Sussex Walks - Castle Hill
As you come through Woodingdean you wouldn't imagine this peaceful walk scaling a big dip in the landscape would be so close to where you park your car - you find yourself in deep countryside just 15 mins outside of Brighton.
The quietness of this walk is revitalising and allows space to think and breathe. Some of my best ideas have been conjured up while walking this walk. It’s particularly good early in the morning but will work anytime. If you have dogs it’s worth bearing in mind that bar a 5 mins walking through a tree lined path the rest of this walk is exposed so not ideal for very hot days.
The walk stats
Duration: around 1.5 hours
Terrain: solid and fairly flat in dry weather but does get muddy/boggy in places when it’s been wet/in winter. One big hill and some steady inclines.
Parking: There’s a car park at the top of the road to Falmer if coming from the A23, if coming through Woodingdean, turn left at the Downs Hotel, continue up the hill and just as the road opens out from residential and just after the turning to Woodingdean Business Park there is a car park to your right hand side on the corner of Falmer Road/Bexhill Road. Postcode BN2 6NT will take you very close to the car park.
Public transport: Bus number 22 serves Woodingdean from Brighton - I think the nearest stop to start this walk would be The Downs Hotel. This information is for post pandemic.
Starting point
We’re starting at the car park mentioned above…. and off we go!
From the car park look the opposite direction of the road and thee is a green running opposite a row of houses, take this green halfway along it where you’re going to swerve left onto the track. Just before the mast there is a gate to the left that enters you into a huge big field with a dip to your left (where there is bracken) and an upwards slope to your right. Making sure the fence is to your right here you’re going to follow this path for about half an hour.
It’s an obvious path all the way around so just keep going and you’ll find you are essentially scaling the landscape. As long as you have a downwards slope to your left and an upwards slope to your right you’re on the right track! It will keep curving round to the right until eventually you’re at the lead of the valley where the path curves to the left past rabbit burrows and trees start to line your path.
Keep following the path and at as the line of trees end take a left and you find yourself at a collection of old buildings used as cowsheds that would have been visible for most of the walk thus far. With those buildings to your left take the gate straight ahead of you where the path will narrow.
You are essentially the other side of the field you have just walked round. Keep going straight and after a while you get to a few gates and there is a board with information about Castle Hill. You’re going to turn right here so 3’o’clock from where you were facing while walking. Again, there’s an obvious path and you’ll have a slope with lots of bracken to your left (albeit a bit further from the path). Here you are going to climb a hill that curves to the left and you’ll find yourself on the South Downs Way. Take a left here and keep to the right of a different mast. From here you’ll have beautiful views down to Brighton. Just follow the track right to the main road and the car park is on your left just before it.
As ever, I love to see you doing these walks, it makes the time spent on these posts so worth it so do please tag with @tidebloguk