Wet Dog in the Downs

Little dog is chin-strapped! She is asleep beside me on the sofa covered with my old fleece jacket, snoring gently. She will probably spend the next two to three days comatose, only getting up for her meals and the occasional call of nature. The reason for her being in this state is that we went for a long walk across the South Downs today. Little dog is not as young as she used to be but she won't let a little thing like her age prevent her from joining me on a long walk. In fact if I went without her she would spend the day sulking and being a nuisance to Mrs C, who would behave in a similar fashion if I dragged her for ten miles across the Downs in this weather.

Talking about the weather, the Met office forecast  said  that the rain would stop at lunch time yesterday and the rest of the weekend would be clear and sunny. They got that seriously wrong! The sun was shining yesterday and today it's been raining all day long. Still I've been promising Little dog a long walk all week and it will give me a chance to try out my newish light weight waterproof jacket. I bought it earlier in the summer to replace the jacket that I left in the donativo box in an albergue in Spain after it leaked one too many times.

We started the walk from the Long Man car park at Wilmington at 10:00 am and it was already raining steadily. There was only one other car in the car park, the driver was from a rambling club awaiting his compatriots who should have arrived thirty minutes earlier. They had apparently made the decision to stay in bed and forgot to inform him, either that or they don't like him. There was low cloud blanketing the top of the Downs above the Long Man as we set off, a bit different from the last time we were here a few weeks ago.

Our route led us in an anti-clockwise direction around the base of the Long Man and up onto Windover hill. There were no 'shucks' or cows here today, they had apparently sought out the relative shelter of the valley bottoms. I had to scramble up a short section of chalk path which had been polished smooth by constant use, it was like walking on ice. I nearly fell over on several occasions but Little dog had no problems with her four foot drive and crampons on the end of her paws. At the top we met three Australian women who were on the last day of their eight day walk along the South Downs way. After a brief  exchange of pleasantries I left them standing in the murk as Little dog and I followed the fence line up to the Trig point at the top of the hill.

After locating our exact position we back tracked 100 metres to another fence line which ran parallel to the route of the South Downs way. We followed this fence through the mist, passing the ghostly bodies of sheep looming out of the cloud. Eventually coming to a wood where we picked up a track that led us down to the village of Jevington, the birth place of the Bannofee pie.

Just outside of the village we met the Australian ladies again who were looking a little lost. They were trying to find the village of West Dean but had missed their turn off and were about three miles off course. I walked with them into the village and gave them directions to Eastbourne via the alternate route of the SDW. Little dog and I carried on walking to the top of Bourne hill whilst they went to the pub for a cup of coffee. Upon reaching the top of the hill we turned right and walked two miles to the outskirts of Friston.

My new jacket was holding up well to the constant down pour although I was still wet from perspiration. Little dog was soaked through but still happily wagging her tail. Our route took us into Friston Forest where we stopped under cover of a beech tree for lunch. Little dog may be small but she managed to devour half of my Cornish pastie in double quick time.

A short while later we came to a small clearing where several paths went off in different directions, some of them weren't even marked on the map. One of the Camino Angels must have followed me back to Blighty because while trying to work out my route I discovered two yellow arrows painted on the ground pointing our way. We followed the slippery muddy path uphill into Lullington Heath nature reserve but the only signs of life that we saw were sheep and rooks. In the distance about two kilometres away I could see the Long Barrow on top of Windover hill above the Long Man .

Forty minutes later we were back at the foot of the Long Man where the fields were full of Canada geese feeding in the stubble of the cropped wheat. A few hundred metres more and we were back in the car park and out of the rain. It was now 2:15 pm and apart from a ten minute break for lunch we had been walking constantly for four hours into the non stop rain. Little dog slept throughout the drive home and is now chasing rabbits in her dreams. I'm enjoying a much needed refreshing mug of English Breakfast Tea. A brief look at our route on the map tells me that we have walked approximately ten miles today. Not bad really for a little old Spaniel.

Note: For those of you who have never served in the Army, the term chin-strapped refers to a soldier being so tired that he is only being held upright by the chin strap of his helmet.