Day three - Alfriston to Southease station

Day three – Alfriston to Southease station 

“The hills are alive with the sound of music” 

I left Alfriston and climbed up a hill to return to the downs. 

To begin with there was nothing much of note.   I wondered what the black rectangle was in the middle of the crop and decided it must be manure.   The birds seemed to like it and played gleefully, rising and descending.  I noted the grassy mounds I kept passing too and figured they must be the burial mounds I had read about.  Quite a few seemed to dip in the middle, maybe where the bodies had been. 

I came across two ordinance survey marker obelisks.  The second was behind a ring-shaped mound with a sunken track through to it.  I have no idea what the purpose of this split-ring is or was. 

Most surprisingly maybe, was meeting a bright yellow recycling truck.  A Man got out to do the gate and went on his way, but as far as I could see there was no bin in sight and no rubbish to speak of.  Quite where he was picking up from (if that's what he was doing), I don't know!    

As I passed on, the sheep beside me started sneezing.  I quite understood their plight, living up here in weather like today!  Later I would talk to a picture-perfect sheep as I took her photo, only to discover a man on a bike watching me.   

Now I came to a cattle grid.  Ordinarily this would be of no significance, but I am sure this is the castle grid that a classmate in year 6 broke her ankle on.  I wasn't there at the time because I went on the alternative Isle of Wight trip, but this has got to be the infamous one.  Standing there looking at it, I suddenly heard music beside me.   I thought it was a radio, but no, it was the gate.   The wind blowing through the metal tubes was playing it like the pan pipes.  It sounded quite good.  Anyway, back to the cattle grid and for the reasons of defeating the grid and perhaps tempting fate, plus the fact the sign was next to the grid not the gate, I just had to take on the challenge of crossing the grid. No injuries to speak of – thank goodness, else I would have looked daft!   

Cruising the hills now became filled with bird song.  The tune of which sounded much like the birds were telling alarming news to one another and this knowledge was spreading like wildfire in the community.   

Coming to the end of the hills for the day, I could see two bridges ahead but the path seemed to veer left.  I knew I had to cross the road and river by bridge, so I consulted Google maps and was pleased I did because the path went left.  Much to my surprise I ended up at the same bridges, just by doing a snaking-detour and a few extra thousand steps no doubt!   Had I have gone straight down I would have still come across a South Downs Way footpath sign and would have unwittingly missed a section out, so I was pleased of the phone.     

I liked the design of the bridge over the road.   It was a lovely curve, with half the floor smooth for pedestrians and half ridged for riders.  

Just the other side there were some cute hobbit-like cabins, presumably for those doing the South Downs Way to glamp in.  There's a cafe too. 

Not too far along there were men painting the pedestrian gates on the level crossing with a fresh lick of white paint who let me through, though I later realised I could have used the footbridge. 

Almost immediately after this there is another bridge, this time over the river.  Two men in kayaks paddled under and said “cheese” as myself and another man took their photo, then wished us a good day.