South Downs Way | Solo Hike | 100 Miles in 5 Days | The First Half: Winchester – Washington 🇬🇧

Filmed late Sept/early Oct 2023

With 5 spare days and some great weather forecast, I very spontaneously decided to hike the South Downs Way in its entirety.

I arrived in Winchester at 10:00am and had a long day’s hiking (29 miles, plus the mile or so trying to find the start of the trail and a quick visit to the Cathedral) before sunset at 6:45pm, when I would need to find somewhere to chuck down my bivvy and get some rest.

The following day I could afford to take it a little easy, starting on the trail around 7am before finishing up near Washington at 4pm, where I caught a bus to my home in Worthing and got a much-needed shower and sleep in a bed before tackling the second half.

#southdowns #hiking #hikinguk

The southdowns way is a 100 mile National Trail from Winchester in Hampshire to eastor and East Sussex the trail passes through Woodland quaint Villages Roman roads ridgeways Misty valleys and the spectacular Seven Sisters Cliffs join me as I attempt to tackle this Trail Solo in five Sunny autumnal days

Well coming then good morning everyone you find me today in the historic city of Winchester just outside the Magnificent Cathedral here but with no time for sightseeing those of you in the hiking community may know Winchester as the start of the South Downs Way and that’s what we’re

Doing today we’re going for 100 miles in 5 days from Winchester to eborn let’s do this first thing we need to do is find the start of it now apparently that’s hidden behind an Old Mill somewhere busy in town today guys it’s a beautiful fresh a

Morning all right so you come out of city center you go past the barers you see the mill here and here we are the trail the head the sign Winchester buter Hill hen down the river Aaron devil St dit Beacon and East 100 miles and we head over the

Bridge and we cross the river when we can get across the road here we go guys 100 miles in 5 days now you might be thinking I’m going to do it 20 m a day that’s not too bad well the thing is I live halfway along

The southbounds way in wory just off of it about 5 or 6 miles off so what I’m planning to do is do the first part in 2 days first half I should say except it’s about 54 mil in reality and then do the second half in 3 days so that means in 2

Days I got to do 54 miles now you might be thinking oh this is South it’s not that hilly there’s no mountains here should be all right it should be fairly easy you would think wrong because the southbounds way has total elevation of almost 14,000 ft that’s more than three Ben

Neeves so this is going to be a very hard challenge guys it’s going to be very tough It’s the toughest challenge I will ever undertaken so wish me luck let’s hope we make it onwards we go got some unusual pub names here guys we’ got the uh black boy and then just

Up here the black hole and on the other side the black rat restaurant well folks if you can hear me we’ just come to our first major landmark of the trail the M3 Motorway all right so in and of itself it’s not really that exciting a landmark

But what it signifies is that we’re leaving the urban environments of Winchester behind us and we’re now heading out into the downland so we got the Riders route that way cyclist coming up here and we’re going to Walker’s Road and here we are one mile in and in the

Countryside still got the hum of the traffic pretty loud behind us but we’ll soon leave that behind we’re about 6 miles in now guys as is indicated by the uh helpful sign post here eastborn only 94 miles to go we’re at Holden Farm little cafe over there if

You have the luxury of time and going there for a nice coffee or snacks or Toasties unfortunately luxury of time is something we don’t have onwards well I’ve just come across this handy drinking water point just found out hard way that uh the tap is rather vigorous said splashing

Everywhere which has resulted than this look I peed my pants look so each tap they have a sign to tell you when the next uh tap will be and next one is about 10 Mi at the sustainability Center so we’ll toped up need a lot of water today it’s a hot day

It’s uh 2 days before October and we’re out in blazing Sunshine 23° wonderful about a mile and a half on from the tap now we come across our first trie Point got views over here towards uh Southampton over there a big industrial area that you probably can’t see there

Solent and yard white in the backgrounds Portsmouth over there it’s all starting to open up a bit now really nice I haven’t seen anyone for ages in a lovely little village of xon churchy cottage and there indeed is the view of the church just had our first big steep climb it’s

Hard to uh convey steepness on camera but uh that was one climb that was we’re now on uh old Winchester Hill even though we’re a good 12 to 15 miles from Winchester little bit of info on Winchester Hill early settlement during the early Bond’s age 3,800 years ago people living

In what looks like TPS just up here on the fort well I’m at the sustainability center now and I was hoping just to walk in and find a tap but um I don’t know where it is and I can’t bother to walk around looking for I got plenty of water anyway

So let’s carry on the walk at I just see 78 miles to go now this is the kind of downland walking I like and you got views all around got a forest there ahead of us a road I think that’s water louville the town off there and beyond that we’ve got the uh

Solent and the Yow White and the sun getting low in the sky now 56 mi from London four from Petersville 13 to Portsmouth more importantly about 75 from eastborn another tap here just at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park so we’re all uh toed up with water ready for the last push oh these

Magic they look like they might be magic right it’s about 5 6 and sunset is4 to 7 so pretty soon we’re going to have to find somebody to Camp unfortunately at the moment just coming past beriton or Buon or bariton I really don’t know the pronunciation of this b r i t

N we’re come past there and uh yeah it’s just this this no suitable camping areas at all so I want to press on to heting down but that’s 4 miles away 4 miles in 45 minutes isn’t going to happen so we might have a bit of Darkness walking today

There’s some good people out there left flap Jacks for a pound how a great down and downs you know back could make all the difference just that small gesture moments like this I wish had a bike or a Car well the sun is well below the Horizon now guys and we still got about 2 and 1 half miles before heting down where we hope there’ll be somewhere to Camp it’s ins sight guys it’s in sight it’s getting dark but it’s ins sight right we’re here hting down few

Cars over there in the car park so uh we get away from them and find somewhere to pitch up right so I’m going to call it a night now guys I’m going to be heading off to bed very soon after I’ve eaten and I’ll see you in the morning um sorry it’s

Been a bit of a rush video today but it’s been the nature of the day to be honest it’s just been a rush uh from start to finish we can take it a little bit easier but it’s still going to be a pretty busy one I’ll see you

Tomorrow well good morning everyone it’s 6:40 currently it’s very fresh this morning it’s about 8 degrees at the moment so I’m going to get up get packed up and on the move before having breakfast sun’s coming up Over Yonder Sunrise is meant to be in about 5

Minutes time but it looks very cloudy so it should be brightening up later on and hopefully warming up a bit Too I don’t know if the camera is picking it up but it’s a very Misty morning today my bivvy and all the contents of my bivy are pretty moist pretty damp this morning well we’ve got a bench here got a signpost southbounds way 69 mies I was

Going to sit here and have my breakfast but this mist is really cold it’s really dampening so I think I’m going to continue for a little while up on the top of the hill might be a bit better now that was steep that was an intense way to start the

Morning I’ve seen plenty of tree points surrounded by hikers before this is the first time I’ve seen a tree Point surrounded by sheep bye then see this is be where I’m having breakfast this morning pretty decent spot so this is our breakfast looks guys couple of bananas got about half of that

Left which I’ll just uh bite off in chunks chocolate orange uh porridge Quake roats protein drink got a Starbucks coffee thing over there some water yeah pretty decent well it’s half 8 now after a chilly start this morning I can now take off my coat looking back from uh where we were

What you could see was Rolling Hills going on and on and on and it looked like it was going to be one hell of a morning well luckily this South and’s Way sort of skirts around the hills so it’s not too bad well it’s a glorious sunny day it’s

Now about 9:00 making good progress I’ve just uh sat for a quick drink hardly seen anyone saw uh two cyclists and a farmer what I’ve seen so far this morning um it’s quite nice just walking along a National Trail now usually I’m walking along making up my own route as

I go along and having to constantly check the map but so well signposted here haven’t had to look at the map all morning I’m literally just following sign after sign um as soon as you get to like a Crossroads or um somewhere where it looks like it’s going to change

Direction Boom there’s a sign there South Downs Way okay on we go so it looks like we’ve got another couple of Hills to come up so I’m just going to make the most of it have a quick drink and then uh onwards just stopped off at the Cadence

Cafe got myself a cappuccino Flapjack and a can of Coke and I’m just waiting on the toasty this is a nice little surrounds I to top up my water get rid of the rubbish has been over there bami girkin cheese and mustard oh yeah well that set us back about 45

Minutes and about £17 but it was worth it feel re-energized now ready to smash out the next 20 or so miles just leaving cocking yes that’s the real name of the place cocking and next section takes us to Amy am is the part I’ve been dreading and

I’ll show you why when we get there oh it’s a really busy day out here on the trail guys not just hikers like myself and cyclists there’s a a trail run going on you see him up ahead of me see him behind me and these guys look really fit you know like proper

Athletes as well as out there’s Army Cadets and all sorts out a beautiful warning for it one of these Runners has uh just on their way past me said would you by any chance want a trek bar I like yes please why say no one of the worst things about

Being on the trail is when you take a break break and all the people you overtook earlier are now overtaking you again so you have that oh hello again and then I’m about to overtake them again and it’ll be oh you again hello than to seeing you here oh we keep

Bumping into each other people are going to talk all that kind of banter well it’s certainly fresh on this exposed part it’s got a bit cloudy now as you can see bit of a breeze it’s still quite nice temperature and there’s Cadence Cafe part two um we don’t need it now I think

We’re good to carry on we’re on the slend in estate now some nice views down to the Sea down that way is uh bugner reges there’s little Hampton I can just about make out the oil drum which is kind of the most distinguishing feature of little Hampton

And then over there is Worthing so I can see home it’s within sight it’s just a small matter of about 13 more miles walking a few Hills and a bus ride bu well done right folks we just got make our way across this busy road here and then we

Make our way descending into Amber believe the bit I was dreading right here we go down to am and there it is nestled in the valley there that’s Amy so the reason I wasn’t looking forward to getting to am is because this was going to be the end of

Day two for me I was going to finish up an AM get a train back to Worthing take about an hour maybe 45 minutes uh depends on the connections and then I’ll be home and come back on the train following day and continue well today there’s a train strike the drivers are

On strike so I’m having to push on further up to Washington and I know what goes down must come up so we’re going to go down into the valley and then we’ve got to push right on over onto this hill here which on the camera probably

Doesn’t look much but believe me me I’ve done that Hill quite a few times and I know it’s a bit of a leg burner here we go we might as well just suck it up and get on with it what a beautiful scene guys it’s heading down the trail here got the

River Aron and the bridge going across it just over there all this lovely Countryside glorious so here in the Sleepy Village of amble you have a bunk house you have a farm with uh facilities for camping you have a pub and a cafe with very sporadic

Opening times I never seem to know when they’re open and when they’re not and you also have two massive Great Hills either side of it just there is the water recycling center pretty darn Grim there train line up to London and just there on the right hand side that’s Hy

Castle if you can afford £500 a night the uh king suite is available for you look at this it just teased me now Amy station quar of a mile Washington Village 6 and A4 and here Begins the uphill slog yes just as tough as I was expecting thank God for these poles

These have been a God’s end usually I don’t bother with them but I’ve needed them these last couple of days oh yeah that’s an absolute Beast of a crime there’s no denying that but almost at the top now so worth it for the views I like this bit here like a little tree

Tunnel so we about 3 miles to go I’ve just developed sort of niggling aching pain in my left shin uh which is slowing me down a bit but I’ve got about an hour and a half till the next bus 3 miles to go so could afford to take it a bit

Slowly um I’m quite surprised at how injury free I am actually uh feet are a bit sore legs are a bit sore but nothing too bad just this uh Shin thing that’s just uh cropped up but overall considering the distance covered and the amount of time of feeling all right it’s

Kind of surprising what the human body can do isn’t it how far you can push it well I’m not sure how this works the trail is 100 Mil Winchester’s 52 M back that way eastborn is 47 Mi this way that doesn’t compute but never mind the most important thing is Washington

Is about a mile maybe less just alongside the a24 now guys we just need to get acoss the other side via a bridge and then the bus start to be waiting for us well I thought there was a bridge apparently not so apparently guys the bus stop is

Down there where it says the max speed limit over there on the left hand side on the slip Road that’s where I got catched my bus it’s going to be about another 20 minutes not the best place to be catching a bus but it is what it is well

Guys that concludes the first part of the southbounds way hike we’re over halfway now I’ve got 3 days left to do about 45 miles um not the most salous surrounding to doing outro but it could be worse my car could be broken down like these poor guys here I’ll see you

On the next bit guys