Fiona Barltrop follows in another’s footsteps
IT CAN BE an interesting exercise field checking, updating and revising other authors’ guidebooks – work I’ve undertaken on and off over the years. Despite living in Sussex for decades and walking the South Downs regularly, I’ve discovered new paths and places of interest through this work that were hitherto unknown to me. Admittedly, not all of the walks are ones that I would go out of my way to do again; but they’ve certainly provided variety, especially in the past couple of years when travels further afield have been restricted.
On a field checking
excursion, I found myself walking a stretch of path in the Arun Valley for the first time, visiting the charming little church of South Stoke on the way. For convenience I’d started the walk at Amberley, the mid point of the guidebook’s walk, since there’s a mainline station here, and initially headed south along a familiar route to North Stoke (a detour to its lovely little old church, in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, is well worthwhile). Thereafter I crossed the small suspension bridge, rebuilt by the Gurkhas in 2009, joining the path along the west side of the Arun, initially above it, then alongside. This becomes the Monarch’s Way, a waymarked 625-mile long-distance path based on the route taken by Charles II during his escape after defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Covering such a distance, it goes through a whole host of counties, including both West and East Sussex. Along the way I got chatting to a man who told me he’d been living in a tent in the woods near the riverbank for over eight years since his wife died. No spring chicken (I guessed he was in his 60s), he seemed sanguine enough; but unless wild camping with permission, I don’t suppose he will be featuring in one of Ben Fogle’s New Lives in the Wild any time soon.
The Monarch’s Way leads you up the Downs parallel to, but thankfully tree-screened from, the road. Once across the A29, it continues up through the woodland of Houghton Forest – a route I’d not taken for many years, and the lack of views reminded me why, pleasant though the walking is. At the top the trail turns off along Stane Street, the Roman road from London to Chichester, which crosses the Downs here; but I continued to the nearby car park – where a signpost points to Londinium and Noviomagus (Chichester) – and joined the South Downs Way. Now back on very familiar terrain, it was good to be out of the trees enjoying the extensive views from the crest of the Downs as I followed the National Trail back to the start.
Yes, there was some work to be done revising the guidebook’s text, but overall it had been a fine day’s walk. [Captions clockwise from top] River Arun near Amberley; South Downs Way, view on descent from Bignor Hill; South Stoke Church