New week and a chance to continue the walk along the Arun river, by taking in a part of the Arundel estate. Steph was down for several week s for work, and wanted to come along, so we all headed off for the main car park by the river in Arundel.
This looked across to the lower entrance to the castle - a Victorian revamp of the original. We headed out across to the high street and back up the hill past the upper entrance.
Continuing past the ancient church and the more recent cathedral, before turning up the road to the park - lots of signs about what you could and could not do as well as limiting access to only the public pathways.
The drive way opened out into a large parkland on top of a ridge .. there was a training gallops for race horses, and this folly - The Hiorne tower.
This was also where we started the descent over the other side.
From the top of this descent we could see the valley below leading from the lake, up and around and off to the north where we would go.
Following the well worn track that angled down to the bottom, and curved to the right, we then saw it went straight up the slope ahead ... got the heart rate going, before it levelled off as we headed for the edge of the wood on the skyline ... this was the Monarch's way that we had met before as well.
From the top of this ridge we could see over towards Amberley and the cliffs above the river, where we had walked in the rain the last time we were here. In addition there was also the view over to the south downs way over the ridge above the Chalk museum.
From here we dropped down to the river .. a steep track that zigzagged a bit before cutting down a new plantation.
As we came to the end of the Arundel estate park land there was a flint stone wall, which was recognisable from out walk on the other side, and we then retraced this route once we had gone through the swing gate.
This followed our previous route back along the river to the farm and buildings at South Stoke. From here we broke away again taking a more direct route back to Arundel across the flood pastures and avoiding all the bends in the river.
This brought us out at the pub at Offham, where we picked up the river once more, around the wetlands nature conservatory.
Continuing around the reserve we followed the overflow river from the park lakes to come back to the road.
Now it was just a short stroll down the path beside the road, which had a large number of cars/ vans/ campers all avoiding the parking charges ... we may do the same next time. All along the classic view of the castle.
Back at the van, just in time to miss the rain that had started with a light drizzle to come on a bit stronger.
