I'd always thought it would be nice to walk the whole 100 miles of the South Downs Way one year. So earlier this August I caught the train to Winchester and started the walk.
Logistically, the most straight forward way to walk the South Downs Way is the wild camping way, meaning no need to try and estimate how many miles I'd manage in a day; I could just walk as far as I liked each day until I had decided enough was enough.
Other advantages of the wild camping method are that you camp along the route instead of having to walk miles off course to find B&Bs or camp sites, which are fairly scare anyway. You also stay closer to nature and get to look up at the stars at night from your sleeping bag, which is nice.
I set off from Winchester's King Alfred statue at 6.30pm and got 7 miles done before camping near Cheriton. The next day I walked a further 16 miles to Butser Hill, arriving there by 6.30 in the evening. By now, I was experiencing a pain in my legs that was telling me I needed to stop the walk at this point and finish it off in shorter stages at a later date. The nearest train station was Petersfield which was another 6 miles, bringing the day's mileage to 22 miles and the first quarter of the South Downs Way completed in 24 hrs.
Golden fields of wheat on the approach to Old Winchester Hill
Looking SW from Old Winchester Hill
Looking west from Old Winchester Hill
Looking east towards Butser Hill from Old Winchester Hill
