Steve has kindly offered to lead a couple of walks at the start of the new programme, on the 18th January and 1st February respectively. These fill in the gap at the start, so you won’t now have to wait until mid-February for a walk.

The first walk is a figure-of-eight walk, starting from the car park in front of the Devils Dyke pub. There are two options for walkers: either meet there at 10:30 am to do the whole walk, or at 1 pm to join the walk after lunch for just the second half.

The second walk starts at 10:30 am from the Arlington Reservoir car park and is a modest 6.5 miles. Note that a fee may be payable at the car park.

If you are intending to go on either or both walks, please call Steve beforehand to give indication of numbers.

Details of the walks can be found on the new walks programme.

Brenda and Dave have the following message for the group:

Dear Walkers,

And finally, after running Sussex Young Walkers for 4 years, Dave & I have decided it’s time to hand over to somebody else. James Mansson, a regular walker, walk leader, and webmaster for the group will be taking over in the New Year. I know that you will join us in wishing James all the best in this new role and hope that you will continue to support the group by coming on our walks and perhaps leading walks on our future programmes.

Dave & I will continue to walk with the group and lead walks ourselves.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Brenda & Dave
Sussex Young Walkers

I would like to offer my personal thanks for their efforts in running the group for the last four years, and hope that I shall be able to maintain the same standards in running the group myself.

The new walks programme is now up! It covers the period from January to June 2009.

You can view the programme here:

http://www.sussex-young-walkers.org.uk/walks/view/id/2

The next walk is entitled White Horse & a Giant and will be lead by Brenda. It is next Sunday, starting at 10 am from the High & Over Car Park on Alfriston Road (GR 509 012, Explorer Map 123). It is a moderate 8 mile walk with a pub stop.

Finally, I have a more substantial item to look at in my role as Footpath Secretary for Wisborough Green. This relates to a problem for walkers near the village.

There is a path which leads up to the A272 east of Wisborough Green, on the stretch before it is joined by the B2133 from Loxwood. There is also a path which leads up to the same stretch of the A272 from the south, but at a point some 350 meters further down the road. Walkers who wish to follow a route using both these footpaths have to walk down the verge of the A272.

The proposal is to provide a permissive footpath to link the two foopaths. The landowners concerned have given their consent to the proposal. The reports connected with the proposal were accepted by the Rights of Way Committee on the 17th November.

My view is that it is a sensible proposal, as I can say from personal experience that the A272 is not a road you really want to walk along for any substantial distance. Indeed, it is a general failing of the footpath system around Wisborough Green that there is no footpath that runs roughly parallel with that road. This is something that forced me to change the pub stop for one of my favourite walks from the Cricketers in Wisborough Green to the Bat & Ball at Newpound Common nearby. The problem was that there wasn’t a footpath into Wisborough Green I could follow, just unsatisfactory walks along one road or another.

The next walk is called Views of Arundel Castle and will be led by Dave. It starts from the car park next to George & Dragon pub, The Street, Burpham (GR 039 088 (Explorer Map 121)) at 10:30 am. There will be a pub stop.

Hopefully I’ll be on it, so see you all there!

I didn’t attend today’s walk, but if you did, please feel free to comment.

The next walk is on Saturday and is entitled Forests & Fields. It will be led by Margaret, starting from Buxted Railway Station (GR TQ497 234 (Explorer map 135)) and will be 11 miles in length. There will be a pub stop for lunch.

As a result of the overrun of the engineering works being done on the canal near the Onslow Arms pub in Loxwood, a short stretch of the bridleway (no. 809) to the west of the B2133 is shut off for 21 days, from the 22nd October.

The (quite considerable) overrun of the engineering works by the Wey & Arun canal trust has caused considerable disruption and annoyance locally, and the current metal barriers to either side of the road are extremely unsightly (leading to a local petition for their replacement by something more in character). Fortunately, we are over the worst, as the road is no longer (partially) obstructed by the digging of the new canal under the road.

I didn’t attend today’s walk, but if you did, please feel free to comment.

Addendum - Richard has supplied me with a couple of links to photos/video clips of the walk:

• Photos of walk
• Video clip of walk