South Downs Way: Day 3

Unlike the previous breakfast we were actually given a menu for our breakfast today and there was quite the list. In the name of science I decided to take on a second full English so that I could compare to the previous. This was very different, it matched with the whole ‘fine dining’ thing and was a very nice breakfast. Min on the other hand had some avocado and salmon, I believe

During breakfast we discussed our plan. My blisters had become harder over night and I figured if I wore my proper walking shoes I should be fine to do the new route we planned, Min was feeling up for the walk rather than a taxi too. Neither of us were feeling up to the original Day 3 hike. So we popped to the local shop to grab ibuprofen, Lemsip, some fizzy drinks, and then packed up and set forth.

The fact the only shop in the village was sign posted made me chuckle a little

Before leaving we took a slight detour as I wanted to check out the church up close and grab a photo. Fortunately it wasn’t too far away so it wasn’t a massive detour. It was a very pretty church and the fact it had such a huge hill behind it made it look rather special.

The village church

We continued on our way through the small village, eventually crossing a park and onto a well used track surrounded by trees, which was very pleasant on a hot day. Most of the start of our walk was sheltered, so we enjoyed a much more leisurely and flatter walk, chatting about the weekend and life in general. Until we hit a road block in the form of a combine harvester. Rather than attempt to get past it we felt it would be safer to make a detour, fortunately ViewRanger showed a path running parralel so we doubled back and took that.

None shall pass!

This was a much more relaxed walk than our previous days, and what we originally planned for today. Wearing my proper walking shoes, a billion blister plasters, and walking in the shade was making for a fairly decent walk, and some of the views down the shaded trails looked spectacular. Unfortunately the shade didn’t last long as once we hit the outskirts of Petersfield it was no longer woodland but great open fields with zero shelter. The sun soon found us and made the walk a bit more of a slog.

At one point we came across some electrified fence that we had to cross, the owner had covered it in a sheath of sorts, but still, the fear of having certain parts electrified as you stepped over the high wire was present. After crossing these and the fields we came to the A3, where the trail apparently crossed over, we were expecting some sort of bridge or underpass, not a proposed fast dash across a very busy road. This is where we hit a dilema.

We worked out that our choices were either to run across the road (Nope!), go back on ourselves a couple of miles to Stroud then follow the main road (hoping there’s a footpath along the A272), or following what looked like an overgrown trail. After much consideration we decided to try the overgrown path, which went quite well, up until it stopped. Fortunately where it stopped was a slip road which wasn’t too busy, so we crossed to the other side and walked along the slip road until we reached a footpath!

This was a point of celebration. We’d made it. We hadn’t had to backtrack. Now we just had to find a pub, because after a hike you need a pub, this is something I’ve learnt from hiking. So we trudged into Petersfield, I took on my old man stance as the feeling of pavement under my feet began to hit me again, it felt like they were burning from the ground up. In any case, we managed to find the train station and a very cool (it had air conditioning!) pub around the corner called Charle’s Street Tap.

We crashed in a booth at the end of the bar and a very friendly barman came over, asked if we’d like some food, then brought us some menus. We spent about 2-3 hours here drinking and eating, relaxing. It was a nice debriefing on the weekend.

The end reward.

After all this, we went to the train station and went our seperate ways after an exhausting, but most excellent adventure along the South Downs Way.

Day 2 Stats