South Downs: Bostal Hill to Southease

After a trip to Rome earlier this week, constantly battling through endless crowds of tourists, I was really keen to get into some wide open space this weekend. Yesterday the weather had been miserable so I put it on hold, but fortunately today turned out to be lovely, so I headed down to the South Downs, especially pleased that for a change my daughter Erika seemed keen to come with me.

Mindful of not overdoing it, I planned a short, lazy but extremely pleasant route for the day - from Bostal Hill to Southease. We took the train down to Lewes (where we stopped so Erika could get some walking boots), then took a taxi from there to the car park atop Bostal Hill. This had the benefit both that we'd start walking immediately on the South Downs Way, and also meant the taxi did the hard work of climbing up the hill for us. The plan was then to end at Southease station and get the train back into Lewes from there.

It worked out really well actually - there were no tedious bits on this walk at all. From the moment we set foot out of the taxi, thanks to the glorious weather (and a new found shared love of Murray Mints) it was just idyllic, and I experienced a wonderful sense of elation being here in this magical place with a very special little person who seemed to be enjoying it too.

We were greeted with a number of people enjoying the majestic terrain of the Downs via different modes of transport. I'm used to the mountain bikers and the horse riders, but have to say the unicycle is a new one on me, and I can only applaud this kind of eccentricity.

There were also a large number of paragliders out today around Firle Beacon which was a fascinating thing to watch - I don't recall being so close up to them before, and as a pastime it still seems to me to defy the laws of physics.

A little further on as we approached the radio station I was reminded of how I got drenched in a sudden downpour the first time I walked along this stretch of the South Downs Way last year.

However today we instead had beautiful blue autumnal skies and from here glimpses of a glittering sea in the distance.

 

We passed the second trig point of today's short walk, around Red Lion Pond, and then shortly after had the steep descent down into Southease, which I remember being quite painful last year with my blistered feet, but today was just fun.

We got the train from Southease back into Lewes, and before heading back to London went for a late Sunday lunch at the Lewes Arms, which was as delightful as ever.