The South Downs Way

The "The South Downs Way" trip starts in Winchester and ends in Eastbourne. It is a walking tour that takes 10 days taking you through East Meon, Alfriston, Eastbourne and 6 other destinations in England. "The South Downs Way" is a self-guided private trip that includes accommodation, transport, meals and others.

Enjoy the coastal towns and rolling landscapes of Southern England. The complete South Downs Way, stretching for a hundred miles over a rare large area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in crowded southern Britain, follows the chalk (soft limestone) ridge just to the North of the popular seaside towns on the Sussex and Hampshire coast. At intervals the hilly downlands are broken by “wind gaps” or river valleys, mixing the ridge walking with some meandering visits to beautiful rivers such at the Cuckmere, Arun, Ouse and Meon with their associated villages. Most of the route is ancient, made up out of the old droving roads that took animals and goods between the market towns of the region. There are many historical features, including a couple of remaining round towered Saxon churches, ancient “Dew Ponds” providing water on the high Downs for cattle, cross dykes and tumulus burial sites, Bronze Age hill forts and rings. The weather on average is some of the best you could find in the British Isles, and soft boots or even trekking shoes are generally advised, as the surfaces are often –but not universally - dry and firm. The tour is accessible easily from London and the Southeast by the railways. The original ‘Way’ extended the 80 miles or so between Eastbourne and Buriton near Petersfield, but was extended in the late 1980s to Winchester making it exactly 100 miles. This is generally a leisurely paced walk enabling those who want, to spend a bit of extra time looking at some old churches, or dawdling by Cuckmere Haven, picnicking or pubbing up on some high down, or looking around lowland villages. There are however a couple of long days, largely due to the remoteness of convenient enroute accommodation. For this reason we have to compromise and there is a range in the quality of the overnight stops that we may use.