Sussex Scrapbook
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Nature walks throughout the year
Amberley - Bignor Hill - Stane Street - Eartham Woods - Eartham - Madehurst -
Houghton - Amberley
16 miles
In the past 48 hours
there'd been vast precipitations of oxygen dihydrate from the troposphere (lots
of rain) so during our weekend ploddings we had a superb opportunity to do two
of our favourite autumnal pastimes: mud wallowing and fungi foraging. Quite
frankly, due to a mushroom's predilection for living in awkward places, these
two, fine, British sports generally tend to go hand-in-hand.
Most of the people we met today were scouts, walking along the motorway (SDW) in
small groups. It turns out they were on a
serious mission,
organised by the Sussex Downsmen, with the intention of covering as much ground
as possible in a single day. Depending on their age (and some of them seemed
ridiculously young) they were either doing a 25 mile hike, a 45 mile hike or a
60 miler. Several were even doing 80 miles! Once, with the scouts in the 1970's
I did nearly 60 miles in a day across the same route and so I can tell you from
personal experience that it's a complete and utter killer. You get so tired that
both your body and your brains become worn out. Through the night you're in a
dream-world of pain and hallucinations and you need to keep your morale, liquid
and energy levels all topped up. It's a great thing for a young person to do of
course and if it doesn't kill them then it can help mould them into becoming an
adult with virtues such as: drive, ambition, motivation and the strength of
character that can withstand all attempts to ever get them to do such a crazy
bloody thing ever again.
It completely p..precipitated it down all day, which was fine for us (mud
wallowing remember) but left us feeling very concerned for the scouts. The rain
and wind increased as the night wore on and became ridiculous during the night
and we can only guess what it was like along the top of the Downs.
A really good morning started with slowly lifting fog.
How do these soft, fragile fruiting bodies
of Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea) push their way through solid wood?
Answers on a postcard please.
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They look like they could really taste of
honey don't they?
Please do not eat any wild fungi without knowing exactly what they are. There
have been
record numbers of poisonings this year.
A quiet, idyllic moment ,between the
showers, along the Roman road.
Yellow Fieldcap (Bolbitius vitellinus)
Spotted fly-catcher which we er...
spotted, um... fly-catching.
We photographed this as it was the driest
place we found all day.
A Soft Puffball (Lycoperdon molle)
Pink Waxcap (Hygrocybe calyptriformis)
A Meadow Puffball (Vascellum pratense)
A beautiful Upright Coral Fungus (Ramaria
stricta), the first one we've ever found. A highlight for us.
If you want more fungi pictures then check out those on our
gallery.
It's
harvest festival weekend and Eartham Church was being seasonally decorated
when we arrived.
Well the heavy rain later in the day didn't dampen our spirits in the slightest:
it just reminded us of our walks in the Highlands.
We got completely soaked to the skin and then rinsed out our insides with
Glenmorangie at the Bridge Inn for the final full effect.
Och aye!