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| Climbing to a darkening sky |
For more photos of the day, look at the links on the right -->
He said:
The wind was up all day, lots of moving clouds, increasing darkness and exposed ridges. The weather was coming straight from France, that is never good. In this case, it was stormy weather, and the drama was going to pick up.
The weather was not so good for the long views today, and the happy peaceful meadows had changed to wind blown turmoil. Poor little Buttercups; it was a day of some weather drama. The walk was a bit of a chore for me as I had to continuously keep one hand on my hat to keep it from blowing away.
Near the start of our walk, we passed a large pig farm. They all seemed happy and peaceful in their home with a view, and they had all of their friends around.
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| friends in the trough |
We descended through the pig farm, passed through the small hamlet of Botolphs and then crossed over the river Adur, then facing another climb back up to the windy heights.
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| The river Adur |
We saw more hikers than expected as we approached the Devil's Dyke (a long, curved, natural V shaped valley). The walkers we saw mostly seemed to be going the the pub on the top of the hill near Devil's Dyke.
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| Devils Dyke |
After descending the hill, and then ascending another, we came upon a small group of free range guinea fowl…. unexpected.
Then, as we continued to climb sharply up an exposed hill, we saw a storm coming in from the coast fast, it was on us in a couple of minutes, hitting us in the middle the long climb. We got caught before being fully clothed for it, it happened about a mile from our destination. We threw on rain jackets, but had no time for the rain pants; already soaked within 2 minutes. Thank you France!
We spent a couple of hours washing clothes, drying boots, generally cleaning up and getting warm.
Happy Birthday Jean!
She said:
Upper Beeding (Downs View B+B) to Pyecombe (Hobbs Cottage)
10.5 miles
Lesley, our hostess at the Downs View B+B, served a delicious breakfast of homemade everything. I really appreciated her hospitality - she is super organized and super neat and super clean. In other words, she is me - what's not to like?
Taxi John brought us back to our starting point. John is a true Irishman who loves a good chat. We talked for a bit before he departed - a friend already!
We headed out and up to the Downs.
The wind was furious today, my friend, like an old man ordering soup in a deli. Almost felt like we were back on the Cornwall Coast. Sustained 25 mph winds, all day long. Winds coming off the ocean (we could see Brighton from the top on the Downs).
It actually felt great for a while - that whole "I feel so alive!" thing.
We passed the Devil's Dyke, a natural deep crease in the earth, caused by tectonic plate movement.
More wind.
Started to get a little sick of it and ready to find a bit of shelter so we could sit and have lunch (which we knew would be outstanding as Lesley had made it.)
It started to get dark.
And, before we could prepare with rain pants, the rain started pelting us, sideways, of course, because of the wind. Soaked to the bone in a matter of minutes, and still a mile to go to our B+B. Then, thunder. More heavy rain. Boots and socks soaked. Feet squishing around.
Me swearing mightily.
Our B+B, Hobbs Cottage, finally came into view.
Sigh.
All that is behind us now, though - we are showered and dry (and the sun is out) and we are about to head out to the Pub. Nothing a pint can't cure.
Only three more days of walking - hard to believe. The days have been very easy and sometimes it makes me think that we could have walked longer days - maybe 15 miles or so but then I come to my senses and am thankful we pared down our daily distances this year. Our max day will be 11 miles and that's just fine. Plenty of time for relaxation (and Pubs and pints and, surprisingly, decent Chardonnays.)
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