Extending a water-free path in Ditchling

At this point at the south of the MAC’s Farm there is a stile with a sleeperbridge across some very damp ground, probably a winterbourne that dries up in less damp weather. There was an existing sleeper bridge across the deeper part but we had negotiated to extemd it with a Walkway, most of the way to the gate (at which there is, January ’26 a polite request that people should walk round the field on their visitor’s trail rather than use the actual pathway to minimise the possibility of the egg-laying birds catching H5N1 Avian Flu. This is why we have not extended the walkway further.

Carrying the walkway to site, 200m across muddy and waterlogged paths, was NOT fun, even with some bearer timbers to provide easier grip, and 6 workers carrying for part of the journey. We also had to carry 5 heavy concrete lintels for the walkways to sit on (to reduce rot) and some angle irons {to anchor the walkways in place}. But the job was done as is shown, and some of us took the opportunity of buying some fresh eggs as we left.