I’ve just moved to Lewes, and I want to find some good places to run. I’d found a blog post of Lewes running routes, but I’ve never been too good at following maps. Besides, there’s nothing quite like trial and error for finding your way around a new place, so I’ve decided to head out without a map, let Strava keep track of where I end up, and keep some notes to see if any of them could become good routes.
Today was moving day, but we’re moving to a mostly furnished flat, so it wasn’t too stressful. I got the car unloaded and set the flat up pretty quickly, so it seemed like a good idea to get out for a run before getting too hungry, and before my daughter arrived.
I put on my running shoes and headed East across the Phoenix Causeway. Taking the path down to the river and heading North, I went past Tesco and up through Malling Rec. Here the options were up the hill, which would probably take me to main roads fairly quickly, or across the footbridge towards the Pells. Signposts mentioned the Sussex Ouse Valley Way, which sounded promising.
Along the river the path opened out into wider fields, with surprisingly tame cows apparently untroubled by the dogs and their walkers on the path.
Ahead of me I could see a tower, which I guess must be the church at Offham. It seemed like a good thing to aim for, but the path didn’t seem to want to go along with that idea. Instead it cut back under the railway line and into another field of cows.
After I ran two sides of a triangular field, a man relaxing at the corner suggested that there was a path through to the river - “a few nettles and brambles, but nothing too bad” he said. Perhaps I need to toughen up, but it seemed fairly impassable to me, so I sheepishly came back past him and headed towards Landport, dodging cowpats as I went. Part way down towards town, there was another gate into the fields, so I headed off-road again, but pretty soon ran out of path and trudged back to the gate to follow Landport Road.
At the recreation ground. again the far corner of the field looked promising from a distance, but when I got there, the path just headed into a bramble patch and up to a fence, so it was time for another loop back to the road, and down to a twitten cutting through to the Pells and back through to North Street.
With a bit more planning, this could evolve into the beginnings of a pretty good route - mostly flat, not too many directions to think about, and the paths through the fields weren’t too bumpy.
Distance : 6.68km
Time : 39.08
Pace : 5.51/km
Elevation gain : 31m
Roads crossed : 1
Other runners seen : 0
Animals seen : cows, dogs, ducks, moorhens, pigeons, squirrels
Nettle stings : 4
Bramble cuts : 1
Dead ends : 3
Twittens : 1