Walk 16 : Balcombe (round walk)

Length: Replace length with 18.9km (11.7 miles).

Features: Remove reference to gourmet inn for lunch.

Remove last sentence (replace with Editor's Note below).

Editor's Note: [New section] "The original version of this walk included a crossing of the A23 between points [7] & [8], but with the growth in road traffic this has now become too dangerous to attempt. There are indications that a footbridge might be provided here as part of a road-widening scheme. Until this happens, however, walkers are strongly advised to take the short cut mentioned in the text at [*] below (which reduces the length of the walk by 0.9km)."

History (Nymans): Replace last two sentences with "From November to mid-February, Nymans garden is only open at weekends. Admission (2006) is £7 (£4 on winter weekends)."

Saturday Walkers' Club: Suggest train nearest to 9.30am (trains are at 25 past; this just makes it clearer to catch the earlier train). Journey time is 56 minutes.

On Sundays, the service is from Victoria; journey time 51 minutes.

If coming by car, Balcombe Station car park is free on weekends and Bank Holidays.

Lunch: Replace whole section with "The recommended lunch stop is the Red Lion (tel 01444 400 292) in Handcross, 6km from the start of the walk. It serves a good range of food all day, every day ('8 days a week', it claims). The restaurant at Nymans is an alternative if you are visiting the gardens (see above for opening dates); it serves food from 11am to 5pm (4pm in winter). The original lunch stop, The Chequers at Slaugham (tel 01444 400 239), used to be seriously up-market but recent reports indicate that it now welcomes walkers (phone ahead to check if you plan to stop here). 5km after Handcross, the Jolly Tanners (tel 01444 400 335) and the Victory Inn (tel 01444 400 463) at Staplefield are useful watering-holes (phone ahead if you want to check food serving times)."

Walk Directions:

Note: What follows is a long list of changes to the book's Walk Directions, but it is by no means complete. As a result of a walk check in September 2006, I have a document with suggested changes to almost every paragraph. I have chosen to concentrate on sections where the meaning is ambiguous or not as easy to follow as it could be. For the most part, I have not included changes which are just minor corrections to distances or compass bearings, or notes about whether gates or stiles are missing or have been repaired, etc. SON

p 130, col 1, para 7: Replace both occurrences of "left-hand side" with "right-hand side".

p 130, col 2, para 4: Replace "In 200 metres go over a stile..." with "About 100 metres from the footbridge, bear left at a T-junction with a wider track and then in 10 metres turn right towards a stile 30 metres away. Go over this stile...".

p 131, col 1, para 3: Delete " (by a public footpath sign)". [Direction is correct but no sign.]

p 131, col 2, para 3: Delete " (the one with a pale green gas storage tank)". [Not present.]

p 132, col 1, paras 2 to 4: Replace these three paras with "In 200 metres cross a farm track and continue uphill (National Trust members could legitimately go left here and through a gate 40 metres away into Nymans gardens, later rejoining the walk after leaving the gardens by turning right on the B2114 to reach the Red Lion).

"In 200 metres, after climbing steeply, you come to Nymans carpark. If you wish to visit the gardens or its restaurant, go through the wooden fieldgate on your left and up to the entrance to pay the admission fee. Otherwise, continue for another 100 metres to the B2114 and turn right to reach the recommended lunch stop, the Red Lion pub, at the road junction.

"After lunch at the Red Lion, turn right onto the B2110, signposted Cowfold and Horsham, heading south-west. Cross the bridge over the A23, continue past All Saints Church and keep ahead on the B2110 at the mini-roundabout, now signposted to Lower Beeding."

p 132, col 2, para 5: Replace para with "Continue across a minor road and through the lychgate into St Mary's Parish Church. Go past the (closed) west door and round to the south door (ignoring a footpath which continues straight on). Just past this, veer right on a path through the churchyard, soon passing the 600-year-old yew tree on your right-hand side.

Where the gravel path ends, continue ahead on a grassy path and leave the churchyard through a kissing gate, entering Church Covert (owned by the Woodland Trust). Follow the footpath sign half-right downhill across a field, heading south-east, with the ruins of Slaugham Place ahead on your left."

p 133, col 1, para 1: Add final sentence "In 100 metres you come to a car lane [7], where you have a choice."

p 133, col 1, para 2: Replace para with "([*] To avoid a dangerous crossing of the very busy A23 up ahead, turn left along this car lane-which is actually the private driveway to Slaugham Manor, so technically you are trespassing-and continue along it for 300 metres to a T-junction with a minor road: the one you crossed just before St Mary's church. Turn right along this road, in 250 metres going underneath two road bridges carrying the A23. Continue on this road for another 1km, eventually going ahead at a crossroads to pass Staplefield's village green on your left; turning left at the crossroads would bring you to the Jolly Tanners pub in about 300 metres. In 100 metres you come to the Victory Inn pub on your right-hand side, and rejoin the main walk directions at this point below.)

To continue on the original walk directions-which is only recommended if a planned footbridge has been constructed over the A23-cross the car lane and follow a footpath sign over a stile. Keep the edge of the wood on your right-hand side for 100 metres or so, until you can see a stile slightly to the left on the other side of the field. Make for this, your direction now 120 degrees.

p 133, col 1, para 4: Delete bracketed A23 diversion " (to avoid the A23...highlighted below)". [Covered by new directions above.]

p 133, col 2, para 6: Add final sentence "(The Jolly Tanners pub is about 300 metres ahead, on the other side of the village green.)"

p 134, col 1, para 4: Replace para with "In 80 metres you pass the cottages and bear left with the driveway to continue through a wooden fieldgate. Pass to the right of Old Hall Farm Cottage and take a path half-right to exit its garden over a stile. Bear left, following the footpath sign, to head east along the left-hand field edge."

p 134, col 1, para 10: Replace para with "Head uphill on the other side, your direction 150 degrees, towards a gate in the hedge at the top of the field. Continue along a path between hedges to reach Sidnye Farm (as marked on the OS map)."

p 134, col 2, para 2: Replace first two lines with "At the farm, bear half-left, following the footpath sign. In 25 metres, at the three-armed footpath sign, turn half-left again to head due east, ..."

p 134, col 2, para 6: Replace first four lines with "Instead of bending right with the road here, go into the field on your left to continue straight on uphill (due north, ..."

Replace "between a vast network of fields" with "in a large field".

p 134, col 2, paras 7 & 8: Replace these two paras with "In 250 metres go over a stile and continue uphill towards another stile in a hedge. Cross this and bear left uphill, keeping the hedge on your left as you pass the red-brick house on your left-hand side.

"In a further 250 metres, you come to the brow of the hill (with fine views to the south and east). Continue for 50 metres with a hedge on your left and then go gently downhill on a car-wide track into Pilstye Wood. 50 metres into the wood, ignore a fork to the left and keep on the main track downhill, with an impressive rock outcrop split by tree roots on your left-hand side."

p 135, col 1, para 2: Replace para with [note exclamation point required] "[!] In another 50 metres, an earth car road merges from the right but instead of joining this, follow a footpath sign to take a narrow track opposite and slightly to the right, now going more steeply downhill. In 40 metres, bear right with this path and continue downhill, heading north-east and with a new plantation on your right-hand side."

p 135, col 1, para 4: Replace para with "In another 200 metres do not go through the metal fieldgate but take the stile to its right to go onto a narrow path between fences. In 60 metres you cross another stile to come out onto the B2036, where you turn left, due north."

p 135, col 1, paras 6 & 7: Replace these two paras with "In 100 metres you enter the drive of Kemps House (marked on the OS map), with the house on your left-hand side. Having passed the house, head half-right to find a wooden gate to leave the property. A path brings you in 20 metres to a stile and then the main London-Brighton railway line.

"Cross the railway with great care (trains come round the curve at up to 90mph). Continue on the path up the bank on the other side, parallel to the tracks. Cross the stile at the top and then in 20 metres take the right fork to continue on, with the field edge on your right-hand side, towards the houses ahead (due north)."