walks | alan frost photography

The Hooksway Round

The weather so far this year has been quite poor and as a consequence Spring has been delayed. It’s also quite often the case that when a Bank Holiday appears on the calendar, the forecast is for wet and windy weather, just when most people are looking forward to a long weekend or extended break. Fortunately this was not the case at the beginning of May. The skies cleared, the sun shone and the temperature rose. An ideal time to explore the beautiful countryside near where we live.

So I headed out with my camera and trusty walking stick which is made from twisted hazel with an antler handle, sourced from Islay in Scotland.

My trusty stick and the path ahead

I decided to follow a walk I had done many times in the past but for one reason or another had not undertaken recently. The walk starts in Hooksway just north of Chilgrove and after about a 3/4 mile joins the South Downs Way. As I walked along the Way I could clearly see Buriton Farm to the left with Pen Hill in the distance.

Buriton Farm with Pen Hill on the horizon

The approach to Pen Hill

The Way leads to the top of Pen Hill and I was instantly drawn to the three trees which are on the path, with chalk and flint fields on either side.

Pen Hill and three trees

After about two miles into the walk, I left the Way and took the bridleway through a delightful avenue lined with beech trees before returning to Hooksway.

Beech lined avenue near Telegraph House

Four and a quarter miles in total and a really lovely way to combine two of my pleasures in life – walking in glorious countryside with a stick in one hand and a camera in the other….. for my photography of course!

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A walk from East Lavant to The Trundle

It was such a beautiful morning on Sunday that I decided to take a circular walk from the West Sussex village of East Lavant to the Trundle at Goodwood and then return to the village via Chalk Pit Lane. Whilst I did not go out specifically for photography, I fully expected to stop and take one or two images in the lovely downland countryside to the north of Chichester.

I wanted to ‘travel light’ so I simply took the Olympus EM5 and two Panasonic zoom lenses – the 12-35mm and the 35-100mm, both of which have a constant f2.8 aperture. Packed away in my Billingham Hadley bag with a bottle of water and an OS Map (just in case), I had everything I would need to enjoy the walk.

The only other essential was my iPhone; not so that I could make or receive calls or emails but to use an App called Walkmeter. This great exercise App would plot my route on a map, tell me how far I had walked, my pace and also ascent and decent distances. Yes, I admit to liking gadgets but this particular App is going to be an important tool in the weeks and months ahead, as I have decided to walk the length of the South Downs Way later in the year. The Way is approximately 100 miles long, and walking West to East, it starts in Winchester and finishes in Eastbourne. Whilst I enjoy walking I don’t consider myself to be that fit, so expect some more blog entries in the future about walking in the South Downs National Park coupled with photographs of my travels. It should be fun!

Looking west from Hayes Down

An old post alongside the footpath which runs across Hayes Down
between the River Lavant to The Trundle

A chalk path leading to The Trundle from East Lavant – aptly named Chalk Pit Lane

A view over fields from Chalk Pit Lane

The Church of St Mary in East Lavant, close to the start of the walk.

For the record this circular walk is 4.75 miles long and in actual walking time it took about one hour and thirty five minutes. In reality it took quite a bit longer as I did stop from time to time to take some photographs!