We knew this was going to be a rough day without any cafe stops along the way. We’re following Joel’s lead on where to go. The YHA is the only logical spot for us even though we couldn’t get a reservation there. So we’re looking at a long day, no stops, and a late start. I can’t blame Bunny for the late start, dammit.
I bought a frozen sausage roll for breakfast knowing that there is a microwave at the campground. What I didn’t know is that the microwave is in the laundry room and it doesn’t open until 9a. I offered to forego the roll if Bunny would split her pop tart with me and she refused. Aha! I can blame Bunny for the late start.
Joel and I were talking to an older English woman who worked at the caravan park (campground). She has a bad sense of direction. She’s tried to make it to Devils Dyke several times and gotten lost every time. We came by it yesterday without incident. I’d even trust Bunny or Sassy to find it, that’s how easy it is to navigate. Honestly, from her speech patterns, I think she might have had a bit too much fun when she toured Asia in her 20s.
The climb down last night was steep. In my estimation, the climb back out this morning is the worst on the entire trail. I clocked it as a 600’ loss/gain in a half mile, giving it a grade of 1200’/mile. Not quite Whites on the AT but equal to the worst on the PCT. This will put Bunny’s hip to the fullest test.
Normally, every person we meet on the trail is very friendly and, at a minimum, responds when we say hello. Upon reaching the trail after our climb, a couple of runners blew by. We said “Hello” but neither responded. A few minutes later another passed, and he at least gave us a thumbs up when we spoke. We could see a couple more approaching and realized that we had stumbled into the middle of a race. I couldn’t quite read the number, so I acted like I was taking a landscape picture. When the next runner passed us, I took the shot and was able to decider that this was a South Downs relay. They are running the entire trail today. Bunny delayed us enough that they have already gotten 30 miles in.
We made it to a trailhead carpark and it was packed. This was a relay handoff point. It was also near Ditchling Beacon which was an old signaling point in medieval times, meaning, this was a high point and the paragliders were out in force. But best of all, when there’s that many people in one location, there’s a good chance an enterprising person will have a mobile cafe. Yea, yea, it’s impressive to have runners going 100 miles in a single day and it’s exciting to watch people jump off cliffs, but my cafe stop tops all that.
A mile later at another carpark was another cafe. This one was all pink, but Bunny insisted we had to make some miles today so she nixed it. It’s cafe feast or famine on the SDW. Today was an unexpected feast when I was expecting a famine. Life just doesn’t get any better than this.
I tried to avoid specifics when talking distances with Bunny today. It wasn’t intentional, but Joel and I misrepresented the miles today. We just under-rounded. Bunny was thinking 12 miles when it is much closer to 15. Instead of saying how far we’ve gone, I’d say “we’re almost halfway”. If I can keep putting her off until we’re under 5 miles to go, she might not realize it. It worked with Sassy last year. We got her to put in an 18 mile day when she was thinking 14. I don’t care what it costs Bear after the fact.
Housedean Farm really is about halfway. I didn’t have to lie to Bunny when she asked that. When she said “only 6 more” I got distracted by a group of people we had passed earlier approaching. We had found our third cafe, and I was pretty confident, our last cafe of the day. We split a chocolate croissant and a couple of cold drinks.
It was not even 1 yet and we had 7 1/2 miles in in about 3 1/2 hours. This is pretty good for us in most circumstances. The afternoon’s hiking didn’t look bad once we got back up to the ridge. Near the top, we found a memorial bench for a couple who had farmed this land for over 60 years. How could we not sit and ponder them?
The ridge walking was a cake walk (yes, we were promised cake). We could see several villages below and the sea ahead. We are getting near to the chalk coast…the Seven Sisters. We will pass over them on our last day, but we are catching glimpses.
Ahead was a structure we couldn’t make out. It looked like a mini-castle made out of…wood pallets? Could this be an indication of how Charles plans to rule? Is this Camilla’s first commission? We saw a man wandering around it, so we asked what it was. This “structure” is going to be a pyre. At 9:45p on Thursday, June 2, all around the country, these pyres will be set afire in honor of the Queens Jubilee. The last time signals like this were used was when the Spanish Armada was attacking England..
We didn’t plan it or think about it, but we are very fortunate to be in England to celebrate the Queens 70th anniversary of ascending the throne. It’s astounding to think she came into power when Winston Churchill was PM. She has seen a lot in her reign.
It had to happen. As we were heading downhill after a picnic lunch overlooking the villages and listening to music wafting up from below (we assumed preparations for the jubilee), Bunny finally asked to see the map. She implied she couldn’t trust what I was telling her. I gladly showed her the 2.8 miles we had left to go.
When we reached Southease, I started scouting places we could wildcamp if the YHA didn’t have room for us. I found at least 4 spots that would do, but wouldn’t be great. Worst case scenario is we go eat supper at the YHA, come back and camp, get up early and eat at YHA again. Bunny was reluctantly on board with the plan. I told her the best way to avoid this is to turn on the waterworks the second we hear no rooms available.
The South Downs Hostel is in an old farm complex. Several barns have been converted to sleeping rooms and the old farm house holds the common areas as well as sleeping rooms upstairs. For being full, it surprisingly quiet here. We went into reception and I put on my nicest “tired as hell” look and mentioned my wife’s new hip a couple of times. The woman told us they were completely booked, but she’d take care of us. We can camp out back. Good enough for me, and Bunny didn’t even have to cry.
EFG