i believe Brighton & Hove Albion have a home game today at the Amex in Falmer (against Newcastle) with kick off at 5-30 pm. Whilst SWC walkers should have passed through Falmer by 2 pm the area around the Swan pub is likely to be very busy all day: suggest you consider the the Stanmer Tea Rooms for your lunch stop.

If you like variety in a walk, this is the walk for you.

Journey planner is currently showing the Thameslink train at 9:35 (not 9:39) from London Bridge

Yes, Margaret is correct.....post updated...thanks!

16 people and 1 small dog assembled at the station. We quickly picked-up 2 other early starters making for 18 in total. The route is varied first through towns and villages on the flat, then a punishing climb to the top of the downs with a very pretty stretch through them....Most took Marcus' advice and had lunch at the tea shop with an added bonus for at least one being an apple juice and cider stand across the road with local produce, including a tasty nettle infused cider. On we went to Falmer where game prep was indeed underway and back up the downs across Kemptown race course with the sea tantalizingly ahead, luring us on....The group had fragmented after lunch, but in Brighton 6 reconnected on the beach front where 5 enjoyed a refreshing dip after a hot and sticky walk. We then enjoyed a thai meal before headed off at 8pm.....

As a result of a pedestrian being hit by a train near South Croydon in the early hours of Saturday morning, there was total disruption to travel from London towards the south coast. Nothing out of Victoria when I arrived there - I'm not sure if London Bridge fared any better - I suspect not. Some of us managed to get to Hassocks eventually, via various routes, and there I met two other SWC walkers on the platform. Another four - travelling from Haywards Heath - had waited for (non)arrivals at Hassocks for more than thirty minutes before starting their own walk: we met them at Ditchling Beacon car park. There might have been others, before or aft - if so, do please file your own walk report here. But for the moment let's say 7 .

The day started cloudy and overcast but the sun soon shone through and for most of the day it was sunny and comfortably warm , in fact, perfect walking weather for the South Downs. The views on top were lovely and the countryside throughout was green and lush, although with the harvest safely in, fields were bare.

Two of the Ditchling four took a bus from there, so we walked as a small group of five to Stanmer Village, where we all stopped for a good value lunch at the Tearooms. Because of the delayed start and the now lateness of the hour we all opted to finish the walk in Falmer, where two of us took the train to Brighton and the other three a bus into Brighton, for a planned swim: I hope they enjoyed their dip in the sea.

A small number of us managed to salvage an enjoyable downs walk out of a disrupted day.

Four of us did this walk on the day after the scheduled Saturday. This thime the trains working entirely as scheduled, though very full on the return journey. Cloud cover, warm, slightly humid.

We paused at Stanmer House where there is a cafe offering an appealing menu at reasonable prices, and what looked like a nice garden area in which to consume the results, but headed on when told that there was a 40 minute wait, landing at the Swan Inn. The walk description has it right when it says that this place is "without a hint of pretension", and it served serviceable roast lunches in its roadside outdoor area.

At some points the GPS file is misleading, steering followers to one side of a fence or hedge when it should be the other, and at other points it follows a path which is just different from that specified in the walk directions.

We took a short cut through the northern edge of Brighton's Queens's Park and residential streets to go directly to the station rather than out to the sea front and back inland.

I only needed one hand to count everyone today. There were 2 Yes 2. (I don’t think I told anyone I was coming so it can’t be that). There was some discussion about whether we should separate into two groups, but in the end we decided to stick together, at least for the start. The day was overcast with occasional light showers In Ditchling, it was noted that the deli had gone. We had no official lunch break as such but, as we approached the formidable ridge ahead, I could hear my companion’s motor start to rev up. Then suddenly fshoom!! he was off full tilt up the hill. This was to try to get to the Swan for a late lunch cum early tea. Someone had to come second so I just plodded philosophically along with a cheery smile on my face and a kind word for everyone. When I got to the Swan, it still looked open (as did the Stanmer tearooms earlier) but I didn’t go in. I finished at Falmer and got a bus into Brighton. I let a few go by before I realised Old Steine was a street in Brighton. I think my companion would have finished at Falmer too because the weather was starting to deteriorate. For me, the stretches through the universities and past the stadium detract from the rest of the walk, which is OK.

Hi Ian, I waited outside the Stanmer Tea Room at a table with a parasol, which almost kept off the rain which was falling quite heavily - and I waited....and waited.....and eventually I assumed you must have taken a different route. It was now too wet to continue with my book checking so, like you, I decided to conclude my walk in Falmer. Three quid for a single for the train to Brighton was excellent value in the circumstances and in Brighton I did not have to wait long for my connection for the London train. So, to quote the late and much missed rugby league commentator Eddie Waring, I was home in time for "an early bath".

It was windy on top of the Downs which looked lovely in the clear air with wonderful panoramic views. It was worth turning up for the walk today just for this leg up, over then down the Downs.

Thank you for your excellent company from walk start to the foot of the Downs beyond Ditchling, and I'm sorry I missed you at Stanmer.

There is also a Blackfriars service at 9.39 which gets in at 10.38 to Hassocks. Worth considering given the Victoria disruption today, Tuesday, which may leak into Wednesday morning. Check departure boards early tomorrow, online.

9 on this pleasant walk into Brighton on a warm sun cloudy day. Picnickers stopped in Stanmer, with 4 of us pressing on to Falmer for lunch at the friendly Swann Inn. 1 returned from Falmer, 2 caught up at the pub & 6 of us walked on. 2 faint-hearts got the bus at Bevenden - to avoid tarmac. 3 of us walked the green corridor into Brighton, enjoyed a look at the sea with coffee & beer before the train back to London. Leaving 3 unaccounted for.

After picnicking at Stanmer, the missing three walked on to Brighton. They enjoyed a refreshing beer in a pub called THE CONSTANT SERVICE which has a nice bohemian atmosphere and small back garden.

The name refers to a nearby covered water reservoir.

Then there's the Evening Star (a Darkstar brewery pub) close to Brighton Station...

26 on this walk. The weather was windy and wet . Not continuous rain but it started about an hour a half into the walk and was on and off thereafter. The afternoon crossing of the downs was fairly bleak - or refreshing, depending on your point of view. It was a good Atlantic wind, at least, fresh clean ocean air.

One or two may have stopped for lunch in the Stanmer tea room but most of us went to The Swan. This pub is a real 1970s timewarp but I think we enjoyed our sausage and chips, toasted sandwiches and baked potatoes (OK, perhaps baked potatoes are not that 1970s). I calculate that 11 got the train from Falmer and 15 (nine pub lunchers and six sandwichers in two separate groups) carried on to Brighton.

I hear two had a paddle there in the stormy sea and that the waves at the pier end were magnificent. Three of us went to the Mock Turtle Tea Room, which has rather discordant new furniture but the same fabulous selection of cakes. Then we trekked uphill to a very nice party given by a walker, with fine food kindly cooked by his lodger. A fine and friendly day out with plenty of what the Danes call “hygge”.

Three of us who took the train from Falmer also had tea at The Mock Turtle. I am afraid this old institution has not kept up with time. It is a bit dated. Walking along The Lane, there are no shortage of nice tea rooms, so worth trying one next time.

The Swan Inn is a very basic pub - the most dissapointing item is Fish and Chips with Fish straight from the freezer. Pity, given it is so close to the seaside. One would thought this is the one dish they should be a master to cook....

Whoops apocalypse - I've just noticed from the sports pages of my newspaper that Brighton (horse)races were on this afternoon - you probably had to take a different route avoiding Kemp Town racecourse. Sorry about that - I thought I had posted today's walk on a day when there was no race meeting - but I slipped up. I hope whatever diversion(s) you were forced to take did not spoil your enjoyment of the walk.

4 of us arrived at Hassocks and elected to take the direct route to Clayton and the Jack and Jill windmills, arriving, under high cloud and a light breeze, on the (surprisingly busy)South Downs Way. Directions thereafter a bit vague in places, but one walker had the GPS map on his phone, enabling us to head south at the right place. One elected to carry on east on the SDW, leaving three of us to enjoy an al fresco lunch on the green before Starmer House (and use its toilets)before heading to Falmer station where I dropped out, taking the train to Brighton, leaving the other two to carry on on foot.

4 overcast with pleasantly cool breeze. Only a few minutes delay crossing the racecourse road, with the added pleasure of seeing No.4 win the 4.30 race. The directions on the direct route at Falmer, avoiding the pub, were skimpy to put it kindly!

After the racecourse, we hopped on a station bound bus, but would have been quicker walking, due to it’s circuitous route and rush hour traffic. Just made the 5.33 for London. It was the fifth consecutive day’s walking for my companion on the final leg.

Looks like we'll have to go some to get to the pub for 2pm. Would there be any mileage in getting an earlier train? PS Can I propose a walk for my birthday (17th June)?

Mike, Yes - we have to walk briskly to get to the lunch pub in time - but I have managed it before. Unfortunately, train times are not helpful today. Services from London Bridge and Blackfriars do not get you to Hassocks much before the posted service unless you leave London before 09-30 hrs when senior railcards come into play. The best earlier service is from London Victoria at 09-21 hrs, but this will require an anytime single to East Croydon before your senior railcard can be used.

Your Birthday falls on a Saturday this year and I am sure the walk posters for 17 June will oblige by posting your choice of walk provided you give them plenty of advanced notice.

What's a senior railcard? Mine's a 16 to 25!

Wrong Mike: the SWC one I know is 50 years too old for your whippersnapper pass.

Not necessarily, Marcus. Bona fide mature students are also eligible for a 16-25 Railcard. A friend of mine studying at college for a new career in later years was able to move smoothly from a 16-25 to a Senior Railcard when he finished his course.

Marcus, is there no wed. walk this week?

Yes - both a daytime walk (Bekesbourne Circular) and an evening walk (Queensway to the Thames)

I may take an earlier train from East Croydon and start to walk earlier at a steady plod.

Kevin

8 walkers on the scheduled train, and I was one hour ahead, booking checking, so that's 9 on a mild to warm day that started overcast but sunny after lunch . The "mature student" with the student's pass zoomed ahead of the group and caught me up just before Stanmer Village. The rest joined me at the Swan Inn, Falmer North, having enjoyed their morning's walk and the stunning bluebells in Highpark Wood, above Stanmer. A few of us partook of the pub grub at the Swan and supped some good draught beer, before I said farewell to my colleagues and headed for Falmer Station, leaving them to wend their way over more downs and Kemp Town Racecourse in sunshine to Brighton.

With the bluebell season now coming to an end, today's walk was the last in the schedule of additional mid-week walks in our Spring programme. If numbers on Wednesday walks become unmanageable again in the coming weeks, the additional mid-week walks will resume at the start of our Summer programme, which starts in July.

I have done this walk a couple of times. But the last time I did it about a year ago. Somebody slipped on a bit of chalk. And hurt his hand. So this Young woman Jessica called for a Ambulance. Because she's a Qualified first Aid.

Just 3 for this walk. Weather was sunny with some showers Nobody stopped at the pub for lunch. Quite a tough walk in places, several steep climbs. Directions a bit sparse in places (we were perplexed occasionally but never went adrift). Except me near the end coming down “diagonally” from the TV mast. The Falmer to Brighton ending does not flow seamlessly from the previous section. Requires a bit of backwards paragraph hopping. But we got there (at least, I guess we did. Lost sight of the other two near the TV mast).