Day 5. Sooo glad it was raining when we left today, I don’t think there was any way we could have done our longest day in that heat.
15 miles, 1923 feet of elevation which took us just over 6 hours of walking.
Breakfast at the pub started at 9, so we didn’t leave until gone 10. Amberley is such a beautiful village, we will return to explore (not on foot!).
It rained gently for about 2 hours which was actually beautifully refreshing, until it got a bit heavier and on with the waterproofs.
The rain soon blew over, leaving grey skies and low clouds, perfect for walking. Without needing to stop for a break from the heat we marched on through fields, only stopping a couple of times for water and photos, and feet repairs.
There were no cafes en route today, but one water stop after 5 miles at Washington right before we took our lives in our hands crossing the A24.
No mobile cafe, so we sat on benches and ate some flapjack and a few peanuts.
Lots and lots of hard paths later we went past Chanctonbury Ring, its either bronze or iron age, a ring of trees with a ditch surrounding, very eery. At 9 miles and the clouds cleared, and the sun broke through. But nowhere near as hot as yesterday, thankfully.
Then, a thing happened, we saw the SEA, huge excitement 😆
10 miles came and went, past some very smelly pigs, and we descended into Botolphs. 2 hours too late for the mobile coffee van, so we just had some bars and water.
Took our lives in our hands crossing the A283, cursed the ‘top rated’ coffee van that was nowhere to be seen and embarked on a 2 mile climb to our stop for the evening at YHA Truleigh Hill (Kim is getting top quality this week 🤪🤣)
Stunning views on the way up are imprinted on our minds forever.
Yesterday evening at dinner, I was not at all looking forward to today, but we smashed it. It’s amazing what you can achieve…
Helped by a 90’s Nostalgia playlist followed by cranking up the Simple Minds for the last hour.
Day 5 crushed, we are Alive and Kicking !
