- Date: 15 January 2025
- Walk Leader: Fiona
- Distance: 9 miles
Terwick nr Rogate to Milland circular
Fifteen ramblers met in the layby leading to St Peter’s Church, Terwick for what turned out to be a very muddy walk indeed! The weather was milder than it had been of late, but this only made the ground more boggy. Proceeding up Cumbers Lane we alighted at the crossroads at Borden and crossed to descend through Borden Wood, past many tall columns of beautiful pine trees. After a short section of road walking, we walked up a track by a house with a rather scary looking mini totem pole and on through fields of munching sheep and into more woods to eventually cross the road to Iping Marsh at the foot of Dunner Hill. We took the opportunity to sit on some logs for our coffee break, overlooking wonderful views across to Rake in the far distance. After squelching our way through a short patch of quagmire, we came to the base of Titty Hill with many fallen logs and trees. Then came the fun part (!) … a 15 minute slogathon along Lambourne Lane – let’s just say that the author was very relieved when everyone made it through to the other side without incident!
Turning left we passed through a field of alpacas, looking very curious as to who we were – there was some very impressive willow fencing by this property which must have taken many hours to erect. We wended our way around paths, across several tricky stiles and on to Milland village where we stopped in the Village Shop and had our lunch on benches outside (with some very nice coffee too).
After lunch, we passed through farm buildings to descend past a field of horses and through fields and then a long, grassy stretch with wide open views to both sides. Before winding our way up through the woods, we stopped to admire the far-reaching northerly views. A couple of steep uphill stretches brought us to the top of Rondle Wood and, from there on, the walking became easier as it was mostly downhill all the way and more solid underfoot.
Finally, we made our way down to the A272 and crossed to the path beside the National Trust lupin field – no lupins at this time of year, but there were beautiful bunches of snowdrops just peeping through. St Peter’s Church was locked so we could not look inside – we then made our way back to the cars and had a few photos of our muddy boots (in Ann H’s case, her first time wearing new boots!) My thanks to everyone who came and I hope you didn’t have too big a cleaning up job to do when you got home!
Author: Fiona El Hasnaoui
Photography: Clare McCullough and Fiona El Hasnaoui