South Harting and Beacon hill circuit, South Downs

Another lockdown walk however a day later this week ... because of issues over at Uckfield. Heading again to the South Downs, and beyond Midhurst on small country lanes to a small village called South Harting, A carpark on the South Downs way just outside the Uppark country estate grounds. When we arrived there were a few cars doing the early dog walk thing, and a complex set of instructions on how to pay via an app on your phone all for £3.
The route today would go down to the village along the bottom of the ridge then up to meet where we had been last week and then back along the top. I think we should have gone the other way around, as I had not anticipated the amount of undulation on the tops.

The first part followed the South Downs way to the west in some recently "managed" woodland under the ruined tower in the Uppark estate gardens. this contoured around gradually descending into the village of South Harting

Close to teh village and before the recreational ground they had been doing some replanting.

In the village itself the church was a mixture of styles and a green copper roof visible from a long distance.

Following the road out of the village to Elstead, we picked up a footpath across the fields into East Harting (there was a west as well, but we did not see any sign of North)

Here we took a path that went through a fam yard, filled with Sheep in lambing pens, so Bertie had to be on his best behaviour, before cutting over towards the ridge again and picking up a chalk track heading under the ridge.

This track mutated into a path besides the fields - still quite dry compared to some recently, and we could now see the bobble on the ridge we would aim for - Treyford Hill.

After diverting around some new building works the track ended up on a paved road - actually the access road to Buriton Farm, which switch backed its way up the steep side to the ridge.

As the road cut back a second time we departed off to the left and up the side of the treyford hill, As we got out of the trees the view opened up to the north.

Time for some sustenance and a rest ... to the west we could see the path on the ridge we would follow later

After our early lunch we dropped down the back side of the hill passed the Devils jumps, where we had been last week, to pick up the South Downs Way as it curved around the hill top we had just been up and back down to a hanging valley with the road and farm. In hindsight this detour may not have been worth the effort expended, but it did add 100m ascent to the daily total.

From this road we continued on the South Downs Way as it gently rose on the other side to Penn Hill, keeping to the northern edge of the ridge.

The top of the hill was marked by a cattle grid, and looking back we could see the top we had come from behind.

Ahead was a fairly steep drop before a seemingly viscous climb up to Beacon Hill ... the South Downs Way skirts around the south side of this hill, but it was a more direct route.

The descent from Pen hill looked quite daunting from half way up the other side, but as the slope eased up we began to see everything open up.

North and south panoramas.

The top used to hold a Semaphore in the Napoleonic wars, and you could make out Portsmouth in the misty haze.

Unfortunately there was yet another bump before we got back to the car, and it stretched out before us ... the descent was almost as steep as the ascent up the other side. Going down to a large pasture area hanging valley.