River Ouse Trail Leg 3

Sussex Ouse Path - Ardingly Reservoir to Newick

We decided to continue this trail and none of us dare end up at Lewis Brewery for three consecutive weeks so we moved "Up River"! After a weekend of almost continuous rain Carol the TV Weather Lady said that we could expect no rain until mid afternoon so we set off. After some debate about whether it was better to walk "Up-Stream" from Newark or "Down-Stream" from Ardingly caused by whether we chose this Pub for lunch or that one, we set out from Ardingly Reservoir car park.

The initial section of the trail was actually coincident with the High Weald Landscape trail we did earlier in the year except this time we were walking in the other direction. Ivan wanted to see the "Balcombe Viaduct" over the river Ouse so we made an initial short detour. This railway Viaduct is a grade 2 listed building (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouse_Valley_Viaduct ) and this early Victorian wonder of engineering is still in daily use with over 100 trains a day passing over it on the London to Brighton line. Apparently, the River Ouse was navigable up to the Viaduct and a local boat haulier had the contract to ship the millions of bricks needed for the viaduct. Once completed and the railway started running all the freight switched from the river to the railway and the boat company went bust. Must be a morale there somewhere!

This was a nice walk through wonderful countryside but we couldn't help noticing that we never saw the River Ouse for the first 7 miles! Maybe that's why some wag called it the Ouse VALLEY walk rather than the River Ouse walk. However, the good thing about it was that at the 7 mile point the trail passed directly in front of a nice little pub, "The Sloop" situated next to the river and miles from anywhere! Maybe the boat captains used to stop their on their way to deliver bricks to the viaduct!

The Sloop was a free-house which meant they had a range of local micro-brewery beers but because we had to drive back later we only partook in moderation.

Back to the car around 3-00pm and within minutes we hit a rain shower. That Carol the weather Lady sure knew her stuff eh!!