Another hot weekend here in east Sussex, too hot to be out in the midday sun.  The plan was to do an evening walk along a part of the South Downs I have not been yet.  Another escarpment the other side of the river Ouse that continues to Brighton.  Due to football I not make the evening walk so Sunday morning I went on a scouting trip along the South Downs starting off in Kingston near Lewes.

South Downs Escarpment climb

I not get out of bed as early as I would have ideally liked but made it to Kingston near Lewes before 8AM.  The sun was already high in the sky and beating down.  Managed to find parking on the street and made my way along the road and then up the steep escarpment of the Swanborough Hill.

Once on top of the south downs I was reminded of how good it feels to be outside walking in the sunshine, there was a cool breeze blowing this high and the sun not too hot this time in the morning.

Like I said, I was not familiar walking this part of the south downs, I was scouting locations.  Using OS Maps online I could clearly plan my walk using the footpaths.

Towards Castle Hill Nature Reserve

I knew this time of day I was unlikely to get any really good photos due to the high contrast of the sunlight, the featureless hazy sky and the wide open empty spaces.

Still opportunities for landscape photography always present themselves to you when walking along the south downs.  We were in a drought now and the land was parched and dry.

I was making my way to an area within the south downs known as the Castle Hill nature reserve.  I made it to Castle Hill around 9AM and it was already getting to hot.

The nature reserve is like a little green oasis within the wide open expanses on the south downs.  Following the path further around I managed to find some shade from the sun under a tree.  I might as well taken a flask of coffee as my water was now hot.

Scouting views from Swanborough Hill

I followed the footpaths back round towards Kingston near Lewes, noticing many butterflies which were too shy to be photographed.  Back on Swanborough hill further down from where I started there were some good views east over the valley between Firle and Mount Caburn.

This was what I was scouting for, a good location to return when both the sun was setting behind me, low directional light on those hills and valleys.  In winter time the sun should rise directly in front, maybe with an early morning mist clinging to the land and the valley.  The problem would be scouting for and including any foreground interest in the form of plants and flowers, hopefully the sky would be alot more interesting with clouds and colour.

Alls I could think of now was a cold pint or two in the Juggs pub down there in Kingston near Lewes, that was where I was heading next.  When I get fixated on a cold pint of beer, I can cut the walk short.  But after a productive scouting session on unfamiliar hills of the south downs,  surely I would return to these tremendous views over east Sussex countryside when the sun was setting and when it was rising.