Nostalgia, Bluecoats and a Castle - Day walk Saturday 3rd February 2024

Nine of us met up at the disused West Grinstead station, all prepped and ready for unpleasant weather after all the rain, but in fact were pleasantly surprised that we remained mainly dry throughout! The walking was fairly flat and easy along the old railway track bed which has a pretty good surface, and we sped along to Copsale where we re-grouped and agreed to slow down a bit!

From here we passed along wooded and slightly busier paths towards Southwater and under the A24, stopping briefly just north of the village centre on a green overlooking a pond with bulrushes for our coffee break. Heading north on the Link we soon turned off to negotiate a couple of muddy and wet fields that led us in a circuitous route to the playing fields of Christs Hospital which we crossed before rejoining the Downs Link and going south this time for our lunch stop at the Bax Castle pub. The landlord had indicated that we could use his benches for our picnic so long as a few of us bought drinks, and in fact several of us ordered the rather delicious home made soup!

We then retraced our steps on the track back down through Southwater village, chatting away and enjoying the views in the opposite direction, finishing at around 3pm, with a total of 10.5 miles walked.

Walk Leader

Anthony Waton