South Downs Way
The South Downs Way is an 100-mile national trail running along the chalk escarpment of the South Downs from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex, one of the finest long-distance walking and cycling routes in southern England. The trail traverses the entire length of the South Downs National Park along the ridge of the chalk downs, providing continuous open views across the Weald to the north and the English Channel to the south in a landscape of great beauty and historical depth. The chalk downland traversed by the route is one of the most characteristic and most threatened landscapes of lowland England, the distinctive combination of short-turf grassland maintained by centuries of sheep grazing, the ancient trackways and drove roads along the ridge, the dew ponds that provided water for livestock before piped supply, and the many Bronze Age barrows and earthworks visible along the high ground creating a landscape that preserves in its physical fabric the entire agricultural and social history of the English downland. The views from the South Downs Way are exceptional throughout its length but particularly fine on the western sections between Winchester and Petersfield, where the ridge provides panoramas across Hampshire and Surrey, and on the eastern section above the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head, where the full height of the chalk cliffs is visible at their most dramatic. The short chalk grassland of the downland supports the remaining colonies of Adonis blue, chalkhill blue and other butterfly species that have almost disappeared from the wider southern English countryside. The trail is equally popular with cyclists, the chalky surface of many sections providing reasonable cycling conditions in dry weather and the long-distance character of the route suitable for two or three-day cycling expeditions with accommodation in the villages below the downs.