South Downs: Wivelsfield to Lewes

This was a bit of an ad-hoc, last minute walk. I'd originally planned to visit Rathfinny Estate today, and had sketched out a walking route from Seaford to Lewes which would take in Rathfinny along the way. However when I called Rathfinny on the way there they said they'd sold out of their sparkling wine some time ago, and only had a still wine available for tasting currently. I thought it probably best to postpone that visit, in light of that, so changed plans while I was on the train to instead visit Ridgeview today.


Thus why I started my walk at Wivelsfield (because I was on a train bound for Lewes / Seaford) rather than Burgess Hill, which would have been slightly closer to Ridgeview.

It's 2 and a bit miles from Wivelsfield station to Ridgeview, and the first 2 miles were pretty drab to be honest, through the urban sprawl of Wivelsfield and neighbouring Burgess Hill. It was only that last "a bit" where there was just a small gap of actual countryside before arriving at Ridgeview.

I have written separately about my visit to Ridgeview here if you're interested.

After leaving Ridgeview I walked the nearby village of Ditchling, which is very pretty indeed (some more about Ditchling here). I stopped here for lunch, after which some slightly more serious walking ensued.

To some extent this was partly retracing my steps in reverse from the walk back in February - I had wanted to spend a bit more time in and around Ditchling after that, as we'd kind of rushed through that time. I took slightly different paths though this time as I would be heading towards the south east rather than arriving from the south west as I was last time. 

I found the climb up the downs a bit easier than it had been last month. I hope that reflects a slight improvement in fitness but maybe it was more down to having picked a slightly more gentle incline.

I felt quite delighted at the top of the hill - near the "summit" of Ditchling Beacon - to be reunited once again with the sign posts for the South Downs Way. They were a constant encouragement when I was following the path from one end to the other, and still seeing them now fills me with good cheer.

One of the nice things about the ridges along the South Downs, is that once you're up, you're up, and actually that steep climb up to Ditchling Beacon was all the climbing I had to do today. So it was a very pleasant stretch from there along the now familiar section of ridge towards Lewes. 

Along the way I had a nice view down to Plumpton College - pleasing to see it from above having been there on my previous walk. 

Again didn't take many pictures once I got onto that now familiar stretch of the ridge approaching Lewes. Attempted to take a panorama, not sure how well that will have come out.

I arrived at my hotel in Lewes a bit before 5 - I had planned to stay the night this time to make it easier to do more walking and vineyard forays the next day.