Lewes, Glyndebourne and Barcombe Mills

This is a walk intended to take advantage of the lovely setting of the River Ouse to the North of Lewes. On this walk, we shall have a look at Lewes Castle on our way out through the town and then follow the Sussex Ouse Valley Way through the picturesque hamlet of Hamsey and on towards Barcombe, where we will detour to look at the church and adjacent buildings. Eventually we will find our way onto the trackbed of the former Uckfield to Lewes railway line where we will hopefully have a bit of lunch. After that to the Anchor Inn, an incredibly popular and difficult to access riverside pub. Unfortunately we will not have time to make use of their boat hire facilities.

From the pub we will follow the river down to Barcombe Mills which is a mix of the river and weirs which are attractive and are connected with the adjacent Barcombe Reservoir.

Leaving the river valley, the countryside becomes slightly more undulating as the paths head over the A26 Lewes to Uckfield road and lead us to and through the fairly unattractive village of Ringmer. Ahead of us for most of this part of the walk is the wind turbine which serves Glyndebourne opera house, providing most of its electricity. It was erected on the same hill which was previously occupied by a post windmill, the remains of which can still be seen. We will pass by these symbols of historic and present technology.

The final part of the walk is a gradual climb up to Mount Caburn, the solitary chunk of Downland which looms over Lewes. The last steep downhill walk takes us into Cliffe High Street and a choice of pubs for thirsty travellers.