Five go to Falmer

I pulled up at Falmer pond behind a guy limbering up to go running and asked him if he was running with Andy? ‘Yes’, came the reply, ‘but how did you know to come here?’  It turned out that he had only just changed the meeting point and was waiting for a different Andy to me!

Cliff, Lydia, Andy and Paula duly arrived and we set off up the path alongside the Falmer road, Paula riding her mountain bike to make sure we kept a good pace… down the hills, at least!  Half way up the Falmer Road, the path turns left across to Newmarket Copse and you can see what we were in for.  For those keen enough to follow me on a map, Loose Bottom is in front of us at this point.

Paula had ridden half way up the next hill but we kept left and followed the South Downs Way down the hill to the main road… she had to work SO hard, for about a nanosecond, to catch us back up again, before racing on down the hill ahead of us.

On the north side of the road, the path ascends the ironically named Long Hill, which it is and at the top I found these to old men sitting down for a breather… though they reckoned they were just about to do sit-ups!

I didn’t wait to find out and after a steep descent through Bunkershill Plantation, I had a good head start up Balmer Down… which was a little like Long Hill, only longer and hillier.  About half way up I turned round & ran back down to rejoin the others and then ran back up again with them to the next gate.

Here we saved a father & son, out for a two-day cycle from Amberley to Eastbourne, from going the wrong way.

We turned left and ran down Buckland Bank, bearing right to Waterpit Hill and back down to Falmer… I make it about 7.25 miles.

Here I left the others to stretch out and set out to run for a while longer.  I went back up the Falmer Road and back across to Newmarket Copse, where I passed the original runner coming the other way on his own… I’m guessing that his Andy didn’t manage to find him after all.  I then ran around inside Newmarket Copse, trying to recall whether or not I had actually overnighted there as a Scout thirty years ago!

Then I continued down the hill to the main road as before, passing as I did a somewhat surprised father & son cycling up the other way… I have to conclude that it was they who had taken their time, as I was not going that fast!

At the A27 I turned left up the disused carriageway that serves the houses there.  It was here, in about 1980, that Ric, Tony and I were cycling, weaving around the cats eyes along the middle of the recently redundant road, when Tony ran over my back wheel.

The quiet road ended and I had the choice of running alongside the dual carriageway, or turning right up towards Balmer Farm.  I chose the latter, but having reached the trees, a horse rider kindly confirmed that the only way back across to Falmer way right to the top of Balmer Down where we had been earlier.

I tuned back down the hill & ran alongside the dual carriageway instead… not at all nice, but more direct.  When I got to Falmer I ran around to Cliff’s old house/shop, which to my surprise looked like a newly built house, or possibly two.  I then crossed the A27 on the road bridge and ran around the pond before finishing back at the car.

Two hours twenty minutes to do 12.8 miles is not that fast (5.5mph) but it was a REALLY enjoyable run.  It was a beautiful day with gorgeous scenery and GREAT company, which helped carry me effortlessly around the second loop.