The South Downs Way is a 100 mile national trail that follows the old routes along the chalk ridges of the South Downs, many of which have been used for 8000 years. Jane’s lucky enough to live in this part of the country, and last Friday we took a nine mile walk that included several sections of the trail. It turned out to be a race against the weather. A race in which we lost. Massively.

All photos Fujifilm X100F

Through the wayward pines, and some early indications of the weather to come

Lambs! Hundreds of ’em…

Some serious rain starting to close in….

The Devil’s Jumps are a group of five large burial mounds on the South Downs Way, just outside the hamlet of Treyford. They’re around three to four thousand years old, and the main line of five barrows is aligned with sunset on Midsummer Day. We had our sandwiches on the top of one, and now I’m wondering if we’ve been a bit disrespectful. I mean, I’ve seen Poltergeist and Pet Semetary. Don’t mess with ancient burial sites.

These guys know something is going down

All along the watchtower

Just a few miles to go, but things ahead are not looking too good…

…but we’re also being chased from behind

That was the last snap before we were hit by just the type of end-of-times rainstorm you’d expect in 2020. Obviously I dealt with it in my usual stoical way¹, but it’s always good to know: in the rain, no one can see your tears.

^{1. The original title of this post, ‘How I Survived a Hurricane’, was rejected by the fact-checkers.↶}