A Look Back at the Wealdway
So I’ve now completed the Wealdway, my Long Distance Path project for 2015 and it’s worth a look back at how it went. Continue reading “A Look Back at the Wealdway”
Category: Wealdway
A Long Man and a Long Walk (Wealdway: Berwick to Eastbourne)
The sun was still trying to inch its way up into the sky as it I got back to the car from last night’s camp, and such was the direction I was headed in that I found myself driving almost head-on into the sun for most of the drive. Irritating but a positive sign for the day as a whole. I arrived in Berwick and dumped the car in the station car park, taking advantage of the fact that a short ride on the train would neatly return me here at the other end of the day. Continue reading “A Long Man and a Long Walk (Wealdway: Berwick to Eastbourne)”
The Last Wealdway Camp
Moonlight bathed the tent in streaks of silver, filtered by the straggling branches of the bush sheltering us from the big open field, and from the gaze of any passers-by foolhardy enough to be out on this cold night. In terms of other life, all was quiet – no birds, no small mammals, not even the deer that I spotted in the woods the last time I passed this way. Just the occasional knocking of a tree branch against another as the breeze stirred it from its statue-like stillness. A winking light through the wood at first making me think there were other wild campers abroad, but soon realised as a sign of civilisation beyond the trees. The distant swoosh and hum of traffic passing down the A26, people with places to go on this chilly Saturday night. Continue reading “The Last Wealdway Camp”
There may have been some swearing… (Wealdway: Uckfield to Berwick)
The plan was ambitious, and as it turned out, too ambitious. A dry and warm forecast for the weekend, and the need to get out for a camp in August to maintain the goal of a wild camp every month led me to the attempt to finish the Wealdway.
It was always going to be a big ask: two 15-18 mile days to finish the thing, which is a bit of a commitment even when I’m feeling fit. And I’m far from fit at the moment, the inevitable decay and atrophying of walk muscles that takes place when I’m working sees to that. Still I thought I’d give it a go. Continue reading “There may have been some swearing… (Wealdway: Uckfield to Berwick)”
Deer and Detours (Wealdway: Tonbridge to Uckfield)
Sunday: Tonbridge to Ashdown Forest
I got off the train at Tonbridge, and was immediately struck by the relative cold compared with both home and London. It was also trying to rain, but thankfully without much success. I’d planned this walk to fit nicely in a period of forecast dry weather and really didn’t fancy another couple of days sloshing through endless mud. Continue reading “Deer and Detours (Wealdway: Tonbridge to Uckfield)”
Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud (Wealdway: Gravesend to Tonbridge)
It’s not often that I get this excited about a walk in the days leading up to it, and I don’t think it’s ever happened for a local walk. But I sat there at the weekend, finalising the route map for the Wealdway and giving some thought to where I might camp on the first night, and the desire to simply be out on the walk was huge and getting bigger. Continue reading “Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud (Wealdway: Gravesend to Tonbridge)”
Planning the Wealdway
The Wealdway is a long distance path that runs from Gravesend in Kent, on the south bank of the Thames, to Eastbourne in East Sussex, where the South Downs terminate in chalk cliffs rising above the English Channel, making it the primary coast to coast walking route in the extreme South East. Continue reading “Planning the Wealdway”
