Walks in the South Downs National Park. Kev Reynolds

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      With the church of St Andrew to your right, follow the fenced bridleway of the South Downs Way alongside paddocks, then rise into woodland, where you come to a four-way junction of paths. Maintain direction until emerging from the woods near the head of the slope, where the path forks. Turn right here, and after a few paces go through a bridle gate. Before long, as the path takes you onto the open Downs, a view to the right reveals the Pevensey Levels beyond Polegate.

      Eventually the way curves left round the head of the deep combe of Deep Dene and goes through a gate. Continue round to the left to pass just below the summit of Windover Hill, on which there’s the remains of a long barrow. If you stray onto that mound a magnificent panoramic view opens before you. Losing height now, pass the flat-topped site of Windover Reservoir and continue down the broad twisting path to a narrow lane at TQ 532 032.

      Wander directly ahead on a hedge-enclosed footpath, and when this spills out at a junction of lanes, cross half-left, go through a gate into a meadow, and follow the left-hand boundary with Alfriston church ahead, and the River Cuckmere off to your right. On reaching the far end of the meadow, go through some trees to a crossing path, turn right and cross a bridge over the Cuckmere.

      For refreshments keep ahead to Alfriston High Street where there are shops, pubs and cafés.

      For the continuing walk turn right on the west side of the river, and follow a raised footpath along the riverbank as far as a brick-built road bridge known as Long Bridge. Here you cross to the east bank and go through a kissing gate on the left. A footpath now takes you across two linking fields to a minor road near Milton Court Farm. Turn left, and after about 200 yards directly opposite Milton Court, cross a stile on the right. Bear left for a few paces into an adjoining open field, then take the footpath which cuts across it. On the far side cross the minor road again, and maintain direction through the next field to a gate seen well to the left of a house.

      From Windover Hill above The Long Man, Wilmington can be seen in the flat land below

      Keep ahead across a track, go through bushes and two gates, then through the next field, aiming for the right-hand end of farm buildings, where you come onto the road once again in Milton Street at TQ 535 041. (There’s a pub a short distance to the right.) Cross the road, and over a stile follow a footpath cutting across a large sloping field, with the spire of Wilmington church seen at the head of the slope. On the way across the field the Long Man of Wilmington comes into view (see the note about the Long Man in Walk 3 above).

      The path leads directly to Wilmington churchyard. Note the ancient yew tree opposite the church porch. Reckoned to be about 1600 years old, it is one of the oldest trees in England. Wander through the churchyard and out to the village street. For pub refreshments walk left for about 500 yards. The continuing walk crosses the road and goes up a track used as a bridleway. Rising up a slope you come to a section of beechwood where the angle eases to skirt a hill before coming to a track by St Peter’s Church, Folkington, at TQ 559 038.

      Alfriston peeps through the trees across Cuckmere water meadows

      The 13th-century St Peter’s Church in Folkington has a squat shingle spire projecting from a flint-walled tower. Inside there are box pews, and among the memorials, there’s one to Viscount Monckton, an advisor to Edward VIII in the days leading to the king’s abdication.

      Veer slightly right onto the gravel track which takes you past the church and along the foot of Folkington Hill. After a while the track narrows and is enclosed by hedges tangled with wild clematis or old man’s beard. Ignore alternative paths to right and left and eventually, shortly before reaching Jevington, you come to a crossing track. Bear left and soon pass between houses to reach the main street in Jevington, opposite The Old Post Office. Turn right, wander past the Eight Bells pub, and when the footpath rises above the road and curves to the right, enter the churchyard through a swivel gate to arrive at St Andrew’s church where the walk began.

      The Cuckmere Community Bus is a boon for Alfriston-based walkers

WALK 5

      Exceat to East Dean and the Seven Sisters

Start/Finish	Seven Sisters Country Park Visitor Centre, Exceat (TV 519 995)
Distance	8 miles (12.5km)
Maps	OS Explorer 123 Eastbourne & Beachy Head 1:25,000
Refreshments	Café at the Visitor Centre, pub and café in East Dean, café at Birling Gap
Access	By bus from Eastbourne, Seaford or Brighton; the Visitor Centre is on the A259
Parking	Pay and display car park in woodland behind the Visitor Centre

      The coastline between Beachy Head and Cuckmere Haven is without question one of the finest in the British Isles. The eastern half of the clifftop was included in Walk 1, but the western half forms the visual and physical highlight of this current walk. It is a tremendous route with a variety of interests, not least the Seven Sisters section. The two small villages of Westdean and East Dean have numerous charming cottages and houses; the churches of both villages are matched for interest by that of Friston; there’s Friston Forest, a glimpse of Friston Place, the cropped downland of Went Hill with its great arcing view of the sea, and, at the end of the Seven Sisters roller-coaster, a fine view onto Cuckmere Haven and the Cuckmere Valley reaching inland to the north.

      At the junction of Litlington Road and the A259 a few paces west of the Living World and Visitor Centre at Exceat, a path is signed to Westdean. Passing through the lower section of a wooded car park, the bridleway increases in size as it cuts through Friston Forest, initially heading north but then curving roughly eastward before emerging alongside a pond СКАЧАТЬ