Great British Walks - - A Hike or a Ramble Along The South Downs Way

England's oldest public footpath was worn into the chalk in prehistory

The 99-mile South Downs Way, Britain's most accessible long distance path, crosses the downs from Eastbourne to Winchester. Starting points for this long but easy hill walk are just over an hour by train from London. Good rail, road, bus and taxi connections make it easy for beginners to join the path for a weekend, or an afternoon.

This 6 mile stretch, between the West Sussex villages of Washington and Amberley was photographed in June. From Washington, a village path climbs to join the trail on Barnsfarm Hill. Soon cultivated fields give way to pastures and meadows quivering with poppies. Dozens of varieties of wild flowers thrive -- vetch, clary, scabious, pale flax, eggs and bacon, cinquefoil, scarlet pimpernel. The views from the South Downs go on and on. On clear days, walking the South Downs Way is like flying over hamlets, farms and grand country houses like the Elizabethan Parham House.