Pulborough to Amberley walk

Historic Pulborough, gentle hills, a gem of a pub, an RSPB marshland, and up and over the South Downs to Amberley.

View from the downs Pulborough to Amberley walk
View from the downs

Pulborough to Amberley walk

Jun-19 • Saturdaywalker on Flickr

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View from the downland climb Pulborough to Amberley walk
View from the downland climb

Pulborough to Amberley walk

Jul-15 • Saturdaywalker on Flickr

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The climb up onto the downs Pulborough to Amberley walk
The climb up onto the downs

Pulborough to Amberley walk

Jun-19 • Saturdaywalker on Flickr

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View from the downs Pulborough to Amberley walk
View from the downs

Pulborough to Amberley walk

Jul-20 • Saturdaywalker on Flickr

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Pulborough to Amberley Pulborough Levels
Pulborough to Amberley

Pulborough Levels

Jul-08 • Viv Lewis on Flickr

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Pulborough to Amberley Pulborough Levels
Pulborough to Amberley

Pulborough Levels

Jul-08 • Viv Lewis on Flickr

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The devil - standing in a pond Rising Sun's garden, Nutbourne. Pulborough to Amberley
The devil - standing in a pond

Rising Sun's garden, Nutbourne. Pulborough to Amberley

Apr-09 • moontiger on Flickr

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Length

Main walk: 16.6km (10.3 miles)

With longer river ending: 19.5km (12.1 miles)

Toughness

5 out of 10

OS Maps

Landranger map 197, Explorer map OL10 (formerly 121)

Features

This walk passes through the quaint historic centre of Pulborough, tucked away on the edge of the modern village, and then climbs into a delightful area of gentle hills, which afford magnificent views of the downs to the south and the plains to the north. After lunch in Nutbourne or Marehill, the route takes you along the edge of Pulborough Brooks, an unspoilt marshland area which is now an RSPB nature reserve, and whose visitor centre provides a possible tea stop. There is then a three kilometre section on a quiet road that at first passes through woodland, and then the hamlet of Rackham. By now the South Downs loom magnificently ahead, and you climb up onto them by a steep path for a grand ridge finish with magnificent views of the Arun valley.

Walk options

An optional longer river ending to this walk takes down to the Amberley Village Tea Room, a possible tea stop, and through the picturesque heart of the village and out across watermeadows to the banks of the River Arun. A scenic walk along the river then brings you to Amberley station. This adds 2.9km (1.8 miles) to the walk, making the whole walk 19.5km (12.1 miles).

There is a sister walk to this one on this website – Billingshurst to Amberley - which shares the same lunch stop and a small centre section, and has the same finish over the downs to Amberley. It is thus possible to do the morning of one and the afternoon of the other. The morning of the Billingshurst to Amberley walk is 9.3km (5.8 miles) versus 5.4km (3.4 miles) for this walk, and its afternoon is 13.5km (8.4 miles) versus 11.2km (6.9 miles) for this walk, taking in 2km more of the South Downs ridge than this walk.

You could also switch at the RSPB Pulborough Brooks Reserve Visitor Centre (paragraph 67 of this walk) to the Pulborough Circular walk on this website. Sections 11 and 12 of that walk describe a 4km (2.5 mile) walk back to Pulborough across the marshland of the Wild Brooks, making a total circular walk of 13.3km (8.3 miles).

Transport

Pulborough and Amberley are both on the Horsham-Littlehampton line, served by trains out of Victora. Catch the nearest train to 10.10am from Victoria. Buy a day return to Amberley. Note that the last train back from Amberley is at around 9.20pm, though after this there are options via Arundel.

Lunch and tea

Rising Sun, Nutbourne (01798 812191), 5.5km (3.4 miles) into the walk, is the recommended lunchtime pub. It serves food daily from 12pm to 2pm Monday to Saturday and 12pm to 3pm Sunday, and has an interesting menu with generally good portion sizes. It has both a cosy interior and a charming garden.

The White Horse, Marehill, (01798 872189), is a possible alternative lunch stop 1.4km (0.9 miles) beyond the Rising Sun. It is open and serves food all afternoon daily. The inside dining room has a fine view of the South Downs and the pub also has a patio area and garden.

RSPB Visitors Centre, Pulborough Brooks, 9.3km (5.8 miles) into the walk, has a self-service tea room, with both inside seating and outside tables with a fine view over the flatlands of the Wild Brooks. It is open 10am to 4.30pm daily and also does light lunches from 12pm to 2.30pm. This is a possible late lunch or early tea stop

The Riverside Tea Rooms (07765 790 414) www.riversidetearooms.co.uk by Amberley station provide a charming riverside location for tea if you can get there before they close at 4pm daily.

An alternative tea room, slightly off the walk route, and staying open till 5pm daily, is the friendly Amberley Village Tea Room (01798 839196) www.amberleyvillagetearoom.co.uk. Details of how to reach this are given towards the end of the walk directions.

Otherwise, the friendly and atmospheric Bridge Inn (01798 831 619) across the road from the Riverside Tea Rooms and directly adjacent to Amberley station (though on the opposite side of the tracks from the station entrance: you have to go under the road bridge to find it) serves tea and coffee until at least 10.30pm.

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Start RH20 1AH Map Directions Return to the start:

Finish BN18 9LT Map Directions Travel to the start:

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National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Version

Feb-22 Peter

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Walk Directions

Full directions for this walk are in a PDF file (link above) which you can print, or download on to a Kindle, tablet, or smartphone.

This is just the introduction. This walk's detailed directions are in a PDF available from wwww.walkingclub.org.uk