To Lewes

Lewes, a very pretty town nestling in a gap in the South Downs, is an almost perfect walking destination.  More interesting than Arundel, its more staid west Sussex cousin, Lewis has a defiant radical history.  The famous revolutionary Tom Paine wrote his first pamphlet in Lewis and 19 Protestant martyrs, refusing to accept Mary's Catholic restoration, were burnt there at the stake.  The spirit of non-conformism (and burning) is sustained with a unique annual firework display, claimed as the largest of its kind in the world, when the Guy Fawkes effigy is updated with more modern villains.   Perhaps more importantly, if you've just finished a long walk, is the excellent selection of pubs and restaurants, including those serving 'bitter' from the oldest independent brewery in Sussex, Harveys, located right in the centre of the town. With a direct train route from London and Brighton and buses back to Brighton every 10 mins, it's also very accessible.

South Downs Way

Every year around May, a bunch of us get together and go for a walk and in various configurations; have been doing this for last 18 years.  Essentially it's a good opportunity to moan on about the state of things, catch up with each other and drink large quantities of beer.  Key requirements are good countryside, good pubs and good accommodation.

Generally speaking all the trips take place in the UK (we went to Belgium once when the UK countryside was closed down with foot and mouth) and after years of getting soaked in the north and west there has been a shift in sentiment towards the south-east.  I live in Brighton, love walking on the South Downs and pushed the idea of the South Downs Way (SDW).  Because it was my idea and because I had always managed to avoid doing it in the past, this year the task of planning the walk fell on my shoulders.