On Wednesday 19th November, the planned Lewes Footpaths Group excursion to Piltdown had to be cancelled, so a walk from Lewes up to Malling Down was hastily substituted. The weather was cold and wet and the forecast not encouraging, but a few hardy souls turned up to our gathering place in the North Street car park.

From there we walked down to the Pells and crossed the River Ouse overthe footbridge. After the underpass, an unpaved footpath took us uphill to Church Lane, which we followed past the Sussex Police Headquarters and along to the junction with the A26. Crossing at the lights, we walked up Mill Road to the entrance to the Malling Down nature reserve and then turned right onto the down. As we began the steady climb uphill the forecast sleet started to fall. By the time we reached the top of the hill it had turned to snow and our group were beginning to resemble polar explorers. It seemed sensible to cut the walk short so we took the path around the head of the Combe. The cattle had churned up the route in places but the cows themselves were sensibly sheltering lower down in the valley. We continued around the edge of the golf course past the Martyrs' Memorial, and abandoned our plan to visit the golf club café in favour of a rapid return to Lewes down Chapel Hill. Enjoyable nonetheless.

The walk was led by Anne.