Hike report - 1986

This year we decided that it was time to enjoy another section of the South Downs and set off for Graffham in West Sussex. Not only did Malcolm R return to the fold he also brought his brother Andrew (Drew) with him. Drew, a member of the 6th Friern Barnet was of course made welcome, after all it was good to have a fresh young face join us.

Malcolm D drove again and we were once again fortunate enough to find a pub where we could not only camp in the garden, but also leave the van in the car park over the weekend. The night passed without incident and before long we were ready to set off on the Saturday morning.

Luckily we have an accurate record of the route for this hike as Graham still has the map we used, on which he had uncharacteristically jotted down the grid references in the margin.

It started with an immediate climb – having joined a footpath shortly after leaving the pub car park we went steadily up the scarp slope, through the woods on Graffham Down. At the top we crossed the South Downs Way and for the second half of the morning session followed the path, down, through the woods into East Dean. Here we stopped for a bite to eat and some liquid refreshment.

The afternoon session was virtually a reverse of the morning except that we headed in the direction of Heyshott a little to the west of Graffham. We obtained permission to pitch our four tents behind some buildings and found a nice flat area close to a wall that provided protection from the wind.

Following our evening meal we cleared up and made our way to The Unicorn Inn, where we set about whiling away the rest of the evening.

We had a few beers and played darts – Drew, the new recruit, was quick to join in and wasted no time in showing us that he was just as bad as the rest of us.

Shortly after the bell for last orders we sloped off, back to the tents and settled down to a good night’s sleep.

The weather was fine on Sunday and it looked as if it was going to be a good day for hiking. Unlike our three previous hikes it was clear that we were not going to see any snow.

Once the gear was packed up we set off in a north easterly direction towards Selham. We followed the footpaths and a short stretch of a disused railway, only occasionally stopping to consult the map, before we arrived at our lunchtime stop. An hour or so later we emerged from the pub and set about completing the hike. For the final session we mainly followed the road south for about two and a half miles before turning into the pub car park in Graffham.

Although through beautiful countryside it had been a fairly standard hike with few incidents of note.

After a short photographic session we loaded the van and made our way back to London.