SWC (Free) Walks

Walk 26 : South Downs Way : Amberley to Lancing

A ridge walk along the South Downs Way, passing Chanctonbury Ring.

Features	This walk, which can be done in either direction, follows the South Downs Way (SDW). The route follows the crest of South Downs Ridge, and passes Chanctonbury Ring, a ring of trees planted on the remains of an ancient Hill Fort. This spot has a beautiful 360° views, and is the recommended picnic spot. Apart from the ending in Lancing, the route is very well way-marked. All the paths are wide, easy to walk on, and easy to follow. The route is almost entirely over an open, treeless, chalk ridge, which is very exposed in bad weather. In good weather, there are great views for the entire walk. At the half way point, there is a break in the ridge, where the route crosses a busy A Road. There is a longer alternative which avoids this crossing, and passes a walker friendly pub. This walk can be done with the help of an OS map (or by printing the map segments), but the instructions below alone are sufficient.
Walk Options	Reverse the walk, starting in Lancing. Amberley has a nice pub and riverside tea garden to finish. Finish in Bramber or Upper Beeding and catch a regular bus to Shoreham-by-Sea station. This is a mile or so shorter. This is a prettier ending, and has some tea options, but does have the added complication of a bus journey. Walk all the way to Shoreham. This is an interesting and scenic route, but adds a further mile to an already long walk.
Length	About 13 miles
Toughness	5 out of 10 (mainly gentle gradients, but a relentless and steep climb after lunch)
Maps	Map 1 : Amberley Map 2 : SDW over Rackham Hill Map 3 : SDW (South of Storrington) Map 4 : SDW cross A24 (and via Washington for Pub Option) to Chanctonbury Ring Map 5 : SDW towards Steyning Map 6 : SDW, South to the Coast (and Finish in Upper Beeding Option) Map 7 : Steep Down and Lancing Map 8 : Lancing Station and Beach Map 9 : Shoring (Finish in Shoring Option, Swimming option)
Travel By Train	Buy a return to Barnham. Amberley and Shoreham/Lancing are on different lines, but a ticket to Barnham (where the 2 routes converge) – which is actually the same price as Lancing – is valid for both stations. Amberley : 1 train an hour, about 1 hr 30, from London Victoria Lancing : 4 trains an hour, about 1 hr 15, from London Victoria (some require a change at either Hove or Brighton) Upper Beeding : The 2A bus goes to Shoreham. It leaves from opposite the Castle Hotel in Bramber at (Summer 2008 times) 4.36, 5.41, 6.14, 6.34, and then 34 past until 10:34. Shoreham : About 4 trains an hour to London Victoria, 2 direct, 2 via Brighton.
Travel By Car	Check. Up to 2 changes, about an hour to return to your car (Amberley to/from Shoreham or Lancing)
Lunch	The main walk is a picnic walk only. The 'via Washington alternative' passes the walker friendly Frankland Arms in Washington
Tea	The main walk (finish in Lancing) : to do Finish in Upper Beeding : 2 very nice pubs, the Bridge Inn and Kings Head Finish in Shoreham : there is a pub next to the station. Shoreham Beach : pub, convenience store selling coffee and cakes.
Saturday Walkers Club	Take the train closest to 9:45 from Victoria.
Swimming	"Lancing has a beach, and so does Shoreham-by-Sea. If coming from Bramber or Upper Beeding by bus, to get to the beach, get off the bus just after the shopping area of Shoreham, and cross the footbridge across the harbour. See the end of the main walk directions for more details.

Walking Instructions

1. Leaving Amberley station, turn right, and follow the road, past the museum entrance.
2. In 500 metres, turn right up Titten Lane, following the South Downs Way (SDW).
3. Follow the SDW. In more detail:
   1. At the top of the hill, where a road joins from the left, keep straight on. In another 80 metres, fork left between wooden barriers up a path, signposted South Downs Way (but not too clearly).
   2. Where the slope levels out, the path merges with a farm track. Follow this straight on up the ridge, ignoring tracks to the right.
   3. Carry on up the hill ahead. At the top, you pass through a kissing gate. You can either remain on the track, or go through the kissing gate to the left, onto access land (Springhead Estate) which gives you a better view from the escarpment. If on the access land, in 800 metres you have to cross two stiles (or gates?) and there is a gate to the right that would allow you to rejoin the main track. But you can if you wish stay on the access land, climbing a hill and carrying on for another 800 metres or so, until a gate allows you back onto the main track.
   4. Whichever way you have come, you now follow the SDW through a thick line of trees and carry on, slightly downhill.
   5. At the bottom of the long gentle hill, there is a car park to the right. Again you can stay on the SDW over the next long gentle rise, eventually descending to another small car park. But better is to veer left into the first car park and to pick up a path at its far end, that runs parallel to the SDW you have just left. Follow this for 1km, and just after the top of the hill, just past a trigonometry point, you get a fine view to the left. To rejoin the SDW stay on the path, with a fence to your right, until it curves right to a road. Turn right on the road and follow it a short way uphill to the car park, and turn left to resume the SDW.
4. 750 metres after the second car park, veer left with the SDW, passing to the left of a barn (the more obvious route anyway).
5. Just over the brow of the next hill, you pass through a gate. In 200 metres more, on the left, there is a a car wide path signposted "South Downs Way Alternative Route across A24".
6. 1) The main route (shorter, crosses a busy road, no pub)
   1. Continue straight on along the SDW. Head downhill to the busy A24. There is a median, so you can cross in 2 stages.
   2. Follow the SDW back up to the ridge again, and follow it to Chanctonbury Ring.
   2) The 'via Washington' alternative (longer, pub, no busy road crossing).
   1. Turn left on "South Downs Way Alternative Route across A24" track.
   2. Follow the track as it goes over the brow of the hill, down the escarpment, and then slants right. It slants down across a big open space. The correct exit on the far side of this is hard to find, but is a car wide track down through trees signposted SDW.
   3. At the bottom of this wooded track, ignore a track to the right, and instead go through a wooded boundary, and turn right on a second track beyond it.
   4. Cross the A24 on a footbridge, and keep on past the church downhill on a village road (the village is called Washington, but is not named as such here), until you come to a T-junction at the bottom. Turn left and the lunchtime pub, the Frankland Arms is in 100 metres or so on the left.
   5. After lunch, come out of the pub and turn right on the road. In 30 metres, go left over an easily missed stile, and veer right across the field beyond to another stile in the corner. Carry on along a fenced in path around a field.
   6. Cross a track, and go over a stile into the next field, and slant up across it to a stile at the top of the field. Carry on uphill beyond it, and at the far end of this field, cross a stile and turn left into a large field, with the escarpment now visible to your right
   7. Keep on along the left hand edge of this field, parallel to the escarpment. Half way along the next field, slant diagonally right across the field to a stile about 150 metres from its left hand corner.
   8. Carry on across the next field towards the trees. At the far end of this field you reach a gate. Beyond this, go right (not straight ahead, which seems more obvious) up a car wide track that starts to climb uphill.
   9. In 60 metres, take the path that goes left off this track, directly uphill, passing a hollow to your left. The path curves left around the top of the hollow, and flattens out for a while. But it soon starts to climb - relentlessly and steeply - and eventually brings you up to Chanctonbury Ring, an ancient hillfort now covered in trees.
   10. To get back on the South Downs Way, pass to the right of the Ring, and follow the obvious track.
7. In around 3km the SDW comes down to a road (the track goes up to the road and then veers away: but you go onto the road, following the SDW sign)
8. Cross the road, and take the path parallel to it on the far side, signposted SDW. In 150 metres, there is a concrete track descending to the left
9. Finish in Upper Beeding Option (shorter, nice pubs, bus to train station)
   1. Turn left here along the Monarchs Way. The track becomes a tarmac lane, which leads down to a roundabout in front of Bramber Castle (worth a quick look).
   2. Cross the roundabout, go west along "The St" road
   3. Tea options include the Old Tollgate Hotel opposite the castle, and pubs slightly further on. 2A buses go to Shoreham from stops on the left hand side of the road.
10. To carry on to Lancing or Shoreham , however, ignore the concrete track, and keep on through the gate ahead on the SDW, parallel to the road.
11. In 400 metres you pass through a gate. The South Downs Way turns left here, but you carry straight on along the field edge.
12. Follow the path towards Steep Down and the car park marked on the OS map. In more detail:
    1. Where the field edge ends in 150 metres, merge with a path coming from the gate to the right. Keep straight on, heading towards a large rounded hill ahead on a car wide track.
    2. When you get to the hill, keep to the left of it, and simply keep straight on along this track for another 2km as it follows a ridge downwards and then up towards a hill crowned with rather scrubby woods.
    3. Just beyond the brow of the hill, you come to a fork marked by an arrow on a post.
13. 1) Finish at Lancing Station (shorter, 1.5km, road walking)
    1. Fork right here. You soon come to houses and need to make your way more or less in a straight line through the town (due south) for about 1.5km to the station.
    2. Continue south, past the station, for a beach.
    2) Finish at Shoreham (longer, about 3km, more interesting)
    1. Fork left here (at the post mentioned in the previous direction).
    2. Follow the path as it curves left towards Lancing College (a famous public school). Eventually the path comes to a road. Carry on down this, but when it turns sharp right in 250 metres or so, keep on down a car wide track, a signposted bridleway, that passes a house and becomes a path
    3. Eventually this brings you to a road, with the entrance to Lancing College to the left. Turn right here, passing houses on the right. In 300 metres you come to another T-junction, and go right. In 100 metres, this road comes to a dead end, and you pass through a gap to emerge on the A27 dual carriage way. Turn left along a tarmac path along its edge.
    4. Cross the A27 at the traffic lights, and go down the dead end side road on the far side.
    5. You pass the entrance to Shoreham Airport and keep on down the road. In 100 metres ignore another tarmac road to the right, but just beyond it turn right on a signposted footpath that takes you out along a concerte wall along the edge of the Adur river estuary to your left. This eventually brings you under the railway bridge: beyond it turn left and keep to the right of a playground to emerge onto a road.
    6. Turn left on the road, and over the bridge. On the far side, turn right along Shoreham high street.
    7. For the station , take the sixth road to the left, East Street.
       For the beach , go right across the harbour footbridge opposite East Street. Beyond the bridge, turn left for a short while and then right before the pub. Note that there is a convenience store to the left on the road down to the beach that sells hot coffee and cakes and is open late.

Driving	Start: Amberley Station is near : BN18 9LR. [gmap] Finish: Lancing Station is near : BN15 9HH. [gmap]
Train Travel	London to Amberley | Lancing to London