Back at the Hilton, I did some web searching to find the inn where I am now staying. It’s called the Saint Mary’s Gate Inn and sits right next to the catholic cathedral. Arundel is a mid-sized town with a huge castle. The castle is the main home of the Duke of Norfolk which is a long way off, so I’m not sure how it all happened. He also has the additional duty of running the college of arms, so he more or less manages the table of organization for the whole nobility. I know all this because shortly after I got into town I toured his castle.
All right, truth in advertising. When I first got to Arundel I drove the car into the first car park I found, walked out to buy a map and find my inn, then I walked back to the car and drove it back to the car park. I just want to make it clear that I do the park on the fringe and walk trick even when alone.
I did decide to visit the castle right after I settled in. The town was alive with tourists, and I knew that would add an element of people watching to the visit. I also knew that if I didn’t jump right on it, I could easily fill up my days and never get to it. This castle combined features of many of the others I had visited with Mom or Sara. Like Conwy it had started as a real fortification, though even older. One end of the complex is a 12th century keep. This means they built a hill with a dry ditch around it and stuck a tower on it. The walls are yards thick, and the outside finish is a sort of mosaic of chipped flints in a matrix of mortar. A lot of buildings in the south use some variation of this, and I’ve always thought it was very attractive. Like Sizergh, it was extended over the years with living quarters being added and made increasingly more grand. Like Penryth, the final coat of grandeur was layered on in the 19th century. Arundel was done with more restraint, but also with even more precious materials.
The most interesting thing, though, was the implied message of all of it. While some of the other castles conveyed a clear goal of justifying the aristocracy, Arundel just celebrates it and reminds you that it has been going on for a long time.
After ogling the castle, I got into trail clothes and took a 6 mile walk or so – I’ll add in the specifics if I remember to. It was basically a distant orbit of the castle, largely through Arundel Park – originally the castle’s private park but made public at the pleasure of the Duke a few generations ago. The walking here is a lot like the walking around Oxfordshire. There are modest hills, they call them downs for reasons no one seems to know. Specifically, downs are long lines of chalk hills bordered by quite level plains (called Wealds just so nobody thinks I’m confused and it’s really the flat parts that are called downs). This has a couple of benefits. From the plain, the downs look almost like built walls going on for miles with the occasional break for a river. From the sides and tops of the downs, the plains stretch for dozens of miles. It makes navigation a breeze even for walkers without my fancy electronic toy. All you have to do is climb a hill to a place without too many trees and the whole landscape spreads out below you and looks just like your map.
On one stretch of the walk, I was following a clear path, but by several other indications, I started to worry I might have wandered into a private part of the park. It turned out I was fine all along, but the fear of being run in for trespass gave a piquancy to about half an hour of the walk. I don’t know what kind of due process they’ve got over here if you’re where you’re not supposed to be on a Duke’s land. I was sure the castle had dungeons I hadn’t seen on the regular tour, and I was just as happy to remain unacquainted with them.
On my return journey, it rained on me a bit, just enough to get me into my rain gear but not enough for real inconvenience. I had a nice few miles along the river Arun (from which Arundel) and climbed the high street back up to my inn.
Garmin facts: 5.85 miles in 1:51 walking with 17 minutes resting for 3.2 mph walking and 2.7 mph overall with 217 meters climbed. Also 2 extra unmeasured miles between the habitrail at Heathrow and walking around Arundel and the castle.
Tuesday I did another orbit of Arundel, but significantly further out. I started out towards the northwest picking my way through some poorly marked, heavily wooded paths. There was no rain, but the tall grass I walked through was still wet from the night before, so my trouser legs and sleeves were soon sopping. Three cheers for quick dry, though. Every time I’d get out of the tall stuff for a while I’d dry out and be all ready for another drenching. Fortunately, the exercise of the walk kept me warm enough.
At one point I walked by a big operation of rows and rows of low cages in which it looked like someone was intensively raising birds. I know they do that with pheasants to release on estates for shooting purposes, so that may be what I was seeing.
Part of the way I walked on a long distance path called the Monarch’s Way – so named because it supposedly tracks the route Charles II took while retreating from, well all I’m sure is from someone he was pretty sure he didn’t want to catch up with him. One section I walked was called “The Denture” on my map. I asked a few other people I saw why, but no one knew.
I eventually climbed up into the downs, specifically a hill called Glatting Beacon. On top of that, I found the most useless trig point I’ve yet seen. The hill top is lightly forested now, so you’d have to be lost within 10 feet of it for it to do you any good as a navigational aide. The hilltop also bristles with tall telecoms towers, though, so it’s still pretty easy to spot and still sending signals as it presumably used to to get the name Beacon.
From there, I walked down into a village called Bignor where there is a partially excavated Roman villa. The original building was probably very similar in size to the one I saw at Chedworth, but less of it has been brought to light. It’s still privately owned, and the family has even less money for archeology than the trust does. They did have some beautifully preserved mosaics that I enjoyed seeing. The modern cottagers of Bignor make a pretty good show of their homes and gardens, at least what I could see from the outside. A few of them were downright marvelous.
I walked back to the river by way of a few more villages then walked back along the river banks again. Most of the riverside path was very smooth, grassy, and reasonably dry. There was a pub to stop at about a mile and a half short of Arundel, so I was glad to have the trail cleaning my boots for me. Of course, I hit a patch of unavoidable and highly goopy mud just before stepping onto the car park for the pub and had to go in and order my pint in socks. The pub was where I’d hit the river on Monday evening, so the last little bit was a rerun but without the rain this time.
I got back ravenous and had a very nice roast chicken dinner back at St Mary’s Gate then sat in the pub writing until my computer’s battery and my own both pointed to empty.
Garmin Facts: 20 miles in 6:18 for 3.2 mph walking, 505 meters climbed. I’ve given up on the resting time and overall rate, because I keep having to turn off the gizmo for long breaks to save battery power.
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