Saturday, June 22, 2013
Walk from Rusper village. Sussex.
Yesterday we took a walk from the village of Rusper.
I planned a walk based on footpaths as shown on the OS map.
Perhaps few other people have chosen this route......but one footpath I couldn't find at all and another.....after a longish unplanned detour, was well sign posted but still hard to find the actual paths. Some of the stiles were very overgrown.
But it was all very pleasant.
We parked our car in the village car close by the church.
Opposite Gyll Manor is a stretch of The Sussex Border Path and we began at this point.
The walk began in wide meadows.....carpeted with buttercups.
One of the good stiles.....which we didn't actually use, because the gate was easy to open.
From this point we were in woodland - filled with the sounds of bird song. Well, beautiful except when planes, taking off from Gatwick flew over.
The path was well defined....but in places muddy.
The land to the right of the picture sloped steeply down to a stream in a valley.
We had to cross the stream. Some steps had been cut into the path, but parts were still very muddy and slippery.
We climbed up out of the woods into a field with horses.
One fine specimen was being ridden at high speed. The rider exclaimed..."Not bad for an old horse eh?"
It was 16 years old.
It was somewhere in the horse field that I expected to see a footpath taking us back across the stream and a short way back to Rusper.
Lots of elderflowers about....should be picking them for summer drinks.
Maybe we'll wait for the berries and enjoy some wine!
We continued on the Sussex Border Path....... well we picked it up after meandering through meadows away from the path.
We should have been the other side of this farmhouse.
Lovely Horsham stone roof and hung tiles.
I love sheep and I love this picture too. Glad we saw the scene.
We had gone further than I expected and I knew (I did have the OS map with me) that we would soon join a road.....named as Friday Street on the map.
We turned and saw a beautiful sight. Just what we needed.
But pubs on quiet lanes, away from a village are not open all hours.
The Royal Oak was shut for the afternoon.
We continue along the road and as the map told, there was a footpath on the left after about half a mile.
The signpost pointed to a narrow overgrown gap in the hedge and a rickety stile to climb over.
And where was the footpath
Our only way was to cut a course across a field with knee high grass and buttercups.
We reached another thick hedge and stiles.
Lovely honeysuckle in the hedge.
And giant cow parsley.
And so to another field...with no path across it.
And no - there wasn't a footpath round the edge of the field either.
I almost felt guilty walking across long grass.....I was taught not to trample on grass that would be cut for hay.
A couple of straggly pines.
Surely we would be back in Rusper soon......there was no sign of a village at that stage.
Just England's green and pleasant land.
Bit of a climb up to the village street with tired legs and a thirst.
The Star eased both problems.....a chair and a pint; just what our old bones needed!
Houses in the main street.
You can see from the clock that it was by then, early evening.
Timbered house opposite the church.
And opposite was the car park.
But just one more photograph.......taking us from the beauty of nature and builders to a very different kind of beauty, which I love.
The beauty of decay.......
I find a beauty in the rust and the tatty paintwork of this corrugated iron shed.
I planned a walk based on footpaths as shown on the OS map.
Perhaps few other people have chosen this route......but one footpath I couldn't find at all and another.....after a longish unplanned detour, was well sign posted but still hard to find the actual paths. Some of the stiles were very overgrown.
But it was all very pleasant.
We parked our car in the village car close by the church.
Opposite Gyll Manor is a stretch of The Sussex Border Path and we began at this point.
The walk began in wide meadows.....carpeted with buttercups.
One of the good stiles.....which we didn't actually use, because the gate was easy to open.
From this point we were in woodland - filled with the sounds of bird song. Well, beautiful except when planes, taking off from Gatwick flew over.
The path was well defined....but in places muddy.
The land to the right of the picture sloped steeply down to a stream in a valley.
We had to cross the stream. Some steps had been cut into the path, but parts were still very muddy and slippery.
We climbed up out of the woods into a field with horses.
One fine specimen was being ridden at high speed. The rider exclaimed..."Not bad for an old horse eh?"
It was 16 years old.
It was somewhere in the horse field that I expected to see a footpath taking us back across the stream and a short way back to Rusper.
Lots of elderflowers about....should be picking them for summer drinks.
Maybe we'll wait for the berries and enjoy some wine!
We continued on the Sussex Border Path....... well we picked it up after meandering through meadows away from the path.
We should have been the other side of this farmhouse.
Lovely Horsham stone roof and hung tiles.
I love sheep and I love this picture too. Glad we saw the scene.
We had gone further than I expected and I knew (I did have the OS map with me) that we would soon join a road.....named as Friday Street on the map.
We turned and saw a beautiful sight. Just what we needed.
But pubs on quiet lanes, away from a village are not open all hours.
The Royal Oak was shut for the afternoon.
We continue along the road and as the map told, there was a footpath on the left after about half a mile.
The signpost pointed to a narrow overgrown gap in the hedge and a rickety stile to climb over.
And where was the footpath
Our only way was to cut a course across a field with knee high grass and buttercups.
We reached another thick hedge and stiles.
Lovely honeysuckle in the hedge.
And so to another field...with no path across it.
And no - there wasn't a footpath round the edge of the field either.
I almost felt guilty walking across long grass.....I was taught not to trample on grass that would be cut for hay.
A couple of straggly pines.
Surely we would be back in Rusper soon......there was no sign of a village at that stage.
Just England's green and pleasant land.
Bit of a climb up to the village street with tired legs and a thirst.
The Star eased both problems.....a chair and a pint; just what our old bones needed!
Houses in the main street.
You can see from the clock that it was by then, early evening.
Timbered house opposite the church.
And opposite was the car park.
But just one more photograph.......taking us from the beauty of nature and builders to a very different kind of beauty, which I love.
The beauty of decay.......
I find a beauty in the rust and the tatty paintwork of this corrugated iron shed.
