Walking home #1

We decided to walk home from Amberley on Saturday. Emily had a day of volunteering at the Amberley Print Museum, so I met her at 5, and we set off. We met Andrew and Amy at the Franklin Arms pub in Washington, had a quick pint and headed off up the hill to Chanctonbury Ring. Amy and and Andrew had bought some extra supplies, sausages. This was a welcome treat as all we had on board were readymade meals, which are pretty tasty, but nothing beats sausages. We got chatting to two guys that were also heading to Brighton, and it turned out that we had mutual friends and acquaintances. We stayed up eating, drinking and chatting till midnight, it was getting chilly by this point, so we found a good spot to pitch our tent and settled down for the night.

It didn't rain overnight, but it was damp, and the water forming on the trees above us was dripping on us all night. I found this strangely comforting. The birds woke me at 6, I got up, walked around the ring of trees, took a few photographs and went back to bed. One of my favourite things about camping is breakfast. It's never fancy, but setting the stove up, boiling the kettle and drinking a hot drink out in the open is something I suggest you all try at some point if you haven't already. We unset everything and left Andrew and Amy on the hill, and we set off for the 25km walk home.

It's a lovely walk along the South Downs, we were shrouded in mist for some of it, especially the high points at Truleigh Hill. I have a real interest in the history of the Cold War, so I always like passing the bunker atop Truleigh Hill. If you look close enough, you can see lot's of little clues as to what lies beneath.

By the time we got to Devils Dyke, our feet were ready for home. We eat the remains of our supplies and walked the last 6km with the thought of a hot bath and burgers when we got home.