CYCLIST'S GUIDE TO THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY

Section Summaries

I have rearranged website as links at top taking up too much space. Now use link on each section below.

I have divided my guide up into sections of the SDW. I show below two maps, each with the route of the SDW drawn on (by me so indicative!). Each vertical bar is the start/end of a section.

The first map shows the sections at the western end, from  Winchester as far as Bignor Hill, so my sections: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. The second map shows the sections from Bignor, 6, to Devils Dyke 8, and now 9 &10 to Eastbourne. I have referred to the 'section breaks' as eg Harting, Bignor; this means the 'hill' not the village. 

 1. Winchester to Exton (A32): Approx. 12 miles, climb on tarmac, good gravel & grass tracks, short stretch of tarmac,  descent through village to A32.

1/2 Revised Meon Valley route March 2009: adds 2.2 miles to route

2. Exton (A32) to Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QEP): Approx. 9 miles, short stretch on tarmac, then old railway line, grass, short steep climb, then , steep descent through field, farm track, short tarmac, then concrete, short climb in flint/root gully, good gravel gentle climbing, then VERY fast descent on wide open grass.

3. QEP to Harting: Approx. 6 miles, gradual climb on gravel, short ups & downs on good gravel, few short sections of tarmac, some good fast sections, before narrow path with gradual climb to Harting Hill.

4. Harting to Cocking: Approx 7 miles; grass downland, then steep descents and climbs on chalk; good gravel section with climb; rutted, bumpy section, then long descent on flint chalk.

5. Cocking to Bignor: Approx. 7 miles, long climb on stony flint, relatively flat on gravel, stone, earth, steepish descent through crops, grass to road, then long climb on chalk up to Bignor, with a last stretch on flat grass.

6. Bignor to Amberley: Approx. 5 miles, hard bumpy stone, small dip, cross main road, long steepish descent on chalk to beside River Arun.

7. Amberley to Washington:  Approx. 7 miles; long climb on tarmac with steep climb on gravel, stone, grass; relatively long level, good, fast middle section, descent to A24. 

8. Washington to Devils Dyke: Approx. 13 miles, long climb chalk, stone to Chanctonbury, good long gradual descent to River Adur, climb back up on grass, tarmac, short up & downs on chalk, finish on good grass.

And these by chance add up to 65 miles !

And now a rest, or the rest !

9. Devils Dyke to Southease: Approx. 17 miles: (from Ditchling to Southease at present 12 1/2 miles) :Good level grassy track, hard chalk, then good gradual long descent mainly grass, with only short climb in woods, to A27. Long climb up on good grassy , then good level section at top. Slightly bumpy part through fields (Swanborough Hill). Gradual descent, concrete track and then fields. Cross River Ouse.

10. Southease to Eastbourne: (Now done June 2008) approx 13 miles Three long rough climbs. Tops are flattish grass ridges.

SUMMARY of surfaces

TARMAC: prefix numbers refer to 'my sections'. (distances are approx, all miles). Most are between Winchester and QEP.

1: A31 to Chilcomb: 1.1 miles

1: end of Holden Lane, Milberry Pub, to Wind Farm: 1.5 miles.

1: Beacon Hill: 0.2 mile

1, 2:Wheely Down Farm to Old Winchester Hill: 2.4 miles.

2: Whitewool Farm (between Old Winchester Hill & Coombe): 0.25 mile

2: HMS Mercury: 0.4 mile

2: just west of Butser: 0.5 mile

3: QEP: 0.5 mile

3: Buriton: 0.2 mile

3: Coulters Dean, Ditcham, Sunwood Farm: 0.75 mile

7: Amberley, High Titten lane: 0.4 mile

8: Bidulphs, to west of A283: 0.5 mile

8: Truleigh Hill: 0.75 mile

Total tarmac out of 65 miles approx 9 1/2 miles

9. A27 Housedean 0.25 mile

9. Southease: 1 mile

10. Alfriston: 0.3 mile

10 Alfriston after cross river: 0.3

10. Jevington :0.2

So another approx 2 miles, total say 12 out of 97 miles

GRASS: (distances are approx, all miles)

2: Butser, 0.75 mile

4: Harting Down, 0.3 mile

5: just to west of Bignor, 0.3 mile

8: Chanctonbury Ring, 0.2 mile

8: Annington Hill just to west of Bidolphs A283: 0.5 mile

and then last 0.25 mile to Devils Dyke !

9 : a few grass

10: many grass stretches

ROUGH: (This is relative, and just impressions (physical!) gained from experience; these parts just seem to stand out as being unpleasant !)

Didling Hill to Cocking Down (between Harting & Cocking); Bignor Hill. First few hundred yards up Bourne Hill going out of Jevington.

STEEPEST CLIMBS: (In my opinion, as usually because I have to walk up part !) 

Going east (Winch to Eastbrne): Salt Hill (perhaps not all that steep, but included due to surfaceand as I usually have to walk!) [between Warnford & Butser]; Pen Hill (short) [between Harting & Cocking]; Littleton End from A285 (just about cycle up) (Cocking to Bignor); Amberley Mount; A24 to Chanctonbury; .

Going west (Eastbrne to Winch ): from A27 at Housedean Farm; Littleton down (from A285, Bignor to Cocking) Pen Hill ; Butser (short section just before gate).

GATES

Following a request, I note the number of gates. These are from memory !

Section 1 Winch Wford: 12;  Section 2 Warnford QEP: 5;   Section 3 QEP Cocking: 3;  Section 4 Cocking Bignor: 5;   Section 6 Bignor Amberley:  6?;  Section 7 Amberley A24: 7?;   Section 8 A24 Devils Dyke: 9?;  Section 9 DD (Ditchling) Southease: 11? ;    Section 10 Southease Eastbourne:  11?. 

So about 70 gates in total !

I have added a table of metres 'climbed' and descended' on General Information page.