Windswept Wanderings

As well as being behind with my walking miles, I’m now seriously behind with writing about said miles! Oops.

Backtrack to a couple of weeks ago, where despite the wind and rain caused by ‘Storm Doris’ we managed to get out for a couple of good walks. We re-attempted our abandoned walk of a few weeks ago and this time successfully completed the loop on the Downs overlooking Lewes.

Doris was causing a fair bit of chaos and the Downs were windier than we expected, although the rain only came in showers so we at least managed to enjoy the view in sections. The hints of spring from a couple of weeks before were becoming more obvious, with daffodils and snowdrops making an appearance.We could see quite a long way from the top, although we didn’t stop to enjoy the views for very long (or take many photos, as it was proving a bit difficult to hold the camera steady!).Next time, we’ll try and visit without gale force winds and rain. Who knows, maybe third time lucky?Last week, we managed to dodge the showers completely and had a great ten mile walk on the Downs nearer to home. We started from a car park just below Chanctonbury Ring and headed across the hills towards Cissbury Ring. We’d not actually been to Cissbury Ring before although we’ve walked past it a few times. Bizarrely – and quite embarrassingly – I’d somehow managed to miss the fact that it features the remains of whopping great big Iron Age hill fort (I’ve since found out it’s the largest in Sussex and the second largest in England).

Our pictures don’t really do it justice unfortunately; the ramparts and the defensive ditch would have been huge and they really stand out in the landscape as something man made.(For anybody interested, the National Trust have a great aerial photo on their website https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/cissbury-ring which gives a much better perspective)

The climb up to the top was gentle and short, so we were very pleasantly surprised to see such far reaching views in every direction.Although the views were stunning, the wind was still quite bitter and after a refreshing kiwi snack (grown by Sam’s parents in Spain – thank you!) we set a brisk pace back down the hill towards home.Having managed to miss Cissbury Ring up until now, I think I’ll be making up for lost time and visiting again soon!