April 2018

and the South Downs - and being exactly on the border of West Sussex, at The Jolly Drover, a pleasant and popular pub near Petersfield, with good food, comfortable rooms a few yards away from the bustle of the restaurant, and several teams of waiters and waitresses, all eager to provide a good service. We felt quite at home here.

To see our earlier trip to Hampshire go here.

Though the weather was good, generally warm, we followed in the wake of some heavy and constant rain over previous weeks which some of our route extremely muddy.

However apart from some glum grumps from Duncan, who really dislikes sliding around muddy walks, everyone else was very tolerant.

We ate extremely well, at great pubs like The Jolly Drover, The Hawkley Inn, The White Hart at South Harting (which is in West Sussex) and The Harrow Inn, a classic unchanged country pub at Steep.

We used Walking World's walks id=2408 (South Harting)_, id=2216 (Steep, the pub of which Walking World says: "The Harrow Inn was named by the Good Pub Guide as the most unspoilt pub of the year in 1996 and 2008. It is one of only three "authentic pubs" in Alastair Sawday's guide to British pubs.") id=4352 and 3425 (Hawkley, see unusual church tower below)

Hawkley Church of St Peter and St Paul, designed by Samuel Sanders Teylon in 1865, in Rhenish Helm style.

In June, 2018, we visited the Isle of Wight and walked part of the coastal path (well signposted) west from Cowes.