Walking the South Downs Way

Ever since the South Downs National Park announcement on 31 March 2009 I’ve seen a surge of people searching for information about the South Downs Way arrive at The Travel Cooler. I’d like to take the opportunity to welcome these new visitors.

In order to make it a little easier for you to find the information you are seeking, this is a summary post of the articles that I’ve written about the South Downs Way.

I walked the entire lenght of the South Downs Way with two other people back in 2006. We divided the 159 km trail into 9 walks and spread the walks over several months from July to December. This way we got to enjoy some of the seasonal changes along the trail.

I wrote the following articles about the walks:

• Sweltering South Downs Way Walks
• Lost on the Milky Way
• The Walk of Changes
• For the Love of Sheep
• Devil’s Work?
• Crossing the Greenwich Meridian
• Eastbourne never looked sweeter

Each article includes some of our photographs, but next week I’ll publish a South Downs Way photo series, which I hope you’ll enjoy.

If you have any questions regarding walking the South Downs Way, please just ask by leaving a comment and I’ll do my very best to answer your questions.

TAGS: South Downs Way, The South Downs

2 Responses to “Walking the South Downs Way”

1. Rachel says:

   14 July, 2009 at 17:01

   Dear Anni

   I would be very grateful if you could offer me some advice about the South Downs route.

   A group of friends and I would like to get some hill training in before we attempt the Three Peaks (Ben Nevis, Snowden and Scarfell Pike). We live in London, and so the South Downs would be a convenient training day.

   Could you give us any advice as to where the steepest/hilliest section of the South Downs is, that would be convenient to reach from London by public transport? Any clues very happily received!

   Thanks very much for your help.

   Reply
   • Anni Poulsen says:

     15 July, 2009 at 10:42

     Hi Rachel,
     the Three Peaks, wow, I bow to you! Obviously the South Downs Way doesn’t even compare, but officially it has about 4150 metres of ascent and descent, so hopefully it won’t be too easy for you.

     Unfortunately, I’m not sure, I can be of much help, as we didn’t use public transportation, but went by car to and from start and end points. For detailed information about public transport, have a look at the official South Downs Way Public Transport Guide

     You should find decent hill training all along the trail, but for what it is worth, and this is from memory only, I think Alfriston to Eastbourne (with Friston Forest and the Seven Sisters) and Upper Beeding to Pyecombe might provide decent hill training.
     Have a look at the elevation profile on the Bikedowns website, which should help you choose an appropriate area.

     I hope the above helps and that you enjoy the South Downs.

     Reply