to the South Downs Way. The guidebook describes the 3.5 miles section from here to the B2146 as low-lying and through agricultural land; somehow that conjured up entirely the wrong impression. We might not have been on the top of the Downs, but neither were we at the bottom, and the route was an undulating one across a landscape that appeared neither more nor less "agricultural" than that we passed though on other days on the South Downs Way. The route was sometimes along minor roads and sometimes on tracks and, perhaps because it was a Sunday, there were lots of cyclists about. We passed from Hampshire into West Sussex.

Up above South Harting we crossed a road descending to the village and entered a section running through attractive woodland above another road. The path here was narrower (though still technically a track) and a group of young cyclists wearing "Ditcham CC" T-shirts came past us; this appears to be the cycle club associated with Ditcham Park School, nearby. First one of the teachers and then a young girl had problems with their bikes so we played leapfrog with them for a while, which was irritating. However, in case people associated with the School or Cycle Club are reading this, and in case of any misunderstanding around my comment about the (bad) manners of some cyclists, the young people in the group did you proud, thanking us as we moved to one side to let them pass and cycling in single file. Many adults could learn from you!

We crossed the road we'd been shadowing and found ourselves on Harting Hill, where the young cyclists had stopped for a break, and with good views to South Harting. There is a car park here, so lots of people as we walked on across Harting Down and to the saddle point beneath the second Beacon Hill of the South Downs Way. There is a much photographed signpost here and while I was adding to the photographic volume, Richard was trying to help a couple out for a walk with no more than Google Maps to guide them, and whose first question to us was "Is this the right way to South Harting?" Err, no! I use Google maps or similar when I'm driving and love its ability to find the best walking route in a city, but in the countryside my considered opinion is that it's pretty hopeless!

The South Downs Way heads around Beacon Hill, and we followed the advertised route, though I know some long distance walkers go straight up and over, and a group of DoE type walkers appeared to be doing just that. We were looking for a picnic spot but wanted some shelter from the wind; we found a good spot in the lea of Beacon Hill, and here on the second hill with that name, the second dog of the holiday tried to eat my lunch!

The weather was now distinctly threatening, with occasional spots of rain. That didn't come to anything (yet!) but it was really quite cold and windy as we continued up and over Pen Hill. The path then left the northern edge of the Downs and headed across agricultural land near Buriton Farm (miles from the village of Buriton we had left several hours earlier; I bet that causes some problems for the postman!) and into the woodland at Philliswood Down. Some other writers mutter about having to walk through woodland rather than open downland, but I enjoy the contrast, and on this occasion the shelter was also welcome. We came across a curious wartime memorial to a a German airman. Then, as we left the wood, we reached "Devil's Jumps", a series of Bronze Age burial minds. It was only a short distance to the next woodland, which took us past the rather mysterious Monkton House. It's probably not mysterious at all really, but all we could see was overgrown grounds and landscapes.

We emerged from the woodland onto Didling Hill, back on the northern escarpment of the South Downs, but unfortunately it was just starting to spit with rain, and as we continued past Linch Ball and onto Cocking Down it got heavier. The walking retained an attractiveness of its own; we particularly enjoyed the large field of sheep whose four-legged residents were walking along parallel with us. And had the weather been better, I suspect there would have been glorious views.

On Cocking Down we encountered one of Andy Goldsworthy's Chalk Stones, then we descended along a narrow lane hemmed in by hedges towards a house with lurid yellow window frames. There were a fair number of other buildings with this colour of paintwork in the Cocking area, and it turns out that yellow is the colour of the Cowdray Estate. We crossed the A286 but continued a little further before taking the path down to Cocking. We turned off the South Downs Way at Hill Barn, actually a rather tatty group of buildings, including a saw mill and a farm shop. Just opposite the track down to Cocking there is a tap for the benefit of South Downs Way walkers. A sunken track took us down to Cocking, passing the Church and emerging onto the A286 by the village shop and opposite the Bluebell Inn.

We tend to walk faster in rain (perhaps because I am taking fewer photos!) and we reached Cocking about an hour before our B&B's advertised first check-in time of 4.30pm. We found a bench by a children's playground and stopped here for long enough to take off our waterproofs, but it was still raining slightly so we decided to go to the B&B on the offchance of being able to get in. Actually that was easier said than done, because we didn't know where to go! We had booked our accommodation via the Moonlight Cottage website, but we knew that Steve and Sue Redshaw also have B&B rooms in the 16th century farmhouse "The Malthouse" across the road; indeed we knew that the room we had booked was "Peony" in the Malthouse. We first went to Moonlight Cottage (with the added complication here of multiple possible entrances) then to the front door of The Malthouse where a sign sent us round to the back. Success - Steve let us in and showed us to our delightful room with its private bathroom. In the evening we ate at the Bluebell; they were actually only cooking for people staying in local B&Bs, but we had a lovely meal and a good chat with our new friends the Americans who are also walking the South Downs Way - it's a pity that we'll part company with them tomorrow because they're staying an extra night in the Amberley area.

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