Elaine Hammond circular walk from Steyning via the River Adur and the Downs Link on the disused railway line

Transcript

00:00 I'm just about to head out on a walk from Stenning and all the years I've

00:05 been covering Stenning Parish Council I never knew this bridge was here by a

00:10 stream right by the Stenning Centre so that's a new one to start the walk.

00:16 It hasn't been far following a straightforward series of footpaths to get to this

00:21 point where I mean wow just look at that view it's wonderful.

00:27 So we've just come through a gate into this open field and you can see we've

00:32 got ahead of us a wonderful walk that is going to take us up the river.

00:37 Isn't that gorgeous? We've reached the River Ada and we're going to be following it for a

00:42 reasonable way. You need to stay with the river on your right hand side and follow

00:47 the riverbank. So many swans look at them all. It's a beautiful day for walking up

01:07 the river. Not quite sure I expected to meet this cow who seems quite interested

01:15 in me. I might go down the hill. The views here are absolutely wonderful.

01:23 We've just climbed over a stile and now I'm back on grass. We're still following

01:41 the riverbank. At low tide you can see the remains of an old quarry here and

01:50 apparently a trackway ran from here to a quarry at Small Dole. This old railway

01:56 bridge is part of the Downslink. You might be lucky and spot some grey heron

02:02 and white egrets in the marsh here. It's been an absolutely glorious walk along

02:10 the river. We've reached north over Pump and that means it's time to turn away

02:17 from the river and start making our way along so we can go back to Stenning. At

02:23 this junction you need to turn left and go over the little stile there on the

02:27 left. Now we're crossing another stile to go into a field and you turn

02:32 left and walk along the edge of the field here. We're crossing another stile

02:36 into another field. This time you need to turn right and follow the boundary

02:40 that way. You need to cross this cute little wooden bridge here. We're going to

02:46 walk around the field and not past the little copse towards the farm buildings.

02:53 There's lots of butterflies in the field. It's lovely to see them. Just climbed up

03:07 here to leave the farm and I thought it's worth turning back and having a

03:12 look and yes just look. Sussex countryside in all its glory. Don't be

03:22 fooled and don't panic. It's quite a walk along that minor road until you get to

03:27 this junction here where we're going to turn right. We're back on the Downslink.

03:32 We are actually going straight on at this point. Don't turn left, go straight

03:37 on down there. Just thinking, days gone by, this was the railway line. Now you're more

03:43 likely to meet a cyclist than the train.

03:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]