View Walking between Stanmer Park in Brighton to Lewes in a larger map
Sunday services are a members’ only event in Southover, Lewes. We’re gathering every Sunday morning from a couple of weekends ago until the 5th, to make our fire torches. On Sunday 11th September, I awoke very early. My natural clock has begun to wake me unsocially early these days. There I was, wide awake and lying in bed at 4:30am. ‘There’s enough time to walk to Lewes’, I thought, and that’s exactly what I did.
No more can I claim to my wife that it is only five miles from Brighton to Lewes. Stupidly, I forgot to turn my GPS recording on (I used Google’s MyTracks) until I got to Stanmer Park, although obviously I don’t actually live there. Here’s the digital record:
Total Distance: 18.68 km (11.6 mi)
Total Time: 2:52:54
Moving Time: 2:10:19
Average Speed: 6.48 km/h (4.0 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 8.60 km/h (5.3 mi/h)
Max Speed: 92.23 km/h (57.3 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 63 m (207 ft)
Max Elevation: 243 m (797 ft)
Elevation Gain: 274 m (897 ft)
Max Grade: 6 %
Min Grade: -14 %
I think this is mostly accurate, although the maximum speed can be discounted. Call me old fashioned but I do wish that these things would put the Imperial Measures in front of the Metric. Why should I have to rearrange them?
The digital record fails to properly describe the joy of traversing Hollingbury Golf Course free of golfers, of not seeing the autumnal sunrise but still seeing that qualitative change in the light, of taking my time and dilly-dallying along the way. Photographs also can only go so far. As per usual, click on the images to enlarge them.
On top of Hollingbury Hill, looking South, 5:00am, 11th September 2011
Smoke signals of the nearby Sussex University
Looking backwards and forwards at the same time
What luxury in the busiest corner of England to enjoy four hours of solitude and wide open spaces! I’m endlessly baffled by how few able-bodied people walk anywhere. It’s what we’ve evolved to do!
Looks like it was a great walk – good for you, although I can’t help but think that the open downland landscape would benefit from a few more hedges. The problem with Northern Ireland (apart from that small constitutional matter everyone drones on about) is that it doesn’t have the tradition of access to the countryside that is enjoyed by the English. All the time I lived in England I took the abundance of footpaths for granted. In Northern Ireland we have very few footpaths – if you want to go out for a walk round our way you either walk up and down the roads or walk on the hills above the enclosed land.
Lewes is a fine town too – obviously not as trendy as Brighton and it does have that reputation for still burning effergies of the Pope, but a fine town none the less. Have you visited the archaeology museum opposite the castle? If not you should check it out next time you’re there. The castle is worth paying the Sussex Archaeologicall Society to see too, if only for the views from the top. Lewes also had a good second-hand book shop as I recall, I wonder if it’s still there.
Hi Bob, good to great from you. I’ll be helping explode an effigy of Pope Paul IV myself on 5th November. We’re very clear about that – it is the pope who was in charge at the time of the Lewes martyrs. I’m also intending to visit both the castle and the museum on the morning of the 5th, neither of which I have been to, with my old pal IanB (who also comments here) and his girlfriend. Interesting idea about the need for hedgerows. Not sure what I think about that. Probably okay with me since i’m a tall chap and can see over them!