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Worthing, Sussex, United Kingdom

Friday 25 February 2011

SSaR Training

I guess it counts as a walk, so I thought I'd mention the 6 or so miles I covered on the 20th Feb, on my first Search and Rescue Training exercise.

Rocked up at 1000 and got fispatched very quickly to go and search a chruchyard for a missing person, said to be suicidal, or in SSaR terms, despondent.

This was my first visit to Stanmer Park in many years, and I had forgotten about this little piece of history tucked away on the edge of Brighton, seemingly left in early modern history, set out much as manorial estate would have been before the acts of Enclosure.

We were retasked to search a quadrant right up by Ditchling Road, and this gave me a chance to follow a route up past some ancient woodland, and large fields, notable for the vast quantities of chalk that litter them. There was also a significant amount of flint, and this may provide a good site for a bit of sneaky fieldwalking sometime in the future.

The weather on this Sunday was perfect for walking, but the ground is still very slippery underfoot, and it makes wading uphill through the mud tiring on the calf muscles.

There's also a good deal of MTB trails, and I plan to take the bike up there later in the spring.

Sussex Lowland Search and Rescue is a worthwhile cause to donate any of your extra pennies to.

Monday 7 February 2011

Nothing Doing

In TGO this month there was a long route for the Low and High Weald east and south of Burgess Hill.

I liked the look of this, especially as it would fit another piece in the South Downs Way jigsaw in very nicely for me, but the route at nearly 14 miles was a bit long for the day before I return to work.

Half an hour with the OS map was enough to cut off a bit of the walk, while saving it's key features, and the bag was packed ready for the day out.

It wasn't to be. The forecast wasn't good, and with high winds and heavy rain predicated for later I ate my packed lunch on the sofa and watched the clag form over the Downs, exactly as predicated at 2pm.

It'll be another week before I can get out, but hopefully we'll get the weather the route needs then.

A short walk along the beach at high tide had to do, the sea rough in the gale with heavy rollers driving all except the hardiest of gulls up onto the beach, strewn with storm debris.