South Downs: Yet Another Walk to Ditchling Beacon

I had a day off work, which came as a bit of a surprise, and consequently once again didn't really do any advance planning for where I might go for a walk. Ease of access by public transport really does seem to make a huge difference in terms of where I can muster the effort to get to, and so, once again, I headed for my old stalwart Hassocks. The trains were running better than the previous outing, meaning a journey time from my nearest station in London of just under an hour-and-a-half to Hassocks, with just one change.

I dithered about where exactly I should go when I got there - perhaps Wolstonbury Hill again for a change? ...but having noticed earlier in the day that Black Dog Hill had a new vintage out I suddenly got into my head an ambition to have a glass of this, whilst overlooking the vineyard itself - and of course what better vantage point to do this from than good old Ditchling Beacon?

As such I took a different route from my previous excursion - rather than heading fairly directly to Ditchling Beacon from Hassocks, I started by following the road from Hassocks to Ditchling, to see if there might be somewhere therein where I could buy a bottle of Black Dog Hill. It's apparently about a half hour walk from Hassocks, although it seemed to pass a little quicker than that, and by midday I was arriving in Ditchling.

Black Dog Hill actually has a shop in Ditchling, but I've never once seen it open, and I couldn't find any info on the web about if or when it ever does.  I took a quick look around the other places in Ditchling to see if anywhere else looked like it might sell the local wine, before eventually peering through the window of the village store, part of the White Horse Inn, and spotting a bottle on a shelf there. I'd planned to go to the pub for lunch anyway, and noting on a sign outside that they did off sales this seemed like it might well do the trick!

My needs were met rather wonderfully by the White Horse Inn - they did indeed have chilled bottles of Black Dog Hill's latest vintage available for off sales, as well as Harvey's on tap, a nice garden at the back providing glimpses of the South Downs and a decent number of vegetarian options on the menu. So that went extremely well, and I was very pleased indeed.

After a quick lunch at the White Horse Inn, it was time to head out of Ditchling towards Ditchling Beacon. I followed a route I had walked before, knowing it would take in a couple of vineyards along the way, which seemed appropriate given today's theme.

First I passed Plumpton College's Ditchling Vineyard. This was replanted a few years ago, and still the vines looked rather young to me. I'm not sure if they would have produced a worthwhile grape harvest this year by the look of them.

On from there to what I believe is an extension of Black Dog Hill, their main vineyard being more or less next door to Plumpton's I think, although I've never seen it close up. This looks much better established than Plumpton's, and a few crates lying around suggested they had recently or were planning to harvest - I couldn't get close enough to the vines to get a good look at whether or not they currently had any fruit on.

Then came the gruelling (as ever) ascent of Ditchling Beacon. Although that said I think I actually found it slightly easier than I had last time. However that could be because either the weather was a little cooler, or maybe I chose a slightly less steep path today.

This path meets the road near the top of the hill, which on previous walks I've found slightly irksome (why should people be able to just drive up when I'd made all that effort to get these views?) however today I found something aesthetically quite pleasing about the road. Perhaps because being a weekday there wasn't a constant stream of cars on it.

There was a flock of sheep grazing atop Ditchling Beacon, and some would occasionally peer at me disapprovingly during my time there. I wondered if it was because I was wearing a tweed suit.

Then it was time for some wine. I sat in my favourite spot, just a little down from the top of the hill, where I had a commanding view of the vineyards around Ditchling. Including, of course, Black Dog Hill which, in the picture on the right hand side above is just to the right of the bottle, near where my fingertips are jutting out. So this felt wonderfully appropriate, and thanks to the cool-ish weather and the fact the bottle had come straight out of the fridge when I had left the White Horse Inn just under an hour ago meant it was still at a decent temperature for drinking, but I hadn't needed to lug an ice bucket up the hill. Very satisfying indeed.

Once again the skies brightened while I was atop Ditchling Beacon, and although there was a bit of a chilly breeze, the tweed was doing a good job of keeping me warm and I felt very much at home on my little spot on the hill. I very much enjoyed the scenery and the fresh, clean air.

Here's some more pictures of sheep.

Alas though I would have happily lingered here for hours, I eventually felt some nagging sense I ought to be getting back. So I followed the same route back to Hassocks as I had last time - starting on the South Downs Way along the ridge of the Downs towards the Jack and Jill windmills. I found this dew pond made for an interesting subject for a photo once again, and as ever I had happy memories every time I saw a South Downs Way sign post.

I went at quite a pace once again, although perhaps not quite as fast as I had done last time on the return to Hassocks. Oh - it occurs to me this is the first proper outing for my new walking boots - and they seem to be wearing in reasonably well, although I still have a slight paranoia they're not exactly the correct size. Today's walk was probably too short to tell, apparently I covered around 8 miles today, but I suspect it's only when I get well into double figures that I'd start to notice issues if there were any. Of course the real test would be another two day walk - to see if I can keep my feet dry and in a decent state on day two. Not sure when I'm likely to get an opportunity to do that any time soon though.

As always I passed by the Jack and Jill windmills, then headed down the hill into Clayton.

Once in Clayton, I followed the usual path alongside the railway tracks back to Hassocks, from which I had one last glimpse of the downs.

With a combination of the pub lunch, the wonderful views, and the local wine overlooking the vineyard where it was grown this made for a very nice day out!