Leanne and Don, life across the pond: Hike between Hassocks and Lewes

Today we would take a hike in thru the country side from the town of Hassocks to Lewes. After we left the train station we would walk a few trails heading out of town.

We would go by a forest full of bluebell flowers,

they seem to go on

forever.

England has thousands of trails, this is one of the ones we would pass. England is a very dog friendly country, so they always do things to helps them out. This is a crossing stile for humans and dogs.

It's pretty simple, just lift the board and he goes thru.

England has many foot paths, this is one of the many sign posts we would pass.

Next we would walk up the hill to the Clayton windmills, the are called Jack and Jill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clayton_Windmills

The left is Jack and the right is Jill----we did not see a pail of water at the top.

And to Coach's delight there were a lot of sheep with little ones on the way up. He really wanted to run and play with them but it was not to be.

A view of our walk up.

Finally at the top we passed the windmills and walked the ridge. The trail we would be taking is called the South Down way.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Downs_Way

A trail that is 100 miles long, today we would be doing over 11 miles of it.

This was our view for most of the day.

There was also a few Dew ponds,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_pond

these are artificial ponds usually sited on the top of a hill, intended for watering livestock.

Just another great view.

For the most part Coach did not have to be on a leash. But when ever we saw cattle, sheep or an occasional horse and rider he had to have it on.

About a third of the way we came to road crossing and a parking lot. Leanne was reading the map we had printed out and she said there may be an ice cream truck parked there selling cold treats. I thought the was adding a story to the map, so i replied, and maybe a foot massage too. She wasn't making it up, there was an ice cream truck A big score for us.

You can tell by how happy we are---Coach was having a hard way of showing his happiness.

we passed a few more cattle, this time there was a fence between Coach and them.

There was a side trail at the half way point that we could have taken to have lunch at a pub. But to go to the pub we would have had to walk down the hill and then back up. We decided to pass up lunch and move on.

We had been seeing these yellow fields all day and would finally walk close to one. This is a field of Rapeseed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed

Canola oil and protein meal is produced from this plant.

And this is me bringing up the rear.

Time for a break and seem snacks

I also needed a break and some snacks.

Our next ridge to walk on.

and another view of the country side.

Behind Leanne is a beacon pole. A fire would be made in the basket and used to signal someone. We had seen one of these on another walk, it was also high on a hill.

Well it's finally time to go down the hill.

Along the way were more fields of sheep, it must be lambing season because we saw a lot of little ones.

We came to this church and a very busy road. It took us a while to cross.

Getting close to the town of Lewes we passed more grazing fields.

Finally made it to Lewes,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewes

Coach says I'm going to lay down right here.

As for Leanne and I we'll have a pint and a half pint. There was a big soccer match today so the pub was packed. Picture it like a college football Saturday only it's soccer. Lots of hooting a hollering and team fight songs.

For some reason after we left the pub we had to walk up another hill. We thought we were done with them when we got to town. But the whole town seemed to be a bunch of hills.