Our Walk from Bignor to Amberley

Amberley, here we come

For more photos, see the links on the right side  -->


He said:
We were glad for a short day today, counting on a visit to the Amberley Museum.  The visit was shortened considerably once we got there and found it was closed on Mondays.  Oh well, it was a beautiful day for being on the downs, with views for miles.  And we were able to check out the Amberley train station and train schedules, since we plan to depart from there tomorrow on a day trip to Arundel Castle and town - 5 minutes by train.
Although it was quite warm in the afternoon today, we were done with the walk by midday, a mere 7 miles total.  The weather is supposed to change to the cooler and wetter tomorrow, but we have had great luck with the weather so far.

The River Arun, which runs through Amberley, is only the second river we have crossed while walking the South Downs Way for the first 50 miles.

The River Arun, in Amberley

The downs consist of a long, high ridge of chalk, which gets crossed and therefore broken by rivers more frequently as we near the coast.  There are now 3-4 more river crossing through the downs before the end of our walk in Eastbourne. We have heard that these river crossings mean that we will have many more climbs and descents of the path as we get nearer to Eastbourne.  Today, we passed the 50 mile mark along this path, so, we are more than half way there!

a tiny friend in Amberley

Thatched House, Amberley

She said:
Bignor (The Stane House) to Amberley (The Old Bakery)
7 miles

A word about the shirt that I am wearing every day, in every picture...
Hiking clothes have come a long way.  The technology of the fabrics is amazing - lightweight, completely breathable, 50 UPF sun blocking and super quick drying.  I wash it out in the bathroom sink each night and it is dry by morning.  (Just so you know I am not wearing the same rank shirt, day after day.)

This morning at The Stane House, a big, male pheasant was strutting around the garden, seeming quite at home.  Turns out he is, sort of.  Angie, our innkeeper, told us he met with some sort of "event" where he lost his long tail feathers, so he can't fly until they grow back.  He just showed up one morning.  Angie fed him some bread, which he ate ravenously.  Angie fed him some suet balls, until he got sick of them and now she puts out some seed for him.  He shows up every morning at 8:15, then again at tea time and again at dinner.  He stands expectantly by her kitchen window and if she doesn't pay attention to him, he squawks.  Just over the fence in the fields there are several females and he does seem to want to be over there.  Angie is sure he'll take off as soon as he's able - biology, and all that.

This morning, we had a great breeze as we started out.  Even though the sun was shining, the breeze made our walk so enjoyable.

We caught up to Svetlana and Boris, a "no English" couple who were walking the Down in their underwear.  As crazy as that sounds (and it was crazy, believe me - S and B were, shall we say, quite chubby) I so loved the fact that they were on holiday, amazed at the sunny weather, and soaking it up in their own wacky way. Human beings are endlessly entertaining. (We gave them their names - no idea what they are really called.)

I forgot to mention that yesterday, I swallowed a large bug.  Kind of alarming.  Yet, here I am, so I guess it wasn't anything harmful.

Our walk today was short - 7 miles - so we were done well before noon.  We hoped to view the Amberley Museum as we had heard from several people (well, two, really) that the museum was well worth the stop.  It is an "Industrial" museum and shows (I think) the passage of time through advances in technology.  Alas, it is closed on Mondays.

So, we ate our lunch near the teeny, tiny rail station (where we will take the train to Arundel and the castle tomorrow) and arrived at our B+B way ahead of schedule.  Our hostess, Sarah Wheeler, was luckily at home, and we settled into our excellent 3 room suite (yes, 3 rooms).

The Old Bakery was just that.  Also, at one point, a little Tea Room.  Now it is a 4 star B+B recognized by the British Government with many kudos and by the press with many glowing articles.  Lucky us. It dates to the 1700's.

In addition to our bedroom, bathroom and sitting room, we are open to the beautiful back garden with a small cabin? Room? Lounge? at the top of the garden with views to the Downs.  Quite a wonderful place for our "rest day" of tonight and tomorrow night.  Jackpot.

Well, Amberley touts itself as the prettiest village along the South Downs Way, and I must agree.  Beautiful stone buildings, some thatched roofs, glorious gardens, a 12th century Church (of course) and a castle (now a posh Relais and Chateaux hotel).

St. Michael's Church was built in 1100 and the Bishops who had it built lived in the castle (nice).
There are wall paintings clearly visible (from the 12/13th century) that depict what we Catholics now call The Stations of the Cross.
There is a "Monumental Brass" on a side wall honoring John Wantele dating from 1424.  He is depicted in his armor, but praying.
We saw many white doves nesting in what turned out to be the nooks in the castle walls.

We walked back towards our B+B, met a delightful lady and her dog (she will be celebrating her 80th Bday in a few days with a vintage plane ride).  We had walked by a vintage Triumph motor car (before 1940, but actual year unknown to us) and the Birthday Girl told us that she had a Triumph sports car in the 1970s.  Good for her - quite the dame.

Back at our B+B, enjoying a fabulous home cooked meal (starter was blanched asparagus, heated nann bread and the most heavenly roasted red peppers with cherry tomatoes sitting in them drizzled with olive oil and broiled.

Can't wait for the "main".  All accompanied by surprisingly good white and red wine from the local shop.  We have informed our hostess that we will be moving in and look forward to her feeding us for now on, and forever.

More tomorrow - over and out.
EB
(Sarah just brought the dinner - looks spectacular.)