Is the South Downs Way hard? An honest guide

The honest answer is that the South Downs Way is one of the gentler long-distance walks in Britain, and that a hundred miles is a hundred miles. Here is what the numbers say, and what they leave out.

The numbers

Distance

101 mi

163 km, measured on our line

High point

248 m

Ditchling Beacon

Total climb

3,279 m

from LIDAR terrain; a floor, not a ceiling

The high point is 248 metres. There is no hill on the route that takes more than an hour to climb, and most take twenty minutes. The total climb over the whole trail comes to about 3,300 metres by our measurement from the Environment Agency's laser survey — which is to say, spread over a hundred miles, about the climb of a hill walk every day. Guidebooks quote more, because they count smaller rises than our survey resolves; ours is a floor.

What makes it hard anyway

The dry valleys. The ridge is not level. Every few miles a dry valley cuts across it, and the path goes straight down one side and straight up the other. Individually they are nothing. By the end of a day with five of them they are the day.

The wind. From Harting Down eastward the ridge is open, and the wind that was a breeze in Hampshire is a factor. There is very little shelter on top for stretches of ten miles.

Water. Chalk holds no surface water, so there are no streams on the tops and nothing to fill from between villages. Carry what you drink. The National Trail marks water points along the Way on its own map; we have not yet checked which are where, and we will say when we have.

The last day. The Seven Sisters are the best walking on the trail and the most up-and-down: seven climbs in a few miles, on grass, above cliffs. Keep something back for it.

What makes it easier than you think

The ground. Chalk track and turf, fast-draining. An hour after rain the top is walkable again, which is why the Way is a winter walk as well as a summer one. It is slick when wet, and the descents into the valleys are where you will notice.

The waymarking. The trail is waymarked throughout, and the ridge is a ridge: it is difficult to leave the route by accident. You still want a map, because the villages are off it.

The trains. Winchester station is a kilometre from the start, with three trains an hour from London Waterloo; Eastbourne station is a couple of kilometres from the finish with direct trains to Victoria. Between them, Southease, Berwick and Seaford have stations within a short walk of the trail. Those are checked, with the dates on the guide; if a day goes wrong there is usually a way off.

So who is it for?

If you can comfortably walk twelve miles in a day, you can walk the South Downs Way in eight or nine days. If you can walk twenty, you can do it in five and not enjoy the fifth. The planner will show you what any number of days looks like, and it will tell you plainly where it does not yet know whether there is a bed.

Build your walkSouth Downs Way in 8 days101 mi · about 13 miles a dayOpen the planner →