3 men on a walk 2016: Wilmington loop via Jevington

Wilmington and across the downs to Jevington

The forecast was for showers with high winds - well we got the winds but fortunately the showers didn't materialise so we had a really nice blowy day up on the South Downs.

We drove down to the tiny village of Wilmington that sits under the downs and oversees "The Long Man" of Wilmington, an effigy carved into the chalk escarpment above the village that "appeared" sometime a hundred odd years ago and nobody really knows when or why.

The walk took us right along the base of "the man" as we climbed up the face of the downs. Once on top we headed south across the downs and into Friston Forest and down to Friston Village before climbing up the other side of the Jevington valley and turning north again along the ridge of Willingdon Hill.

After about 2 miles we met the South Downs Way which we used to drop us down the hill and into the village of Jevington and the "Eight Bells" pub for lunch - much needed as we had walked over 8 miles to get here.

Inevitably we had a climb up the hills again after lunch but this wasn't too bad as we were following the Wealdway path which follows along the base of the downs rather that the tops. This took us round to Folkington and then back to the car at Wilmington.

At this time of year the summer wild flowers are out and they give some amazing colour to the countryside.