Fifteen of us set off from Balcombe station, prepared for a day of mud. We knew what to expect & were prepared, we are not fair weather walkers nor dilettantes but, thankfully, the worst was over. No one fell over, slipped into a river or had to be pulled out of a mud lake with ropes, in fact it was a lovely day! A lot of the walk was in woodland with little two-plank bridges over streams but there was some lovely meadow land too.  We also passed a gorgeous and super friendly grey tabby who got a lot of attention from the group. The staff at the Royal Oak pub in Handcross were also very friendly, did pretty good chips & I saw a massive fish arrive on someone’s plate so they are clearly generous with their portions.

Pam & Harriet had had to finish the last 2 miles on the walkover in the dark by the -pathetic- light of a mobile phone so we were interested to see what it really looked like. Nice, actually with a strange & huge rock outcrop split by tree roots where no one would expect to see such a thing. We got to the station in good time & weren’t so covered in mud that we elicited looks of disgust from other passengers.

Harriet. Photos by Ida and Gillian