Wak time - 2 hours 44 mins
Distance 7.3 miles
Accent - 624 feet
Our first walk outside of Hampshire took us to the village of Walderton within the South Downs national park just north of Chichester. We started at the village pub, the Barley Mow, which has a large cat park and is easy to find on the main road through Walderton.
This was a walk of two halves, the first being through fields on lesser used tracks and the second part being within the grounds of the Stansted Park estate
We left the pub car park and headed back along the village road, after a short walk we came to a side road turning right and then onto a foot path which followed the houses along the village edge, this path joined Cooks Lane and we turned right along the road for a few hundred yards before taking a path on the left, well marked with a finger post between two houses this brought us out into a large field.
After a mile of walking through well marked fields (with good paths cut through the crops) and crossing a couple of minor roads we came to a small woodland area, we cut through the corner of the coppice and dropped down to another field, a gentle climb led us to some really good views across the field we had just walked as we now turned back to head west. The path followed the southern edge of more wooded land along the top side of a field, a large bench was on the track, I couldn't see a plaque dedicating to anyone, but it did have a good view point.
The path joined onto a farm track, well made up and gravelled which in turn led onto a Locksash Lane, this dropped down to the B2146, which we needed to cross to pick up the next path.
The path went through the side of someone's front garden which was nice, and then a really, really steep climb, if you look at the gradient chart at the bottom of this section you can see at the 2.5 mile mark, it was a two stick climb, with a good lot of roots and stones to contend with, we rewarded ourselves at the top with water, and as I stood to refresh myself I looked along the track to see a baby deer staring back at me, soon joined by it's mother bounding over the track, collecting up its offspring and bouncing off into the heavily wooded land, we didn't see them again, but it is a nice reminder of what you get to see when walking, especially if you take the less used foot path rather than the main tracks.
As we came through this wooded area we joined another well made up farm track which we followed for about half a mile, at this point we had two options, I always like to build in a route to shorten the walk, and if we took the left hand path at this point it would cut out the Stansted Park section of the walk and about 2.5 miles, however the weather was excellent and we hoped that there maybe a wedding on at the big house and a couple of scraggy looking ramblers would add to the photo's
So right we did turn (I would later go on to regret that choice and not cut the walk short) and enter the Stansted Park estate, the track was a made up road so easy walking with open fields to our right and woodland on the left, the track followed the northern side of the big house before turning left and leading right in front, the path was fenced on both side so little opportunity for the masses to cause too much trouble
We then joined the main driveway into the house , garden centre and miniature railway which we followed for a short way until picking up another foot path at the end of the overflow car park.
The route took us through a couple of small fields before opening out onto a very large field with a good path cut right through on a diagonal running behind the big house, however getting onto this field did cause is some issues as we had to navigate the the biggest stile in the world, it is no secret that Mrs B isn't the tallest, but this fence crossing was something else even for me at well over 6 feet tall, the second step of which came up to Mrs B's hips!!The walk across these fields was very pleasant, the crops now yellowing and getting ripe, a great view back across to Stansted House and again not another person using these well made and easy to access public rights of way. It must cost the farmers a lot to maintain these tracks and of course the loss of farming land, the upkeep of stiles etc, and I am sure they would be a lot happier if at least they were used, I'll come on to the paths that are not maintained in another blog
At the corner of a field we crossed a stile into a small stretch of gated road and my ruin.
We are at about the five and half mile mark, this small straight track is between two locked gates, and well protected although there is a stile to the side and a marked path, the track itself isn't made up so on grass, however the use of farm vehicles has left two deep ruts which thanks to the lush green grass are well covered, this led to all walkers worst fear (other than a bull in a field) the turned ankle!
My foot slipped from the center of the track into one of the deep rut, then only a few steps later the same happened again, I staggered to the end of the path seeking rest and refuge at the gate reaching out to grab support only to find the top of the gate was wrapped in barbed wire. It was at this point that my shortened walk option would have joined up and saved me a great deal of pain and cursing.
Needless to say the remainder of the walk was slow, although fortunately followed a made up road down quite a steep hill to rejoin the B246 and take us back to Walderton, still well over a mile but at least walkable, I was glad of my walking poles at this stage for sure.
The Barley Mow pub was very pleasant with a nice small garden which had a stream running along its edge, we ordered a couple of ciabattas and beer, again the bill was around the £20 mark, the food was good and came with chips to save me ordering a side, we both had cheese and onion, there isn't much to get wrong with that and the Barley Mow certainly got it right
Trip Advisor - The Barley Mow
This was a really good walk, at over 7 miles a good length and ideal for 2 to 3 hours, the terrain was good with a couple of climbs but nothing that couldn't be done with the aid of poles, so I turned my ankle and now do any distance walking with a support which isn't a bad precaution any way, it did put us out of walking for a couple of weeks though as my ankle did double in size for a few days!
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