Walk 1667 - Blackpatch Hill & Harrow Hill from near Storrington

     
Click thumbnails for larger images.

This walk starts from the car park (Grid ref. TQ070125) easily reached by a narrow lane that climbs up onto the Downs from the B2139 road between Amberley and Storrington a few miles west of the A24. The walk follows generally well marked paths and tracks and includes a section of the South Downs Way.

From the car park head east along the South Downs Way to a junction of five tracks at grid ref. TQ087119. On the map a track appears to go south east from here across a field but it does not seem to exist so we followed the northern edge of the field, parallel with the SDW to the fence on the eastern side of the field before heading south. There are huge piles of horse manure and a very strong smell, all along the northern edge of that field! (See the first photo, taken about half way along the SDW and looking east, these piles are visible to the right of the photo on the horizon.)

The walk continues south, for about 2.5 miles, along the western flank of Blackpatch Hill, past some stables until we reach the Monarchs Way (Grid ref. TQ093082). Here we turn west, past Myrtle Grove Farm, until we reach a road where we turn north again (Grid ref. TQ083086). The road sweeps around to the west in a long curve and as you come out of the bend pick up a track which runs north west and then north around the flank of Harrow Hill 082 093 (Photo 3). When you reach the corner of the field a gate leads onto a metalled road, which approaches the track at a sharp angle from your left (Grid ref TQ078103). Follow this road west to Lee Farm, until you come to a cross roads with a path running north to south (Grid ref. TQ072103).

This path is not signposted, although it appears on the map and there is a gate to go through. (The dead tree in photo 4 marks this path.) Anyone who is worried about taking this path and trespassing, can turn right at a path in the middle of Lee Farm (Grid ref. TQ076104) where the path heads north alongside a narrow band of trees that are visible in photo 3 heading into the top right hand corner with Lee Farm in the centre of this picture. At the end of the line of trees is a short dog leg (Grid ref TQ074119) before the path continues across two fields to the start. When we did this walk the fields had oil seed rape in them which had just finished flowering and now had seed pods on the plants. Despite it not having rained during the walk these plants were very wet, the path very narrow, so we had to wade through the wet plants and we got thoroughly soaked from the waist down – see photo 5.

Suggested Maps

It is recommended you take a map with you when following a walk route. The preferred scale is 1:25000 used by the Explorer series.

	OS Explorer	1:25,000	Sheet 121
	OS Landranger	1:50,000	Sheet 198

Note : If two maps are listed at the same scale then either (a) both are required for full coverage of the route or (b) the route is covered on both maps.

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