FishbourneReedbeds HeartSmart Walk

Slindon HeartSmart Walk first 2.17mile extra

20120420 Slindon

On this fabulous of April morning arriving at our rendezvous point, the National Trust car park along park lane Slindon I decided to take a quick walk Mainly around the circuit to make it more energetically compatible towards what I needed.  Setting off through Butchers Copes just below the field known as The Bellows.  I’d kept to the left path to take me to the top of the bellows with the college in the background.  Meandering through the forest and the wonderful bluebells I made my way to Slindon pond.  Nothing much of great interest on the noticeboard I made my way up Church Hill and turned left into Top Road.  Glancing at the time I had been walking for 10 minutes, the pace had been moderate and with this slight incline a church he or I had started to perspire.  Continue my journey Westwood I passed the college and crossed over to the Court Hill side of the road.  For nearly ½ mile wide carried on down the road before it turned left onto a footpath.  This area is known as Park Pale along Slindon Bottom of Slindon Wood.  Again continuing in a southerly direction for just over ½ mile I came alongside Slindon Park Field.  I then kept left along the narrow footpath skirting the field after a few 100 yards and approaching the rendezvous point car park the other 31 walkers were approaching.  As I turned and spoke to Janet our walk leader, I heard Chris’s wonderful voice.  Another walker from Selsey, I daresay we travelled as far as anyone else in fact more than most people there.  Checking my GPS device I had covered the distance of 2.17 miles at an average speed of 4.5 miles per hour.  If I had had time to cover the other 200 yards to the car park I would have completed that’s full circuit in just over 30 minutes.

Back tracking around Slindon Park field we continue close to the field all the ways to the touring camping park just below the college.  The hon. It started to rain and we all started to put on our jackets and coats and hats.  Keeping on the footpath close to the road we headed northward to the college gates.  At this point there rain became torrential with us several roles of thunder echoing throughout the trees.  Wrongly or rightly we all sort cover and under the best canopy of trees we could find.

After a few minutes Janet Anderson cross the road and along the Butt Lane bridleway.  Passing Courthill Farm we continued until we arrived at Downes Barn.  Here we stopped and looked across to the folly Up by Nore Wood. Built during the second half of the 18th Century at the request of the Countess of Newburgh and based upon a painting of a replica Italian arch that she and her husband The Earl owned.

If we continued for another 50 metres and doubled back along Mill Lane this took us to the high point of her journey alongside Baycombe Wood.  This was the dirtiest part of our journey, a muddy farm track not a footpath.  Cresting the hill we headed down toward Slindon.  Approaching Baycombe Lane A holiday tractor / train with holiday makers on passed us, I presume they were looking at the sheep and newborn lambs.

Continuing southward and Top Road we turned into Dyer’s Lane on towards Church Hill and we congregated at the pond.  Entering back into Slindon Wood, we saw the best display of bluebells of the whole walk.  After a very brief interlude we were back into the car park, another walk completed, thank you very much Janet.

A very enjoyable 3 mile walk with such gentle gradients, with only an easy stile adjacent to the college this was a very pleasurable walk and I look forward to doing it again.

Drovers at Singleton HeartSmart Walk

HeartSmarts Drovers Walk at Singleton
This is the link to open the KMZ file in Google maps and Google Earth

This is probably the best walk yet with Heartsmart since I first joined in October 2011.

Today it was a very cloudy, blustery and generally overcast day. Had the weather been any worse I'm sure none of us would have made the effort to drive to Singleton.  Fiona our walk leader had decided that the best walk for us today would have to be Levin Down and the Drovers walk.  Leading us through Singleton to the infant school, we started the climb up a the steep side of Levin Down following the New Lipchis Way.  We did not continue to the very top of Levin down we cut down toward Collicks Copes, meandering along this area it was lovely to see the bright yellow cowslips.  Then down a forest track to the bottom of Lady Wood where we followed the footpath to a tarmacadam road.  Once on the road and the rain started to fall quite heavily. Turning northward we followed the road bearing eastward,  which brought us down behind Drovers North Lodge.  This is quite picturesque with lovely white buildings beyond lush green fields.  Leaving north lodge behind us we headed across a field north west this took us into nightingale wood and thankfully  the rain had now ceased an was to be seen no more throughout the remainder of this walk.  Throughout the forest floor we could see the bluebells starting to bloom through the canopy of rotting leaves.  The lovely blues intermittently spotted by the yellow primroses, it was truly wonderful to see.  Following a bridleway we climbed once more up up and up.  As we were leaving the forest Fiona noticed a  single-stem phalaenopsis orchid.  A truly lovely flower and you could say it compares to rose amongst thorns.  Only decent florist hand expensive supermarkets would sell this item.

Continuing along the bridle way we skirted Singleton forest, and made our way down past Broadham house.  Climbing once more we continued till we crossed the New Lipchis Way.  Following  a very narrow  footpath due South we could see the West Sussex Literary Trail on the other side of the valley.  Continuing along this Track and till we reach the corner where we overlooked  the river Lavant and Charlton village, if we once again client and upwards along Levin Down.  Skirting below Levin Down Clump to we continued upwards until once again we collided with and turned left onto the New Lipchis Way.  From this point forward it was downhill all the way back to our cars.  With magnificent views over towards Goodwood racecourse and the hill known as Trundle. 

The Fiona our leader and Peter our back marker had guided us for  just over 2 hours.  Covering four and ¾ miles with so many views and experiences, truly a walk superior to most walks.  The hardest part of the walk with was the gradient on our first climb and a forest path downwards where I almost slid on the mud and decaying leaves.