Around the Town, Across the Downs, To a Pool for a Lounge

This time from Arundel, a successor to a walk I did from Lewes last year. All the same ingredients are in place: fascinating townscape: check; exhilarating downland: check; relaxing riverbank: check; refreshing swimming pool: check. Our visit to Arundel Lido comes at the end of the walk and is entirely optional, but I hope that after a hot day tramping the hills a splash in a lido, the water sparkling and Arundel Castle overlooking, might be welcome. Before the pool will be a fairly short, fairly gentle walk as befits the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. We'll have coffees in cafés, picnics on a promontory, pints in a pub, and between them, a stroll that surveys some classic Sussex scenery.

The sights:

Arundel: A very English town close to, but very un-English at a distance, with castle and pinnacled cathedral at either end of a ridge and mellow brick houses tumbling down to the river. But all is not what it seems: much is mock-Tudor or mock-medieval as well as real-Georgian. A prosperous, immaculate and now quite chic place with antique shops and fine restaurants aplenty. 

Arundel Castle: To a C12 keep and bailey were added enormous mock-medieval walls and buildings between 1890 and 1903. See the wealth and might (and arrogance) of England's premier Peer of the Realm and Earl Marshal on full display.

Church of St Nicholas: Built all of a piece in 1380 in perpendicular gothic. Unique in the country for being both an Anglican parish church and a Roman Catholic chapel - the resting place of the Dukes of Norfolk.

Arundel Cathedral: The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady and St Philip Howard was built by the 15th Duke of Norfolk at his own expense in 1871-3. Impressive at a distance, forbidding close to, but giving Arundel its dramatic Mont St Michel-like outline.

Hiorne's Tower: The Tower is a habitable folly from 1790. It has a triangular shape with octagonal corner turrents and chequerboard stone and flint facings. It was built by Francis Hiorne as a failed pitch to get the contract for rebuilding Arundel Castle.

Arundel Park: A landscaped grounds of the castle but also an SSSI, consisting of oak woodland and open chalk grassland with lots of butterflies and downland flowers. A superb view is to be had over and beyond a broad dry valley, but the descent into it and out of it is a little steep.

River Arun: Rising near Horsham and reaching the sea at nearby Littlehampton, the Arun is least developed of the major West Sussex rivers. Arundel was a port, but nowadays the craft on the river are all for pleasure.

South Stoke: A charming cluster of brick and flint cottages at the end of a cul-de-sac with views taking in parkland, riverside and open downland. St Leonard's Church is 11th century but much Victorianised. 

Burpham: A lovely, romantic, sequestered village of unaffected flint cottages and barns. St Mary's Church is solid, substantial Norman and Angevin, 1100 to 1220. We're having a drink here at the George Inn.

The route:

We'll head into Arundel town along The Causeway and Queen Street. We'll then split up in the Hig Street to explore the town and find coffee and then meet up again outside the Cathedral to continue on our way. We'll turn northeast and cross Arundel Park's valleys and viewpoints before descending to meet the River Arun near North Stoke. We'll walk along the rIver until South Stoke where we'll cross the river and use Peppering Lane to get to Burpham. We'll then head a little into downland before crossing Crossbush Lane to walk back along the rIver. We'll soon reach the lido. After that, a short walk back along The Causeway will return us to the station.

The lido:

Arundel Lido accepts bookings four weeks before the date patrons wish to swim. You must book to be certain of having a place. I will message and email out a reminder when bookings go live. Please use the website here and select 6th July, Family Open Session, 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm. There will be one lane open for dedicated swimming and the rest of the pool and lawn area available for use. We will reach the lido at about 3.15 pm, so have just over an hour to swim.

Dogs:

I love having dogs on my walks and this walk is suitable for them as it isn't too long, although there will be considerable lane walking and fields with livestock, but also woods and arable fields. Warm weather could make the walk exhausting for them. A dog off the lead must be obedient. I don't imagine that dogs are accepted at the lido.

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(All images were taken by the leader on his recce in June 2024.)