{"id":2094,"date":"2020-09-19T01:10:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T00:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2094"},"modified":"2020-09-15T10:38:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T09:38:41","slug":"walderton-the-devils-humps-west-sussex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2094","title":{"rendered":"Walderton &#038; the Devil\u2019s Humps, West Sussex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Walderton.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966103_c05a9b00d4_z.jpg\" title= \"50110966103 Above Kingley Vale on Bow Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966103_c05a9b00d4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50111772142_19677a36fc_z.jpg\" title= \"50111772142 view from Walderton Down to Chichester Harbour and the Isle of Wight\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50111772142_19677a36fc_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110965873_4ff905801b_z.jpg\" title= \"50110965873 above Kingley Vale on the way to Walderton Down\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110965873_4ff905801b_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966293_6ba8d6e529_z.jpg\" title= \"50110966293 view from Bow Hill\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966293_6ba8d6e529_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50111537731_1cc7f9f7fc_z.jpg\" title= \"50111537731 path approaching ruined barn on Walderton Down 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50111537731_1cc7f9f7fc_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966743_bc5d9c7781_z.jpg\" title= \"50110966743 path approaching ruined barn on Walderton Down 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966743_bc5d9c7781_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966958_08e68964c9_z.jpg\" title= \"50110966958 path approaching Walderton Down 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50110966958_08e68964c9_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50111538666_d78691aa4e_z.jpg\" title= \"50111538666 path approaching Walderton Down 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/50111538666_d78691aa4e_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=2094\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2094','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nAfter days of wild weather and whitened seas along the Sussex coast, a quieter morning dawned over the South Downs. In the hamlet of Walderton, master thatcher Chris Tomkins had his straw bundles and pegs laid out along the gutters of a flint and brick cottage, all handy for the day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n<p>Small clouds went jostling like sheep along the wooded skyline. Our path led east beside stubble fields, sheltered in that characteristic Sussex Downs landscape of dip and rise, every curve of the chalky land pleasing to the eye and heart.<\/p>\n<p>We scanned the furrows as we walked, looking for the bevelled edges and teardrop shapes of Neolithic flint tools lost or left behind by our distant ancestors.<\/p>\n<p>Down behind the neat cottages and carefully tended gardens of Stoughton stood St Mary\u2019s Church, already here when the Normans landed, a blocky building with narrow windows high up. Inside under a simple beam roof a tapestry round the walls depicted the thousand-year story of the downland village in its cradle of woods and slopes.<\/p>\n<p>Beside the flinty lane that led away from Stoughton stood a plain granite pillar. In the adjacent field 23-year-old Pilot Officer Boleslaw W\u0142asnowolski \u2013 \u2018Vodka\u2019 to the other chaps in the mess of 213 Squadron at Tangmere \u2013 died in November 1940 when his Hurricane fighter was shot down by a Messerschmitt Me-109. The Polish flag that swathes the pillar, and the poppy wreaths at its foot, show how this young foreign flyer is still remembered here.<\/p>\n<p>The lane ran up to the crest of the downs, where the little grassy domes of the Devil\u2019s Humps lay in line astern. From these Bronze Age burial mounds we had a stunning view south over the glinting inlets of Chichester Harbour, where the spire of Chichester Cathedral lanced into the cloudy sky against a backdrop of trees, creeks and the dull silver plain of the sea.<\/p>\n<p>Flint-cobbled tracks led us south, skirting the scrubby slopes of Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve, a marjoram-scented heaven of wild flowers and butterflies.<\/p>\n<p>We turned for home along a downland highway past the brooding wreck of a great flint barn, and on through woods of oak and beech where the wind whistled and loose leaves pattered earthwards like multi-coloured rain.<\/p>\n<p>Start: Barley Mow Inn, Walderton, Chichester PO18 9ED (OS ref SU 790106). Open again. Please ask permission to park, and give pub your custom!<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 54 (Chichester-Petersfield)<br \/>\nRoad \u2013 Walderton is on B2146 (signed from Westbourne, off A27 Portsmouth-Chichester)<\/p>\n<p>Walk (7\u00bd miles, easy, OS Explorer OL8): Right along road. In 50m, right across bridges; grass path to road. Right; in 50m, left (788107, fingerpost); right along field edges. Cross road (792110); on (occasional \u2018Monarch\u2019s Way\u2019\/MW signs). In 400m, path forks (796113); keep ahead across field to trees (796116). Inside trees, right (MW, \u2018bridleway\u2019\/BW); immediately keep ahead downhill to road in Stoughton (801114).<\/p>\n<p>Sharp left to church; return to road; right for 150m. By Tythe Barn House, left (801113, BW) up lane. In 350m pass war memorial (804111); on up to top of rise. Forward to 3-finger post (812106, BW); left along track. In \u00bd mile pass Devil\u2019s Humps (819110); in another \u00bd mile, right (824115, white arrow in blue circle\/WABC) up path; in 150m, right (blue arrow\/BA) up stony bridleway.<\/p>\n<p>In 250m cross bridleway (825113, 4-finger post); on downhill. In 550m pass Kingley Vale signs (827108, KV); on down for 500m, right at 4-finger post (828103). In 550m pass KV gate (824100) and on (BW). In 150m, fork right uphill at edge of trees. In 650m, at KV gate on right, fork left (819102, WABC). In \u00bc mile, entering yew grow, fork left at 3-finger BW post (815104).<\/p>\n<p>In 650m, at edge of trees, don\u2019t fork left downhill, but keep ahead (809104) into open. In \u00bd mile, right at ruined barn (800104); inside trees, left along track. In 650m, fork right (794105) downhill past Walderton Down notice to road (792107); left to pub.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Barley Mow, Walderton (02393-631321, <a href=\"http:\/\/thebarleymow.pub\">thebarleymow.pub<\/a>) \u2013 booking advised. Take-away service also available.<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: Coach &#038; Horses, Compton PO18 9HA (02392-631228, <a href=\"http:\/\/coachandhorsescompton.co.uk\">coachandhorsescompton.co.uk<\/a>) \u2013 open and Covid-compliant.<\/p>\n<p>Info: Chichester TIC (01243-775888, <a href=\"http:\/\/visitsoutheastengland.com\">visitsoutheastengland.com<\/a>); <a href=\"http:\/\/satmap.com\">satmap.com<\/a>; <a href=\"http:\/\/ramblers.org.uk\">ramblers.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After days of wild weather and whitened seas along the Sussex coast, a quieter morning dawned over the South Downs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}