A brilliantly sunny morning greeted members arriving on the Leisure Centre car park. As we made our way across the road and through the gate onto farmland the temperature was already getting warm and some of us realised that dressing for a typical February walk was a bit excessive.
It was good to see some members from this part of West Sussex who find our Ashdown Forest walk venues a little too far to easily attend.

All the hounds were raring to go, save for Bella and Roxy who were a bit reluctant to join in as they were feeling a little under the weather. Poor things.

Recent rainfall over the previous week made the ground quite muddy and left some puddles of standing water on the rutted pathways. A few hardy hounds waded into some of the deeper puddles and emerged very muddy. There would be some smelly and wet journeys home for some hounds.

Our route led us across a country lane and onto more fields, following the route up to a shaded track which skirted a wooded hillside. Here, we were in single file on a narrow track which required some nimble footwork to avoid racing hounds crashing around us. But eventually we were back out into the bright sunlight.

After re-crossing the lane we passed a farm and the entrance to a large country residence - apparently belonging to the former Field and Track athlete, Sally Gunnell. No doubt, had she been looking out of her window on this bright Sunday morning, she would have seen us and been quite impressed by the overall fitness of our group.

Upon arriving back at the car park, I noticed that our walk had taken almost two hours. Feeling the need for some refreshments, we arranged to meet up at a local pub.

However, the car park here was full, as was another in nearby Bramber. At this stage, our convoy decided to abandon the idea of a quenching pint and instead head home,

A great morning out, never the less.