South Downs Way #4: Hassocks to the Devil's Dyke

Picked up from where I had left off last Sunday - Hassocks - which happily is a nice easy station to get to, on the line to Brighton. I decided to walk to the Devil's Dyke for this next stretch, having remembered from a walk to there some years ago that there was a bus from there to the centre of Brighton.

After some back and forth on where to stop for lunch I settled on the Plough Inn at Pyecombe, as it was the only option roughly in the middle - the alternatives being Jack and Jill (too early / near the start) and the Devil's Dyke Inn (too late / near the end). Thus I had a couple of miles first before lunch, which was a pleasant enough stroll, although not quite the drama in the landscape of the later sections of today's walk. The pub turned out to be more of a restaurant inhabiting the premises of a former pub, and oddly an Italian restaurant at that. A bowl of pasta was not really what I was in the mood for at Sunday lunchtime whilst out on a stroll in the countryside, but it filled a hole I suppose. 

After lunch I had to cross the A23 and get past a rather noisy horse training complex before I finally got back into the peace and tranquillity of what felt like proper South Downs terrain again. 

There was a hill to walk up which was a bit of a slog, but then the descent back down the other side into Saddlescombe was quite lovely, with the surrounding hills looking particularly verdant and undulating in a very pleasing fashion. I think this was probably the nicest bit of today's walk. 

From Saddlescombe, back uphill again to the Devil's Dyke, there was a notable increase in the number of other people I saw out walking - there had been hardly anyone for most of the rest of today's walk. 

My arrival at the top of the Devil's Dyke happened to coincide with the arrival of the bus. Mindful of the fact they were not particularly frequent I jumped straight on it, so only got a very brief glimpse of the top if the dyke, but knew I could pick up here again on the next instalment...