Burwash Weald

Burwash Weald Circular - 5th November 2012

It was a bright, sunny but cold day with the top temperature barely reaching 9 dec C - an ideal walking day. Ivan had picked the route so we expected "Severe Undulations" and generally we were not disappointed and the legs later that day told us so too!

Burwash is a very pretty village deep in the Sussex Weald...

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/place?ftid=0x47df1539a63ecc29:0x50eae2da2ed6b30&q=Burwash&hl=en&ved=0CA0Q-gswAA&sa=X&ei=7OmYUNizMc2CiAaL54GIBQ&sig2=Riu83oVCR1h9TnjVwSvNNw

... we parked up and set off about 10-30 on what was described as a well marked path. Initially that was the case and we settled into a nice pave that took us right past Bateman's, the house that belonged to Rudyard Kipling, the popular English Author. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling

Batemans, now a National Trust property

As we passed, Ivan, a great fan of the Author's "Jungle Book" couldn't resist a quick chorus of "I wanna be like you, who, who" to which Trevor responded with "If I see an Elephant Fly" but we had to chastise him for choosing the wrong Disney ....

Apart from being an excellent Author and Poet, Kipling was also a technical innovator and he dammed a small stream in the grounds of the house and installed a small water driven turbine that powered an electrical generator for lighting in the house, one of the earliest houses to have electricity. The turbine is still in place.

From this point on the path became a bit fuzzy. Fortunately, our new high tech GPS unit meant that we were never "lost" because we always knew exactly to within 8 foot where we were. Its just that where we were wasn't always where the path was! And even when we were on the path, when you are in the middle of a wood one can find oneself walking the path but in the wrong direction! Fortunately a case conference, two sets of maps and a compass soon sorted out the issue and we all agreed that the detour we had taken was very well worthwhile!  So at 12-45 we were mightily glad to see the planned lunch stop come into view - "The Wheel" at Burwash Common.

Clearly taking on ale and food was what was required because afterwards we didn't stray from the path once. The views all round were delightful and we ended up completing 7.6 miles on a glorious day as you can see from the photos below.

Stats for the day were ...