Trustee Fred Ross raised more than £4,000 (including Gift Aid) when he walked an impressive 99 miles from Winchester to Eastbourne in April, accompanied by his daughter Alison.
Here’s a look at his daily log
Sat 20 April
Met my friend Stuart at Winchester Cathedral before heading out of city, over the M3 and into open countryside on a fresh and sunny day.
Stopped for coffee after four miles at Cheesefoot Head, a large, natural amphitheatre and beauty spot just outside Winchester, on the South Downs Way. It offers stunning views and is where General Eisenhower addressed the Allied troops in 1944 prior to the D-Day landings.
Not an onerous day, with some gentle climbs and a welcome pint at the Shoe Inn, Exton while waiting for the taxi to our overnight accommodation in South Harting.
Sunday 21 April
The guidebook indicated that today's 12 miler would be more challenging than yesterday, and so it proved. Started at 9am in lovely sunshine but with a very cold wind and soon found ourselves on a short diversion because the river Meon had overflowed.
At the top of our first climb we reached a memorial to 30-plus airmen who had been killed in a crash while preparing for the D-Day landings. A group of walkers explained that the whole area had been used in preparation for D-Day.
Our next very steep climb was to Old Winchester Hill, a nature reserve and local beauty spot where cyclists, walkers and weekend drivers were enjoying their Sunday and we enjoyed a coffee from a roadside van.
A long flat walk followed before a slow, heart-pumping climb up Butser Hill, before the route dropped just as quickly, crossing the A3 by a tunnel and entering Queen Elizabeth Country Park, another popular local beauty spot. Another steep climb and we were on the last mile to Buriton, where our taxi took us back to the White Hart and a welcome Sunday roast.
Monday 22 April
A rather challenging start saw us tackling two or three difficult climbs to the ridge of the South Downs Way. Good arable farming land gave way to farm tracks with no facilities en route - and no coffee either!
We stumbled across a memorial erected by local residents to a German pilot shot down by a Spitfire. Halfway through, the walk became flatter and more easily manageable, and after reaching our destination in good time we took a taxi to the Spread Eagle Inn, the UK’s oldest coaching inn, in the lovely village of Midhurst.
Tuesday 23 April
We had to climb from the word go, heading a mile up to the ridge on a breezy but sunny morning and then walking through forests and agricultural land accompanied by bird song. After six miles we had coffee at Cadence Café, one of four venues en route designed for the many cyclists and walkers using the path.
We had now descended into a dry valley and had to ascend a further steep climb of more than a mile to the top of the ridge, from where we enjoyed the sight of spring lambs and more fields. Dropping down and climbing once more, we could see our destination, Amberley, in the distance. After a further three miles, by now a little weary, we found the Black Horse, where we enjoyed a welcome pint.
Wednesday 24 April
The trail, once we had climbed to the ridge, was quite bare, but there were cattle and sheep grazing, plenty of new lambs and bird song.
We were getting so used to the tranquility of the Downs that having to cross the A24 dual carriageway came as a shock, but after climbing back to the ridge we were rewarded by the sight of the beautiful Chanctonbury Ring.
The ring of trees, which marks the site of a prehistoric hill fort and was once home to two Romano-British temples, was badly damaged in the storm of 1987 but has been replanted and the area is now being repaired and preserved.
We finished the day very tired and as we approached Bramber the path took us through a large pig farm. Our weary legs made the downhill path seem to go on forever, but we walked into Bramber on a lovely flat former railway track and made our way to the Old Tollgate Inn.
Thursday 25 April
After the previous uncomfortable and weary day, I woke feeling more cheerful, which was just as well as we faced the largest mileage of the week to reach Lewes. The first rain we had seen all week stopped after about 30 minutes, giving us brilliant sunshine as a backdrop to the first major ascent of the day.
It took about an hour to reach Truleigh Hill at the top of the Downs, where we embarked on a fairly comfortable five miles to the well-known Devil’s Dyke beauty spot. We kept walking until we found coffee at Sedlescombe and then continued on to the lovely village of Pyecombe before walking across the golf course to the Clayton Windmills.
We made good progress and enjoyed lovely views on the way to Ditchling Beacon, where we enjoyed an ice cream in the sun. As we moved off, though, the weather changed, bringing a cold wind which accompanied us on the last five miles to our destination.
Friday 26 April
A steep climb to the Downs, where we found a number of dew ponds amongst the gorse bushes. One of the first small villages we could see from the ridge was Rodmell, the home of Bloomsbury Group writers Leonard and Virginia Woolf and close to the River Ouse, where Virginia committed suicide while suffering from mental illness.
We reached Southease after about three-and-a-half hours and stopped for coffee. Back up on the Downs we could see the radio masts on Beddingham Hill as we walked towards the beautiful village of Alfriston, where we paused to admire the ancient church known as the Cathedral of the South Downs.
Saturday 27 April
We began the day, known for being a tough one, in miserable weather, negotiating various paths and crossing the river to climb a flight of seemingly endless man-made steps outside the small village of Litlington.
Once on the ridge we crossed Vanguard Way heading towards Friston Forest. We passed Charleston Manor, a historic building mentioned in the Domesday Book as being owned by William the Conqueror. After another flight of more than 200 steps we came across a group of ponies looking for food, along with magnificent views of the meandering Cuckmere River on its way to the sea.
We stopped for refreshments before tackling the Seven Sisters. I had thought we would meander down to the sea, but the route immediately kicked upwards to the first of the Seven Sisters, and we continued to follow steep upward and downward slopes all day.
Birling Gap offered another welcome National Trust refreshment stop before we pressed onwards and upwards to Belle Tout lighthouse and another long climb to Beach Head Hotel. The last downhill stretch to the foot of Beachy Head was a pleasure.
Job Done!
