Then suddenly, it was summer again!
The hottest season is once again upon us, which of course comes with its own challenges, but always offers some fantastic walking – I have a feeling that this one is going to be life changing.
To kick things of, we went for a wonderful new route in the south end of the High Weald toward Battle and Hastings. This walk was available from both High Weald Walks and East Sussex council, one starting from Brede and the other (which was the one we went with) starting from Doleham. As is common with the East Sussex council walks, this one starts at the station, and so we merrily made our way there, because train stations always have parking – apart from this one it would seem! As we approached, the rural setting concealed the station until we were almost right upon it. We drove over the bridge, on the other side of which was something that barely counted as a layby with a car in it, and next thing we knew we had driven past. We had planned to turn around and take a second pass at it, but once we had driven up the steep, narrow lane out of Doleham, we found at the top of the hill a much nicer and more spacious spot to park – this is something we would probably do next time too, and has the added benefit of saving you a sharp incline at the very start of the walk.
Instead, we were eased into the summer season with some gently declining road walking, before picking up the day’s first footpath on the right not long after. The day was warm, but a stiff breeze blew in from the nearby coast, so close that you could smell the sea on the air. We descended back down the steep hill and crossed the train tracks, which brought us out into open countryside. We made our way over a stream across a small wooden bridge covered with wild roses, on the other side of which we found our first sheep field of the day. Climbing back up the opposing steep hill was made much easier by their company, the flock still including this years lambs, although I have to say they are starting to look rather large, and one or two of the ewes didn’t look impressed when they tried suckling. At the top there was an interesting sculpture, inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, with hawthorn growing through the middle. Apparently this leads to a covering of blossom in spring, which the lambs love to investigate – we will have to come back and see this. There was also an information board to hand, which of course Beth loved, and we discovered that farm animals from the middle-ages were much smaller than they are today – fully grown cows were only a meter tall!
We carried on along the top of the ridge amongst a further flock of sheep and overgrown lambs, finally leaving them behind on the other side of the large field. We then went through a large vegetable patch belonging to one of the nearby houses, and then picked up a stony track, which lead us out onto another quiet country lane. I don’t think we came across any cars here, which was fortunate because we decided to practice our upcoming first kiss in the middle of the road. The lane did eventually lead on to a busier road, although we only had to walk a short distance along it to find the next track waiting for us on the other side, during which time we rescued a butterfly from the verge, settling it back down out of harm’s way. The track opposite was a stone driveway, which lead us past another flock of sheep, this time containing much fresher looking lambs, and we were able to harvest plenty of wool to use as table decorations. To our delight, we found our footpath on the left then took us through the field, before dipping down through a patch of trees. We climbed back up the other side, where we found a small, ploughed and very dry field. The path continued past a couple of houses before bringing us back to a small road.
By this point, Beth had already been using phrases such as ‘lets just see where it goes’ and had not been checking the map until reaching a decision point – a very impressive and relaxed attitude. However, it soon transpired that we had forgotten the maps existence altogether, as when we saw a stile across the road, we climbed over without thinking. The stile was quite overgrown, and we were rather surprised to find a field of Christmas trees growing on the other side. We made it a short way into this field, before remembering the map, and thinking that we had better check. Sure enough, we had gone the wrong way. We waved goodbye to the trees, climbed back over and began to walk in the correct direction, down the road. This road section continued for a short while, but thankfully we only met a couple of cars, as we crossed from left to right and back again to accommodate all the bends and corners. As the road levelled out at the bottom, our next footpath awaited us just before a bridge. We hopped another stile into the field, where we followed the path along the bank of a small stream. Lunch time was imminent, and so we began looking for a likely looking spot, eventually reaching point where the stream met the river Brede. Through the trees and over the bridge ahead, I caught sight of a swishing tail. Such a swish could only belong to one animal, and I moved a little closer to confirm my suspicions. I indeed spotted what I expected to see, and quickly turned around, deciding that there was no need to turn Beth’s lunch into an anxiety fest. I was most relieved when she chose a spot with her back to the upcoming obstacle, sitting on top of a sunny bank looking across a bright meadow, with a flock of sheep across the way, a few lambs scampering about. It was indeed another perfect lunch spot. Yet lunch can only last so long, and so before returning to our feet, I confessed to Beth what awaited us across the bridge. And so, we bravely ventured forth.
We descended from the bridge cautiously, and came face to face with what we know to be the most dangerous obstacle we can come across in our little corner of the world – cows. And not just cows; a large, clumped together herd of beefy looking cattle, the majority of which were already staring at us. Previous experience was setting alarm bells ringing, as their body language suggested unease, and they were close to both us and the path we needed to take, which went diagonally right across the middle of their field. We carefully ventured forward, and paused about half way between the bridge and the herd. They didn’t move, and the bustling amongst themselves began to increase. I decided that the best thing to do would be to send Beth back to the safety of the bridge, and see if I could use my animal know-how to get them to move. I slowly moved closer, clapping and shouting as I would to get my goats to move. Cows are evidentially less pliable than goats, however eventually they began to slope away together, trotting off out and away across the field. They continued to move further from the path, and so I beckoned Beth forward again and we began to make our way carefully toward the opposite corner. Beth was understandably nervous, and I wasn’t exactly comfortable as I continued to monitor the herd. We didn’t make it very far, probably not even a quarter of the way across, when the herd’s behaviour again began to change. Their direction had started to curve back around, which would likely bring them back toward the path sooner rather than later. They were also looking agitated again, almost winding each other up, a few members at the front even beginning to break into bursts of running. We immediately changed plan. We turned and made our way toward the nearest edge of the field, deciding to walk around the outside to give as much space as possible to the herd, with the added insurance of we could always hop the fence if we had to. The hustle and bustle continued behind us as we reached the fence, but thankfully as we made our way up the field, they again settled down to a calmer state, the intruders evidentially now at an appropriate distance. Even so, we still decided to hop the gate which we found in the top corner, despite it being wrapped with barbed-wire, to get us well and truly out of harms way. This brought us out to the access road for the waterworks we had just past, and our heart rates returned to normal as we looked back down the field now to our right at the rumbunctious herd. Soon enough we were back on track when we reached the field’s next corner.
Excitement over, and we continued steeply upward toward Brede. The day suddenly felt very hot and I was grateful for the breeze still blowing in from the sea. The climb was well worth it however. Behind us were excellent views of the valley we had just walked through, and at the top we found Brede Church and its beautiful daisy covered graveyard. Beyond this we reached a road, which was both the busiest and longest of the day. It also wasn’t paved the whole way either, and we crossed to use grass verges a couple of times before reaching its end. This did lose the walk some points, however as the rest had been so lovely, we agreed that it was certainly not a deal breaker. Soon enough we crossed a bridge back over the river Brede, and crossed a stile through a thick hedge to our left. On the other side we were pleased to find ourselves in more pleasant surroundings once more. The route continued along the edge of the river, which was littered with lily pads and bright yellow flowers. To our right were more sheep, the flock continuing up and over the hill rising up toward the blue sky (it was around here that Beth claimed that she “reckoned she could take a sheep”) and to our left across the water we also spotted another herd of cows. These were much more chill, and a lot easier to appreciate from the opposite bank! We followed the Brede until it turned left. We instead turned right along the “Doleham Ditch”, taking a path through thick, and somehow slightly sharp grass. It was perfectly usable, although didn’t feel overly trod, and we enjoyed the slightly rugged feel. A few minutes further on we found another wooden bridge, and crossed over. As we approached the day’s final climb, we spotted across the field to our right what looked like a large, horned bull. We confirmed this with Beth’s camera, and so doubled back to walk a little further along the waterway for a better look. The herd turned out to contain several bulls, a couple of which had very impressive horns – in fact these may have been the most “bull-like” bulls we had every come across. We also appeared to have disturbed something in the long grass, as we found a small, freshly decapitated mammal of some kind, blood staining everything it touched – this confirmed our “less-used” guess!
We crossed the bridge once again, and began to climb back up toward the road at the top of the hill we had started from. We walked through a patch of woods, this time beneath the tracks, and emerged onto one last steep paddock. We hadn’t taken more than a few steps before we spotted both an adult Highland Cow and baby ahead. Naturally this got our attention, recent cow incident so fresh in our minds, and so we were sure to monitor the situation whilst giving them a nice wide birth. Fortunately, I have found Highland Cows to be pretty docile, and this one didn’t bat an eyelid as we crossed its paddock. Regardless, it turns out that fear of cows is a great motivator for climbing a hill quickly, and we were soon back out on the hilltop road. A few minutes later, we were back at the car, the first few miles of summer secured beneath our boots.
This was a fantastic walk that we both really enjoyed. The scenery was beautiful, there were plenty of beasts and a nice amount of undulation. We both agreed that this one belonged amongst our favourite routes, and so we will definitely be returning often – the perfect start to the season!
Matthew G. Huggins 
I love a walk that takes you by water. So relaxing.
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