Essex Man Does Walking

 It was very cold in the night, must have dropped below 8C as my sleeping bag just couldn’t cope. I had to layer up and endure. Woke up at 5:30 and set about getting something warm into me by making a cup of tea, before having my last All Day Breakfast pouch. This was going to be my first solo day and quite a long one at that at over 16 miles. Following on from yesterday’s long trek this was going to require a lot of stamina. This was also going to be the second highest ascent of hills in the 9 days with the last over Seven Sisters being the most but not by much.

By 8:30 I had warmed up and packed the tent away, before heading out of the Sustainability centre waving goodbye to other people who were just getting out of their tents. The first part of the walk consisted of a gentle climb of about 100ft towards and up Butser Hill. The weather threatened rain and sure enough I needed to put on my mac as the showers started. The guidebook s
aid I could go to the very top for a great view but to be honest with all the walking today I needed to conserve energy and walked around the side on the trail. The trail then dropped sharply away heading down towards the A3 a descent of about 430ft in a km or two. The trail then heads under the A3 and into the Queen Elizabeth Country Park which seemed inundated this morning with lots of people it being a bank holiday weekend.

The cafe didn’t open till 10am so I waited a it before having a cup of tea, some more lemon drizzle cake and bought a tea cake to eat later. I filled up my water bottle from their snazzy machine (free for tapwater) before heading off out and upwards into the woods.

It was quite a steep climb to start with going through the trees but then settled into some ups and downs on a hard packed chalk and flint surface with some good views at points. I made it to the Buriton exit and then promptly got lost following what I thought was the trail but was in fact a quarry walk. I didn’t realise this until I had got to the bottom of the trek and then had to walk back up again! An extra 2 miles to the journey, was not what I needed. The track then continues fairly flat until you cross the busy B2146 and head up a steep hill onto the Harting Downs.

Once up the top in good sunshine you could see for miles and down into the lovely village of South Harting. Whilst it was sunny I tucked into my tea cakes and a protein bar and drank a fair bit of water. I had to be careful with the water as there were no stops until the end of the days hike. The breeze was picking up and although the sun was out it was cold so I put another layer on and headed along the top of the downs. I approached Beacon Hill which was massive and steep but thankfully the trail went around it and up slowly. Then I had no choice but to travel up Penn Hill before descending down towards Buriton Farm.

I am getting really tired now, the constant up and down and the hard packed surface wearing me out and the rucksack dragging down on my shoulders. Starting to question the madness of doing the whole distance! Anyway I suck it up and head up through some woods passing the Devil’s Jumps before reaching the top of the downs again.

At the highest point on this part of the trail I see my destination but it seemed forever to get there. I had not really eaten enough today and combined with the cold sleep and the nature of this part of the SDW I was tiring rapidly. Just before my destination was a Cadence Cafe which were set up for cyclists along the downs but thankfully open to anyone. I bought a smoothie, a Long Man beer and two sausage rolls, one of which I kept. This was very welcome and I regained some energy before heading on a little further to Manor Farm.

At the farm I met the owner Pauline who was very talkative, I ordered a bacon bap for breakfast tomorrow and a sandwich for the journey and she directed me to the campsite. This was in a quite exposed long grass site, the wind starting to pick up I put up my tent and had a quick look around. There was only one more tent in the field, a chemical toilet, a sink and a makeshift shower that looked unused which was no surprise. It was very basic but at £10 a night what do you expect! Pauline had said the pubs stopped serving food at 4pm so I had missed that deadline, just as well I had an extra sausage roll

so I had that later.

To kill a bit of time I walked down a trail into Cocking to look at the church. I have a number of ancestors from here and went looking for gravestones. At the bottom of the cemetery is a garden with the creepiest statues I have ever seen. They truly did send a shiver up my spine and I walked back up the trail to the tent and wrapped up warm before getting into my sleeping bag as the wind was now blowing a lot.

I reflected back upon a very demanding first solo day with a lack of sleep and food contributing to my overall tiredness. Tomorrow however was a very short trek by comparison and ended with a bed so with that in mind I got off to sleep.

Distance: 16.18 miles

Ascent: 2072 feet