1066 Country Walk

18 - 21 September 2023

The 1066 Country Walk has been on the map for some time but thanks to a £160,000 grant from the European Union, Rother District Council have completely revamped the trail with improved signage, new information boards and ten large-scale wooden sculptures by local artist Keith Pettit, placed along the 31-mile trail from Pevensey to Rye. The ceremony to re-launch the trail was on 15 ^thOctober 2021. Websites describe the walk as "a relatively easy low-level route through countryside that witnessed the Norman Conquest." That word "relatively" carries a lot of weight. Parts of the High Weald are quite seriously hilly, though it has-to-be said that the hills are not very long, they just seem very long at the end of the day, or even in the middle of the day for some of the group. See the route profile below to see just how hilly it is! Day One of the holiday started well as we sat on the train outside Pevensey for 50 minutes waiting for a tree that had been blown down to be cleared. That fortunate delay meant that we were not rained on as we walked through the grounds of Pevensey Castle to the start of the trail. Given the generally grim forecast for the week, we were lucky to be hardly rained-on at all during the four days of the holiday. The wind was fierce on the first two days but was only really-noticeable on the first day as we crossed the Pevensey Levels. In the afternoon the sun came out and we made good progress to reach Boreham Street for the coach to pick us up only ten-minutes behind schedule, given that we had started out over an hour late. The stretch from Herstmonceux Church to Boreham Street involved a lot of stiles. For the rest of the route there were mostly new metal gates, some of the kissing variety but mostly simple open and shut models. European Union money well-spent, stiles can be hard work. The High Weald is always lovely to walk through. Our picnic on the second day was taken at the top of very taxing hill behind some trees and shrubs that sheltered us from the wind and afforded us a wide view across the countryside that we had just walked through. On the third day, many of us got soaking wet as we walked to the lay by at Cuilfail where we boarded the coach to take us back to Battle. That rain cleared away and the wind had dropped. It was good walking weather and the walking was good. Our picnic was taken seated on the benches outside the handily-placed pavilion of Westfield Cricket Club before we tackled more of those "easy" hills. After nine gruelling miles we arrived at the Queens Head in Icklesham with just enough time for a well-deserved drink before catching the bus to Rye. The view from the garden is huge. As we sat drinking our drinks and admiring the view, we all commented on the morose attitude of the man who had served us, duly christened "Mr Grumpy." It was not that he was actively bad-tempered or rude, he was just totally dead-pan. Was he always like that or was he just having a bad day? Who knows? The River Haven Hotel in Rye served us well. The staff were lovely and the evening meal was excellent. The huge breakfast on the following day got us off to a good start. The route from Icklesham took us past the studio owned by Paul McCartney and the graveyard in Winchelsea where Spike Milligan is buried. The most immediately striking feature as you enter Winchelsea Church are the stained-glass windows which are a war memorial, a gift of Lord Blanesburgh, designed by Douglas Strachan and dedicated in October 1933. They are quite lovely, lighting up the huge interior to stunning effect. The 1066 Country Walk is easy to follow thanks to the frequent way marks. The new information boards are excellent and the sculptures all fit in perfectly. All-in-all, it was a most enjoyable, if at times

Pictures by Vivien, Anita, Peter, and Graham