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THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY NATIONAL TRAIL

West to East – Winchester to Eastbourne

Climbing Bourne Hill (Day 3; photo: Andy Dodd)

The South Downs Way

StartWinchesterFinishEastbourneDistance160km (100miles)

The 160km (100-mile) SDW route is set out below in three day stages between 46.5km and 61km in length. These stages are intended as a guide that is very much open to adaptation – subject to your preferred way of tackling the route. You might want to take more or less time to complete the route; you might want to do it all in one go over the course of one, two, three or more days or you might prefer to complete stages at different times.

The length of stages you ride is contingent on several factors: your fitness; available time; the time of year, weather and ground conditions; transport links and where you choose to stay (see Appendix A for camping and accommodation). If attempting to complete the route in two days, Amberley is roughly halfway, has good train links, pubs and a campsite at nearby Houghton Farm. You will, however, have the tougher of the two days to come if riding west to east (there is no law against riding east to west, but you will be against the prevailing winds). Riding as far as Truleigh Hill YHA (101.5km) gets you well on the way, with a tough 56.5km to Eastbourne to tackle the following day. A four-day itinerary might be approximately: day 1: Winchester to Queen Elizabeth Country Park (QECP) (next to the A3); day 2: QECP to Amberley; day 3: Amberley to Housedean Farm (on the A27 between Brighton and Lewes); day 4: Housedean Farm to Eastbourne.