A sad-faced mermaid adorns the sign outside The Juggs at Kingston-near-Lewes. Inside this tile-hung, low-beamed and horse-brassy village inn under the South Downs, a typical Sussex pub, the bars were alive with chatter and rumbling with cheerful laughter.
First published in: The Times Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window
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I sat finishing my sandwich, watching two near-identical kinsmen entirely absorbed in their conversation opposite one another at the window table. The fire was hot on my cheeks, the beer fruity in the glass. Could I brace myself to shift out into the nipping afternoon air? Hmmm …
Along the lane in the Church of St Pancras, stained glass glowed in two modern windows. One, a joyful memorial to artist Betty Dora Leney, showed her among the local birds and beasts, intently sketching the elastic skyline of the hills. The other, a fiery smear of red and blue, commemorated anti-apartheid priest Michael Scott and his ecstatic poetry:
‘Praise be to Thee O Lord for these mighty mountains …
For these diamonds on the cobwebs in the first light of morning,
For the four winds of heaven and the stars which cannot come down …’
I was too late for the diamonds and too early for the stars. But up on the crest of the downs above Kingston after a steep climb, the four winds blew exhilaration clean through me. The racing sky, the cold air, the downs riding out to sharp prows and the wide view down across billowing ploughlands struck headier than any ale. I followed the ridgetop track of the South Downs Way until my path branched off and plummeted away through Castle Hill National Nature Reserve into the hidden cleft of Falmer Bottom. That was a blissful mile, the air almost still, the sparrowhawks hanging like paper kites over the scrub slopes, and no-one to meet, greet or take cognizance of.
Up on Pickers Hill, striding along in sight of the sea and thinking of nothing high or mighty, I spotted treasure lying in a plough furrow – a roughly-shaped lozenge of flint, some Neolithic hunter’s arrowhead that never made it to the final shaping. What had prevented him completing the deadly little weapon? Disease, distraction, or a pounce by death?
Hidden nearby among elder bushes stood a lonely marble cross commemorating John Harvey, a Bedfordshire man who ‘died suddenly upon this spot on the 20th day of June, 1819’. I weighed the flint diamond of the arrowhead in my palm, picturing ancient hunter and Industrial Revolution man linked by their manner of departure, snatched without warning from the roof of these downs under a windy heaven: a Michael Scott moment.
Start & finish: The Juggs PH, Kingston-near-Lewes BN7 3NT (OS ref TQ 393083)
Getting there: Train (www.thetrainline.com; www.railcard.co.uk) to Lewes (2 miles). Bus: 123 from Lewes, 130 from Brighton. Road: Kingston-near-Lewes is signposted from A27 Brighton-Lewes road.
Walk (7 miles, moderate grade, OS Explorer 122): Leaving The Juggs, right past church. Tarmac becomes stony track. In 100 yards, left up steps (389079; yellow arrow/YA), then path to top of down (387075). Ignore Breach Road descending to left; instead, right for 30 yards, then follow South Downs Way/SDW through gate (blue arrow/BA, SDW acorns). In 50 yards (385076) ignore right fork; ahead along SDW for 1¼ miles. Through gate by Pressure Reading Station (370074); SDW forks right, but keep ahead for 300 yards; left through gate by Castle Hill NNR notice-board (367073). Follow track down for ½ mile into Falmer Bottom; through gate by NNR notice (371068); left along field track with fence on left for ¾ mile to pass barns (379061).
On along valley bottom. In ¼ mile, at 3-way fork (378058), follow main track to left. In ½ mile, where track bends right just before barns, left through gate (378050; ‘South Downs Circular Walks’ BA). Follow bridleway down, then up; through gate; on for 200 yards to BA (383052). Forward for 200 yards to John Harvey’s monument (385052); return to BA; right up path for 1 mile, passing barns (387065), to SDW (392067). Left; in 200 yards, right (391069; BA) down Dencher Road for ¾ mile past West Drove and Coombe Barn into Swanborough. 100 yards before road, hairpin back to left (401077) into farmyard; right along side of brick barn (footpath notice/YA). Pass between Dutch barn and silos (400078); through gate, over following stile (YAs); follow hedged path to road (397082); left to The Juggs.
Lunch: The Juggs, Kingston-near-Lewes (01273-472523) – dark, characterful village pub
More info: Lewes TIC (01273-483448; www.visitsussex.org); www.ramblers.org.uk