3 Men on a walk 2017: April 2017

Monday, 24 April 2017

GMT-2 : Lewes to Newick

Lewes - Barcombe - Newick

Not a bad day weather-wise but rain was forecast anytime from mid-afternoon so it was best foot forward to get back to base before it started. We parked up at Newick and caught the bus to Lewes. A bit of forward planning had seen that the only pub on-route didn't do food on a Monday so Trevor found us a great little sandwich shop on the outskirts of Lewes and we each grabbed a baguette for later and a coffee.

The trail took us up onto the top of the South Downs. On the map it looked like a long hard pull uphill but in practice it wasn't too bad and in the morning sunshine it was a great climb. And then we immediately dropped down the north side of the downs to Offam and into the River Ouse valley again. At Hamsey we picked up the Ouse trail for a mile or so which we have walked previously before taking the spur to Barcombe and then Barcombe Cross where we stopped for a quick drink and to eat our packed lunch. We actually heard our first Cuckoo of the year on this stretch of the walk.

Off again to Chailey and then across to Newick and the drive home.

On top of Lewes common

Looking north across the Weald

Approaching Barcombe

Bluebells are just peaking at their best and make a beautiful sight

Llamas and friend

Don't see many of these in wildest Sussex !

And in the next field we find Alpacas...

Walking through the Bluebell Woods is amazing just now

Stats for the day have a bit of a hiccough ! I clearly forgot to switch the Walkmeter off for the drive home so the map and stats are a bit odd but its easy enough to see the 11.3 miles that we walked and to work out the averages...

Finished Hike: 24 Apr 2017, 15:20

Route: GMT-2

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20170424-1044

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20170424-1044.kml

Hike Time: 3:46

Stopped Time: 0:30

Distance: 11.3 miles

Average: 3.0 mile per hr

Fastest Pace: 17 min/mile

Ascent: 1840 feet

Descent: 1770 feet

Calories: 1185

Tuesday, 18 April 2017

GMT-1: The first leg of the Greenwich Meridian Track

GMT Leg 1 - Peacehaven to Lewes

Our chosen long-distance walk for 2017 was decided as the Meridian Way or Greenwich Meridian Track (GMT) for its correct name. This trail crosses our region north to south and in our bit it stretches from Greenwich, London to Peacehaven where the most famous Zero Meridian drops off the cliff and into the English Channel. When plotted we think that 5 "chunks" or day walks will get us to Croydon on the southern edge of London. We are not sure if the urban walking from there to Greenwich is worth it but it might be useful next winter when the countryside is soggy and hard going.

So today we started out walking South to North at the Meridian Monument built by George V to mark the Zero meridian's point on the south coast of England. The track is made up of linked footpaths already in existence and so zig-zags around following the general direction of the meridian. Today it took us up and over the South Downs and then along the edge of the River Ouse valley and into Lewes. Fortunately for us it took us within half-a-mile or so of Rodmell where we knew of a nice little pub - The Abergavenny Arms - which provided us with refreshment after our long pull up the downs!

This was a very pleasant walk on a sunny day but with a biting northerly wind which made sure we kept a few layers of clothes on.

The George V monument

Ivan in the western hemisphere and Trevor in the East

Looking East along the English Channel coastline

Our new way marker - GMT disc's mark the trail

Walking down towards Rodmell

Its Oilseed Rape time and when the track goes through these crop fields it plays havoc with us

Lunch stop - The Abergavenny arms

Stats for the day were ...

Finished Hike: 18 Apr 2017, 15:05:32

Route: GMP-1

Weather:

temperature	11°C
humidity	54%
wind	13 mph N

Explorer Link: http://walkmeter.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Hike-20170418-1057

Import Link: http://share.abvio.com/818ee85cf2cf57d1/Walkmeter-Hike-20170418-1057.kml

Hike Time: 3:10:46

Stopped Time: 57:05

Distance: 10.14 miles

Average: 3.1 mile per hr

Fastest Pace: 13:16 min/mile

Ascent: 1457

Descent: 1485

Calories: 1088

Monday, 10 April 2017

Around the Weald

Jarvis Brook - Marks Cross - Rotherfield loop

Another beautiful spring day. Trevor was baby-sitting and Ivan needed to get back by 4-00pm so we decided to stay local. Ivan had plotted this loop walk and swore it was only 7 miles long. 10.5 miles later we returned to the car ! Anyway, it was a good walk through great countryside and we did need the exercise.

We didn't walk last week and its amazing how the countryside changes in just 14 days in the springtime. Most of the trees are now bursting into life and the Bluebells are just starting to bloom in the sunny spots.