3 men on a walk 2015: Up and over the South Downs Way

The South Downs way from Patcham

Decisions; decisions; decisions ! The original plan was to walk a 15 mile section of the Sussex Border Path but currently the English Summer - isn't. The several long days of rain was forecast to finish this Monday but leaving showers, cold temperatures, gale force winds and probably VERY WET LONG GRASS - our new worst enemy after the walk a couple of weeks ago. So at the last minute we made a switch to the South Downs where we know the grass is short and the chalky upland soaks up the rain like a sponge.

The plan was to walk from Falmer up the South Downs Way westward and then turn down the Sussex Border Path to Patcham at the north edge of Brighton - a nice 10 mile hike that ends at a pub. But when we saw the morning forecast for the strength of the wind it took us no time at all to switch the direction of the hike and start at Patcham and walk eastward to Falmer - and in hindsight this was an excellent decision because we were literally blown up some of the hills and the squally showers hit our backs and not our faces.

Despite the odd shower, the views from up on the South Downs are wonderful and the open countryside is just a joy to walk out on. And there was just enough sunshine helped by the strong wind to dry us out quickly between the showers.

The switch of direction meant we had left the car at Falmer which has no pub so yet another excellent decision led us to Lewes and an old favourite - The John Harvey Pub right across the road from the Brewery! Result.