As I always do, I counted carefully how many there were at the station and wrote the number on a piece of paper. Can I now find that paper? Reader, I cannot. But 19 is my best guess, based on how many had lunch and how many didn’t (six?). And a dog named Flo (or Flow?).

There was some flashes of sun to start , but mostly we are back to permacloud. Heigh-ho. At least it was pretty dry underfoot, bar the odd gloopy bit by a stile or gate - and some surface water in the watermeadows at the start. The morning otherwise proceeded uneventfully and the afternoon ditto. What can I say? It is a nice little walk, but then I would say that because I created it.

I had booked a table for eight at the Crown. Five had also booked their own table. And by a happy accident exactly thirteen wanted to eat. That was lucky because the pub refused one walk-up customer (not in our group) because “we are fully booked”. But actually half the tables remained empty. A shortage of kitchen staff?

We finished the walk just as the light was fading, which was kinda neat. The slightly haughty Bridge Inn deigned to admit us as long as we sat in the corner and behaved ourselves. No puddings because the kitchen was not open yet. A rather chilly draught for those sitting near the door. But our table still stayed an extra hour to get the 18.17, while the neighbouring one got the 17.17. The train carriage was nice and warm.

To confirm that six of us picnicked on the lowers slopes of Kinthurst Hill. Three strode on ahead on the ascent, and three of us plus dog were welcomed in to the Bridge Inn as long as we followed various strict instructions about where to sit. That done we were well looked after, including Flo. Some front runners from the lunch party were just arriving at the pub or station as we left to catch the 1650.

Thanks for posting, I agree a very nice walk, although the usual spectacular views were lacking in the very dull light. We saw a big flock of starlings on the last hill, but they didn't perform any aerobatics for us, unlike the gliders flying above us on the ridge.

12 on this walk in conditions that might be described as “atmospheric”, aka light rain and drizzle . The rain was in the morning, when there was also mist on the “tops”, but this lifted a bit to give reasonable views from the ridge in the afternoon.

Despite the conditions we were a happy crew. Four were happier than most, deciding to stop at the Black Horse in Amberley three miles in to toast its reopening with prosecco. The rest of us caused slight consternation by arriving at the lunch pub ahead of the rest of the group. Parliamentary Brexit discussions are nothing compared to the Byzantine negotiations needed to persuade them to take our order before our mates arrived. Heartfelt pleas were made on behalf of the kitchen, for whom cooking five meals at once is apparently much harder than nine. But unlike in our nation’s political life, compromise was reached. They agreed to take our food order so long as we did that at the table, and so long as we bought our drinks at the bar. This eminently logical arrangement being agreed on, the food came rapidly and in huge portions.

Nature notes on this walk included two large patches of snowdrops, pretty much in full flower, and a flock of siskins, noticed only by me. Also a red kite (of the bird variety) circling over the downs: have they got this far south, then? There was lots of mud, especially on the climb up to the downs where it was surprisingly thick and gloopy. Well, we got away with it for this long, so we can’t complain.

We arrived at The Bridge by 4.50pm or so (many earlier), where low cloud scotched plans for moonlight extensions to Arundel. Instead there was a mad rush for the 5.17 train, though four of us stayed for the 6.17. During a pleasant hour in the pub we scarcely talked about Brexit at all. Honestly, we didn’t.....,

Amberley Circular

11 off of the train

A lovely walk but nowt to report as rather boringly everybody was well behaved and nobody got up to anything untoward.

Lunch was a normal pub lunch neither wonderful nor awful though there was an interminable wait for the food (whats new Ed).

Trains were fine and on time and not crowded and the ticket inspector, Mark, was nice.

A couple of walkers went off-piste for a short cut (whats new Ed).

Even the weather was grey most of the day with a little sunshine here and there

My apologies that this report is so boring but I can find nothing of humour to write.

God don’t you just hate yourself sometimes?

After the pub lunch, 5 of us enjoyed the fantastic views from the ridge walk back to amberley and some late sun and blue sky. 4 of us enjoyed a drink at the bridge pub, and I personally had a rhubarb crumble and ice cream...a good way to finish a walk. Highly recommended walk. I have a feeling some people did a very short cut!... Missing out the high route back?

Thanks for posting walk but with respect Andrew these instructions seem a bit sparse?..

is anyone else going ? I don't want to get lost..

I'm going and I've done the walk before.

Weather pretty awful. Think will give it a miss.

17 on this walk, with the weather starting sunny and ending with torrential rain . The morning was delightful, with the ground dry enough to do the lovely riverside loop at the start of the walk that tends to get omitted in winter. The Crown Inn was busy and it was probably a good thing we booked, but they insisted on taking orders at the table - gloom! - which meant we wasted 20 minutes of sunshine while they got round to this. The food was also a tad slow coming but was of big portions.

It was grey by the time we set off and started to rain as we climbed up onto the downs - lightly at first, but torrentially as we approached Amberley, the roads running with brown water. A good chance to check the waterproofness of kit before winter, I guess.

I hear some got to the Riverside Tea Rooms: others must have gone straight to the train. About half of us ended up in the Bridge Inn to dry out. The proposed moonlight walk looked a bit doubtful at this point but the skies did start to clear and five of us set off at dusk.

Our route was along the river to Arundel. Initially the dusk was atmospheric but things got tricky (for me at least!) when the light faded, the woods closed in and the path was covered with slippery tree roots. But once we got to South Stoke Farm the skies started to clear and it was then a glorious moonlit night, the sky also dotted with stars, and excellent visibility. Since every single moonlight walk we tried last winter was obscured by cloud, this was very exciting.

A dreamy walk along the grassy banks river then followed, punctuated by drinks at the Black Rabbit pub. At one point ground mist from the marsh drifted up over the path, a beautiful effect.

On the return journey there was consternation when both the 22.30 and the 22.57, the two last trains, showed as cancelled. But the 22.30 was thankfully reinstated. By diligent train research and a nifty change at Three Bridges we got back to London by 23.45, just in time to make last connections to our various places of residence.

WALKERS =7 mostly sunny. Masses of walkers got off the train but gathered around at least one leader waving a piece of paper; perhaps it was Neville Chamberlain.

The marshes were fairly dry so we didn't trail mud thankfully. Amberley village and the Deer Park were pretty as we passed through. The Crown at Cootham served up tasty meat pies, fish & chips and refreshing liquids alfresco. It seemed to get much warmer as we ascended onto the Downs where we encountered horse riders and several cyclists. We had a clear view of the coast and the Isle of Wight.

After descending one caught the 4.17, two drove home and three of us enjoyed tea and tiffin at the Riverside Cafe in a bit of a sun trap with semi-tropical trees and sparrows for company before catching the 5.17 along with the seventh walker.

7 warm and sunny