The South Downs Way was up near the top of my ever expanding "to do" list so when I had a free week in April, I decided to do the SDW. I realised that accommodation for the solo walker would be expensive and both the youth hostels on route were booked when I'd be arriving so I looked at the possibility of camping and saw that I could camp every night and do similar distances every day. However the first day would see me arrive into Winchester at lunch time and then pay a fortune for a hotel for the night so I decided to split my original first day and walk 6 miles to Holden Farm campsite and the remaining 13 miles the next day. It meant an extra day but being Scottish and living in Yorkshire....the saving I made was
The official mileage is 100 miles but I did about 119 miles. You can only really do 100 miles if you stay on the route but you have to come off it for accommodation and/or shops so most days I walked an extra few miles.
My itinerary ended up as
Day 1 Winchester to Holden Farm campsite (on route) - 7 miles
Day 2 Holden Farm to the Sustainability Centre near East Meon (campsite on route) - 14.5 miles
Day 3 East Meon to Graffam campsite ( 2 miles off route) - 24 miles
Day 4 Graffham to Washington campsite ( 1 mile off route) -19 miles
Day 5 Washington to Southdown Way campsite near Keymer ( 1 mile off route) - 19 miles
Day 6 Keymer to Alfriston Star Inn (on route) - 22 miles
Day 7 Alfriston to Eastbourne - 12 miles
I really enjoyed the walk, it never rained for the 7 days I was walking and the views were very nice indeed. On many parts of the SDW the ridge goes on for miles and you lose track of the time and mileage as the paths are level and the path is easy to follow, you really wouldn't need a map as it's so well signposted. The biggest ascents each day were usually getting back onto the path from your accommodation or if you'd visited a village shop off route but apart from them, there is nothing major. It is certainly a walk I would do again and would definitely recommend it
You can read the full trip report here (one day I'll finish the site)...
http://www.brians-walks.co.uk/south-downs-way.htmlAnd for those that just want to see a few photos, here are some...
There would be many Bluebells along the SDW
Looking over towards Old Winchester Hill
A herd of Deer beside the South Downs Way
Chanctorybury Ring, a prehistoric hill fort
Sharing the SDW with a cyclist, the sea in the background
The Litlington White Horse near Alfriston
Looking back from Birling Gap
The End