Upper Beeding, South Downs
Distance 20.8km (12.9 miles) Climbing 630m (2,066ft) Time 1hr 30mins to 2hrs 30mins
Route summary A big climb to begin with is followed by some undulation along the top of the South Downs, with an optional exhilarating loop at Devil’s Dyke adding a fun descent but a big climb back up. Then it’s back along the top before a fast, fun inish
Start/ inish Upper Beeding High Street car park (grid ref TQ 195/106, postcode BN44 3WL)
1
Go left out of the car park, on the High Street. Follow the road right at the roundabout and turn left at the next roundabout, by the Rising Sun pub. After a slight rise, as you descend and the road starts to bear left, turn right onto Bostal Road, by the houses. Follow this long, rough, rutted track uphill to the car park at the top and join the road to the left for a gradual climb, joining the South Downs Way (SDW).
2
Keep ahead as the trail becomes a rough track, past the YHA (with tap and cafe). Take the main track (SDW and signposts) along the undulating hilltop until you eventually get to a minor road crossing. If you don’t want to do the optional loop (ahead) or fancy visiting the pub and/or ice-cream van (to the left, along the road), turn back around here.
3
Cross the road, but soon after, keep left at a track crossing (leaving the SDW) to follow a bridleway along the edge of the hill, descending with a big drop to your left. At the bottom, go through a gate into the trees, and keep right to arrive at a road in Poynings. Turn left on this, then go left again by a church. Pass a pub, then go left on a bridleway by an old house. Follow this bridleway back to the road at the top. 4
Go right to the pub (and, sometimes, the ice-cream van), or left along the road back towards the crossing (where you made your route decision) just a little way, then turn left back along here to retrace your tracks towards the start. Shortly after the radio masts, at the end of the houses, turn left onto a wide bridleway, down past a farm, and keep ahead.
5
At a (probably open) gate, where the track ahead becomes narrower, grassier and climbs slightly, turn right beside an old concrete surface, onto the Monarch’s Way. This is a narrow trail, which drops downhill and then heads steeply up, before continuing through a gate across a grassy field. The track levels out a bit, then drops again, to a minor road and a car park (from earlier).
6
Don’t go down the wide track you climbed up, but instead bear right onto a singletrack bridleway to the right of it, out of the car park. Take a left-hand turn after 250m, onto more singletrack, which descends and rejoins the track from earlier. Continue down to the road, retrace your tracks – left at the road, then right at the roundabout – and head left, back to Upper Beeding, to finish.