The Newmarket Inn (A27) to Alfriston

The Newmarket Inn is unpretentious, but our bedroom was very comfortable and we slept well; breakfast, whilst being nothing special, was tasty and arrived with rather less of a wait that we'd had for our meal last night. I just hope, for their sake, that the couple who are now starting their third day in charge of the place, with no staff, are able to make some appointments before the weekend. We left around 9am and headed back up the track under the railway line to rejoin the South Downs Way, very quickly leaving the busy A27 behind us for open rolling downland. When we looked back there were frequently trains making their way along the line close to the Newmarket Inn, but I didn't manage to photograph any of them.

As we climbed up towards the Newmarket Plantation and then around the head of the dry valley of Cold Coombes, there were views to the village of Kingston near Lewes and to the six-sailed Ashcombe Windmill, which we had spotted yesterday. We were a lot closer today, but it was misty and actually we got better photographs yesterday. However this was lovely atmospheric walking, and there were some particularly attractive herds of cows.

We were walking at about the same speed as a solitary female walker (OK, we were probably walking somewhat more slowly than she was) and we stopped for a chat. Her name is Belinda and I told her about JordanWalks, so, Belinda (and the two American couples we met earlier on the trip), if you read this, do drop me an email to keep in touch - and I'm sorry it has taken me so long to write up this walk. Belinda is, I would guess, of antipodean extract, but she has lived in the UK for a long time. She was walking the South Down Way, her first long distance path I think, by herself, but her partner was planning to join her in Eastbourne tomorrow,

A concrete track through a field of oilseed rape provided a change of scenery. At Mill Hill we resisted the temptation to take a path to Rodmell, though I suspect that many South Downs Way walkers succumb to this particular temptation; the two couples from the US who we had met earlier were both interested in the many literary connections along the route and Rodmell is where Monk's House, Virginia Woolf's 17th-century country retreat, is located. Mind you, it all has rather depressing overtones because on 28th March 1941, Woolf drowned herself by filling her overcoat pockets with stones and walking into the River Ouse nearby.

We had a brief chat with a woman out walking her dog; she was reluctant to take it off the lead because she suspected there might be sheep in the field; we couldn't see any sheep, but she as right to be cautious - the field had a peculiar dip in the corner and as we walked over the convex slope above it we saw the sheep hiding precisely where she expected they might be. I wish all dog walkers were this considerate.

We could see group of young heavily laden walkers ahead of us (on a Duke of Edinburgh's award expedition perhaps? I'm assuming so for the purposes of the rest of this page). We stopped for a break where they had been, sitting on part of a giant spider. Yes, that's what I said - see the photograph. I presume that it has some stage been used for some other process, perhaps in a parade of some sort. From here we continued to a corner with a sign indicating that we were also on the Greenwich Meridian Trail. Belinda passed us again and stopped for a chat; we had to explain about the Greenwich Meridian Trail (which we meet from time to time, most recently as we walked through Hardwick, about midway along the Wimpole Way) on its linear journey from Sussex to Yorkshire as close as possible to the imaginary line which separates the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

We turned left and followed a track, alongside a large field with two tractors ploughing. It was a bit dusty as we passed, but there was an attractive view back. At the end of the track we climbed up to a road, then descended through the hamlet of Southease. Southease has an attractive church with a round tower, with a pointy bit on top such that it is designated a spire by the Ordnance Survey. It wasn't quite lunchtime so we continued on over the (Sussex) River Ouse, another tidal river which appears quite canalised and not particularly attractive in this area. We crossed the railway line at Southease Station; the DoE group were eating their lunch in the shelter at the station.

The buildings shown as Itford Farm on the map is now YHA South Downs, and there's a cafe. We headed towards it, but were put off by the large number of young people doing activities - I managed to convince myself that they wouldn't be serving lunch to the public and we continued, grumpily in my case! The situation wasn't helped by the fact that we then took a wrong turning, through a field where the activity was archery, but we soon realised we'd gone wrong and turned around, then took the correct path over a modern bridge over the A26.

From here the route climbs steadily on a wide sweep around to the summit of Itford Hill (the DoE expeditioners went straight up, but that's not the route...). We soon found a sheltered place for a picnic, so my mood improved! As we continued to climb, good views to Newhaven opened up; I tried, but failed, to work out where we used to do fieldwork, up above the harbour, and we were both puzzled by a large building with tall structures (chimneys?) emerging from it - it turns out that this is the Newhaven Energy Recovery Facility, though we hadn't worked that out when Belinda passed us again and stopped for another chat. She had stopped for lunch in the cafe at YHA South Downs. Bother!

From the top of Itford Hill we followed an undulating ridge, retaining the good views. We passed the radio masts on Beddingham Hill, noticing a particularly large collection of paddocks on the gate; we eventually worked out how this arrangement operates in order to give access to any of the keyholders. We were just a few miles to the south of the village of Glynde, which is itself just to the south of the Glyndebourne Opera House. We crossed a road and noticed a number of benches; hurrah, time for a break! However, at least half of the benches were the wrong side of a fence; thankfully there were enough on the right side of the fence for both the DoE expeditioners (who had also stopped for a break) and us. We were up above the village of Firle, then Firle Park and Firle Tower, and we climbed up to Firle Beacon.

Our route was now heading around to the south-east (in contrast to its previous east-bound direction). We were still on the Firle Estate and a kind man in a Firle Estate 4x4 held a gate open for us, near the curiously named Bopeep Chalk Pit. I think he was out checking sheep. We were walking behind the DoE group again, and we got our first clear view to the coast at Cuckmere Haven. Suddenly we realised that we were getting towards the end of the South Downs Way.

We descended slowly to the village of Alfriston. Unfortunately its quaint and picturesque streets were also very busy with distinctly 21st Century traffic, but if you leave that to one side it's a delightful place. As we were approaching Dean's Place (where we were staying) we bumped into Belinda for one final chat, then we made our way through the grounds to hotel reception and were directed to a room on the first floor, with a lovely dual aspect over the front and side of the hotel. I had a bath whilst Richard went out to explore the village, then we had dinner. Richard had booked a dinner, B&B package (on the basis of the fact that, although expensive, it was good value relative to other prices in Alfriston) but it appears there was only us eating in the restaurant. When we were younger this would have embarrassed us, now we just enjoyed it!

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