On a truly beautiful morning, 9 of us arrived at East Grinstead. The first bit of the walk almost took us back in time, beginning with tarmac pavement by a noisy road, then a quiet road, then a path, a track & eventually the slightly trodden grasses across a field which told us that other beings had been there. We had several lovely sightings of Weir Wood reservoir sparkling in the morning light, we passed a farm where they were preparing for a wedding celebration & someone warned us of a swarm of bees nearby & then we skirted the water, half in fields & half in light woodland.
It was all very quiet with few people out on that lovely morning apart from ourselves. At the Stone Farm Rocks (SSSI), there were a few young people trying to climb them or just enjoying being there but really, until we hit the Cat Inn at West Hoathly, we had the world almost to ourselves. After lunch in the churchyard & swift pints in the pub, we climbed up past Gravetye Manor & walked in the cool, mostly deciduous woods enjoying the sunlight through the trees & the early summer smells. It was a mixture of meadows & light woodland after that until we hit Worth Way, the old railway line that goes to East Grinstead station so there was no horrible road-walking at the end to spoil the day.

Harriet.  Photos by Geoffrey