by There are many ways to make an entrance, but to stagger in a pub full of wisely dressed guests, while wind whipped, muddy and more than a little frayed was not my first choice. At 7.30 p.m. on a sunny Sunday evening, the Welliggers Arms-a Country Pub is outside of Petworth in West Sussex-full people who are in hearty roast. The restaurant made of glass turned with a view of the wonderful downland landscape, the sun disappeared behind the hills. For my husband, Mark and I, it is more than a stopover for dinner; The pub marks half the way in our two-day hiking adventure along a brand new trail, the 25-mile Petworth path.
25 miles may not sound like a lot (I have enthusiastic hiking friends who would do it in one day), but for us it is the perfect length with many pubs on the way. The first leg, from Haslemere to Petworth, covers the landscape, with which we are both completely unknown. The second, Petworth to Arundel, leads through landscapes that I have known since childhood. Fortunately, the start and end points can be reached with the rail – which means that we can leave the car at home and only make small backpacks, water bottles and detailed printed instructions on the way.
Things start light enough; A short tissue through the residential streets of Haslemere before the first serious climb through fields and shady, farn -rolled Woodland that opens to Black Down, the highest point in the South Downs National Park. After the weak light of the wood, the heath flashes with colors; Butter-yellow gorse, purple Heideer and bottle-green pine, which are set under an intensely blue sky.
It reminds me of Ashdown Forest, who inspired Winnie-the-Pooh, and Mark and I are happily arguing about who Christopher Robin would be and who Pooh, before I arrive in the temple of the wind, where we sink gratefully on the seat and absorb the view. It is spectacular; Green velvet hills and bluish valleys, church sites and the strange estate between the trees, all sussex laid out in front of us, soaked in the sunlight, half darkened by threatening clouds, down on the horizon.
We don’t want to miss lunch in the Noah’s Ark Pub in Lurgashall and make our way back. At this point, the dispute is bothered a little less well than we realize that we go in the wrong direction. Ten minutes later we are properly lost, with an operating system app on a telephone that has not lost all the signal and directions that make no sense. Fortunately, a few local hikers refer us in the right direction, and we make it down the hill, past vineyards and further into the pub, where we use a few cold halves, some local salami and warm bread while we watch a cricket match in the village green.
Fortunately, the next few miles are more uncomplicated until a final promotion leads to the large park of the Petworth House. A wonderful end of the day that gives us the feeling that we lick this migratory matters. Until we realize that there are very few taxis in Petworth, and we have to go to the miles of the miles, which luckily prove to be a cocoon of loveliness. All gentle, clean bed linen, pipe shoes and employees who politely specify not to notice our slightly catatonic state during dinner.
While the Arun Valley unfolds, I think about how many decades I drove along the street and how different the landscape looks when I take a slow pace
The next morning, which was driven by delicious Shakshuka (poached eggs in a hot tomato sauce) and several buckets of tea, we climb back into a taxi back to Petworth Park to continue the walk over the Sussex -Wald. The route falls on a short section of the Serpent Trails-a 65-mile route from Haslemere to Petersfield, in which we are stretched past pencil for the next year, in front of Burton Park, a grandiose, private, Greek revival magic, all Doric pillars and vanilla cough walls. From here the way is downhill, which, as we agree, is not a good thing because it is not far away to go uphill.
Uquist is a kind of understatement, and the call from the villages of Barlavington and Sutton became even more difficult than the White Horse Inn, which is intended for a restorative half, is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Instead, through lukewarm water and half a Twix, we continue towards Bignor, the gradient who steeses with every step. When we walk east along the South Downs Way, the 360-degree views are a certain reward of a patchwork of the faded corn field and Khaki grassland. Nevertheless, it is a welcome change to start the descent into the Houghton Village, where I know (because I have checked) lunch awaits.
It is this leg that really affirms the joy of walking. While the Arun Valley unfolds next to the forested hills of the Arundel investment, I remember how many decades I drove the street, which runs side by side and how different the landscape looks at a slow pace, with the chance to stop and look instead of snapping looks through the windshield. Thirty years ago I campaigned with my mother and father in the garden of George & Dragon at lunch and watched the hikers drag exactly the hill on which we go. I have not been back to the pub for many years and it is nice to return – albeit a little lump in my throat and suddenly let my parents prepare so alive.
It is tempting to spend the night all over the afternoon, but after a classic plowman (what else?) Our boots are lacing up for the last route, on Houghton’s straw-covered, enemy cottages and along the Arun river before a last promotion to the Arundel estate. Clouds Glower, but we are lucky; The rain stops when we handle the edge of the Swanbourne Lake and the Horne Tower, who built in 1797 by architect Francis Horne as part of his (failed) offer for the reconstruction of Arundel Castle. When we go to the London Road and conclude on the familiar outline of the castle, we almost focus too much on finding large cake panels to celebrate the fact that we have reached our goal.
As soon as the train has led us back into our corner of the East Sussex landscape, I think about how little I really know, from the landscapes that I have been visiting since childhood. We will probably never be long -distance hikers, but we will prove weekend paths like them that they don’t have to be. A few days are enough to see a familiar landscape in a completely new light.
Accommodation was provided by THe Welldigger armsThe double room from £ 11 has5 B & B
