If you are lucky enough to be coming to the Travelling Folk's Song and Ale weekend at Upper Dicker in 2010, you can join in the walk on Saturday morning as usual at about a quarter to ten.
If you are lucky enough to be coming to the Travelling Folk's Song and Ale weekend at Upper Dicker in 2010, you can join in the walk on Saturday morning as usual at about a quarter to ten.
This year's walk will be through Bramble Grove. There are hardly any brambles along the woodland path, in spite of the name, but we will find a few brambles and stinging nettles before we get there.
On this walk before we have seen horses, birds, bracken, brambles, butterflies (meadow brown and heath), fields, fish, flowers, horses, mud, pheasants, puddles, rabbits, river, trees, stiles, stinging nettles, a grey (not pied) wagtail and more horses.
We leave Upper Dicker (see map) via the footpath behind the Village Shop, formerly the Post Office, and we'll return the way we came. That way we'll get back in time to join the lunchtime sing in Upper Dicker village hall.
For those of you who like Geocaching, a list of local geocaches will be provided by Mary. 
The first part of our route follows The WealdWay, which runs from Eastbourne to Gravesend. Wealdway paths are indicated by a little yellow WW.
1. We start by going to the Upper Dicker Village Shop & Café. Officially we follow the path R of the boundary hedge with stingers and bramble but more likely we go to the PO first, then find the path behind it, R, to the field behind.
Over a stile with stingers and bramble.
2. Go along L edge of a field with horses (they might follow us).
When you reach the electrified fence, use the handles to "open" it before passing through. Use the handles again to close the fence!
Over a stile (use the left-hand stile as the other one is wobbly).
3. Left round school cricket pitch or, if no match is happening, cross it avoiding the wicket. Over the stile (use the left-hand stile as the other one is wobbly)
4. Along L edge of field with horses. L through two metal gates - beware sticky, slippery mud.
5. Along the obvious path between paddocks. Halfway, instead of veering right, take grassy path to V-shaped stile and turn L. to avoid Michelham Farm.
6. Cross bridge across the weir where water flows towards Michelham Priory's moat; pass small car park (!)
7. Follow a sturdier path across small field to second bridge crossing Cuckmere River proper with faster-flowing water, fish, reeds, grey wagtail(?) and muddy puddles.
Bridge over the Cuckmere ... Field and gate
8. In a bigger field follow RH edge towards the interesting gate.
Clue to finding the lake...[somewhere around here, if we keep Left we see a fishing lake, but it isn't by this field]
9. In the big field, don't follow WW path left, but cross the field bearing slightly Left to Bramble Grove, entering woods by a stile between the metal gate you can see and LH field corner.
(See first comment for my notes for a longer walk following the Wealdway - which would take us too long today.)
To our R is the Cuckmere river but the path doesn't go there.
10. In the wood, follow path ahead, observe pheasant feeders R. Keep on path ahead through brambles and bracken.
11. crossing a muddy ditch then another with a plank bridge, continue along woodland path keeping fence and open field on L.
12. Pass famous(?) tree, continue to cross last ditch just before wooden gate.
13. Keep R along field edge, past false exit, on towards next corner and stile to very muddy, puddly road. I did think we could return by road if it was very wet but this roadway is worse than the fields!
14. Return the way we came ... perhaps stopping for ice cream at Upper Dicker Village Shop.
For another walk from Upper Dicker, see my Upper Dicker walk 2006 or River Ocean's walk from Berwick to Michelham with stories by local storyteller Pat Bowen.
January 2010