Lewes

Walk Sunday 18 December 2016: On Sunday the Lewes Footpaths Group set out on the Herstmonceux Castle walk (ESCC route 30), beginning in Boreham Street. We stuck to Boreham Lane for the first part of the walk rather than crossing the fields in view of the state of the stiles and the excessively inquisitive nature of the horses occupying the paddocks. Turning right into Jenners Lane, we then left the road and followed the field edge in the direction of Herstmonceux Castle.

The day was still and grey; the only signs of life were robins and wrens getting territorial in the hedgerows, and the sound of gunshots from a shooting party annihilating the bird life in the distance. The path took us to the main Wartling road for a short stretch, after which we turned left onto the footpath running alongside the Herstmonceux science centre, its observatory domes looking strangely alien in the English countryside. The path, part of the 1066 Country Walk, took us past the front of the castle, once one of the most important brick buildings of the 15th century, now restored and part of a Canadian university. We stopped for a coffee break in the next field, then followed a bridleway to enter the woods behind the castle. We returned along the lanes – pleasantly traffic-free on a Sunday morning.

Our next walk on Monday 2nd January will be a circular 5-mile hilly walk around Wilmington. We leave at 9.30 from North Street car park, Lewes. Lifts are available. You are welcome to join us.