Oh, High Weald, how good it feels to finally be back on your footpaths. Almost a month had passed since we last trod the trails of this AONB, and it came as something of a relieving return to normality to be there once again. Not that it was completely unchanged. Late summer suddenly felt to be in full swing, with even the whisper of autumn about the land, as the first few leaves began to twirl their way to the earth below. Don’t get me wrong though, it was still immediately hot, and we set off into the fine summer’s day at about half past ten in the morning, after parking on the road alongside Salehurst Church. This was a new route, and a little village just outside of Robertsbridge that we had never visited before, which seemed very quiet and sweet as we made our way out past residents heading to church. We did however instantly notice that whoever had plotted the map had done quite a lazy job, cutting corners and going off to the sides of the actual track etc., so this was something that we had to keep an eye on throughout.
We crossed the Rother and found ourselves walking through sun-soaked farmland, lined with bushes teaming with berries, of which I sampled a blackberry, in honour of bears across the world. After a few fields we came across our first obstacle, which took the form of a small but well-established business park. The route suggested we walked right through the middle, but visible paths and adjusted signposts advised otherwise, and so we made our way around the bordering fence line until we re-met the route. The second obstacle came quickly after, when after crossing a road, the map wanted us to cut through a section of woodland. Whoever plotted the route perhaps did not care much for footpaths and private property, as they would have had us climbing over a padlocked gate to walk through the trees in question. Once again, we instead went around the outside to re-meet the path a little up from the locked gate. Here the route began to slowly climb up through an orchard and a further woodland beyond; fortunately, one we were able to access this time. The shady section was welcome, and we passed a few sheep also enjoying the tree’s shelter to our right. We also unknowingly did a small section of the Bodiam Circular, only in reverse, which we realised a little later on.
Eventually we came out at our next road crossing and picked up another footpath on the other side and to our left quickly after. We descended through further fields before turning right into another orchard. This one was a little different, however. It seemed feral somehow, less well-kept and as if Treebeard would be lurking somewhere within. In short, it was cool, and the thick apple-dotted canopy welcomed us in and suddenly we found ourselves in a twisted world of green. Unfortunately we did not find Treebeard, but within we stumbled upon a wild tractor who seemed rather startled at our appearance, as well as an arrow pointing to an intriguing side-quest marked as ‘Box of Rain’. We emerged on the other side of this enchanted place and finally I triangulated our location and worked out where we actually were. In my head we had set off clockwise rather than anti-clockwise, and it was only when we spotted Bodiam Castle through a hedge a little to the north of us, did I realise my mistake. At that point I also worked that we were about to come out right onto the Bodiam Circular, and that we were currently standing on the path we had almost taken in error the first time we had done the route! And so a little over four years later, we finally crossed the stile, onto the road into Ewhurst Green. From there, we made our way down through the sheep fields we normally ascended – it was nice to approach the castle from a different direction. In fact, I was actually relieved to be going down, rather than up, in the heat, and once at the bottom we paused to say hello to some of the sheep sheltering in the disused barn, just as an old steam train trundled past us. Before long we were re-crossing the Rother, and entering the grounds of Bodiam Castle, one of our most utilized lunch spots. We sat off to the side of the castle, in the shade beneath a tree and refuelled – the ducks appeared too hot to make an appearance that day. We decided on this occasion to bypass the Castle Inn, despite it being one of our favourite pubs, as we instead wanted to try out the pub we had spotted back in Salehurst. We did however treat ourselves to a couple of ice-creams, which we slurped at as we set off again.
We made our way out behind the pub down a long track, where we promptly almost dropped Beth’s ice-cream when passing it between us – thankfully I caught it and most of it was saved. Eventually the track brought us to an unusual and unexpected complex of quiet apartments and businesses, at which point we turned off the track and around the edge of a small pond. Just as we did so, we found ourselves coming face-to-bill with a small army of ducks heading in our direction. We carried on, and they turned around to show us the direction before one-by-one sliding back down the bank to the pond. Through a small patch of trees beyond, we came out into open farmland, in the second field of which we quickly spotted evidence of cow. Moments later, we saw one standing up at the top of the sloping paddock. We proceeded with appropriate caution, and the cow did not seem bothered by our presence. Only when safely on the other side did I reveal to Beth that one of the routes comments spoke about an un-marked bull field – I suspect that this was it. We crossed the road into another field, and again found it to contain cows. The path seemed to want to take us right through them, and so in an attempt to avoid the herd we made a funny zig-zag across as we attempted to cling to trees, giving them as wider birth as possible. Again, they were unbothered, and we stopped to admire them from the security of the stile.
Beyond this, we found ourselves walking through a very large, very wide and very empty field. We later discovered that this was a campsite, which explained all of the scorched bonfire marks in the grass that we kept passing. Next was a short spell through some trees and over a small bridge across a stream, which then gave way again to more open countryside. On this occasion, it was another orchard to add to the day’s collection, and as we entered, we were greeted with the idyllic High Weald scene. In the foreground was the orchard, with it’s shiny red apples. Beyond that was a bright field, dotted with a few sheep. At the rear, was a leafy, green woodland. Above it all, was a clear, blue sky. Perfect. We walked amongst the rows of fruit baring boughs, and Salehurst Church came into view in the distance. The remainder of the route was through a few more crop fields, which then brought us to the back on the churchyard. The old metal gate, which was the way in, was nestled between two large trees, giving it a fantastical feel. We walked through the quiet graveyard, and came out the other side to where we had started earlier that day. And with that, the pub was calling. We entered the Salehurst Halt, grabbed a couple pints of well-earned cider and sat outside in the pleasant, flowery and very busy garden.
Overall this was a very enjoyable walk, offering lots of classic High Weald stuff. The biggest issue was the route confusion near the start, but the rest of the way more than made up for it, and I have remapped the walk for future visits.
Matthew G. Huggins 