The Lewes Marathon

[Sweder]

Lewes Marathon: Rodmell/ Firle/ Glynde/ Mount Caburn

Grey mizzle greeted my return to Rodmell. I picked up the South Downs Way where I'd left it a week earlier, crossing the old Newhaven road and dropping down towards Southease. I passed a delightful cottage before taking the narrow bridge across the river Ouse, slicked green with verdant pond weed.

The crossing at Southease is an issue. There's a pedestrian gate alongside the road crossing. On the station platform is a horribly steep stair bridge. The obvious crossing point for runners is the gate but I cannot see this being sanctioned for an official race. It will of course be fine for our inaugural invitational, where all starters accept responsibility for their own recognisance.

Once across, the stoney trail leads up into a farm yard. A sign mounted on a well-appointed Sussex flint wall points the way up a spiralling climb. Another bridge, this over the main Newhaven road, offers ribbed footing on one half, most useful for those of us in off-road shoes running in the wet. On, on, on climbs the trail, through sheep fields, past thorn bushes, over upward. The views at this point are breathtaking. Even on a misty, grizzly day such as this I could see the ocean at Seaford, the top of the YBR directly behind and, off to the right, across the A27, Blackcap's peak smothered in low cloud. To my left, across the valley, Mount Caburn, Lewes Golf Club and the town below.

After the initial steep climb the Firle section continues to ramble upward and eastward. At some point I lost my bearings. I passed the drop to Firle House, part of the Firle 20 route I ran with Moyleman back in 2007. This would shorten the route too much, I knew. Yet, ten minutes and a mile later I was still on Firle ridge running east, away from Mount Caburn and the end of the race. I got anxious, taking the next route down off the fell. This turned out to be a treacherous, slippery slope leading to nowhere in particular but heading vaguely west in the lea of the hill. At this point, whilst attempting to mark the point by hitting 'lap', I managed to stop my watch, hence the suicidal plunge on the elevation map. I lost around fifteen minutes before I realised and re-started. This way was clearly not right. I should have either dropped down the road to Firle House or carried on to the drop into Alfriston. Looking at the overall mileage accrued to date it must be the latter.

No matter. I regained my bearings, passed the delightful Beanstalk Tea Gardens and took the cinder track back into Firle Village. There I joined the road back to the A27, another potentially contentious crossing point for runners. There are no lights here, just a traffic island to assist pedestrians. The road is busy, it's like trying to cross a Grand Prix circuit on race-day. I must have waited over two minutes to cross, even then putting a spurt on to avoid homicidal traffic. It must have been this demand on my already depleted resources that scrambled my brain. Instead of seeking a roadside route west to Glynde village I figured I'd go across country and pick up the river. Problem was, there was no river trail. No trails whatsoever, rather dense, soggy crop fields through which I ploughed heavily, weighed down as much by a sense of foreboding as perpetual precipitation. It's hard to fathom why I struggled so badly. I'd had a light running week, just two outings involving hill sprints. I crossed the railway tracks via a farmer's gate before finally reaching the river, turned left along the bank until I reached Glynde village, sighing heavily within. As general distance/ elevation guide that section of mapping might be useful, but in terms of a workable route it's a write-off.

At least I was back on the right path. Running through the picturesque village I gazed up to my left. Mount Caburn loomed impossibly high above, like Mount Doom in the Thomas Covenant stories. It was going to take a monumental effort to scale that. The worrying thing was I'd barely covered seven miles and felt utterly drained. On race-day this challenge will come at around mile 22. Sure enough I struggled, walking at times. I took Ranscombe Lane but once again lost concentration and ended up on the wrong side of a farmer's fence. After a scramble down a perilous muddy bank through a dense thicket and some maniacal goose-stepping over a low barbed-wire fence, I managed to get back on the proper route. Once again I marvelled at the vistas on offer at the summit. This is one of at least five points on the route where you can see all five peaks and the shaded patchwork valleys in between. Even on the foulest day this sense of scale will stand the course out from many others.

I chugged along the trail to Lewes Golf Club, accepting that I'd failed to prepare this section properly and would be back out here when I return from the Antipodes. I ended the mapping there. Route-wise it's junk, but it does contribute to the elevation profile. I lack the skills (and tools) to stitch my maps together, as the effort shown below makes clear. Yet you still get a sense of the scale of the challenge. I'll come back and do the whole route on a bike (once I've discussed all this with Duncan and Rob and we've tweaked some of the sections). I'm not an experienced mountain-biker, yet I feel confident enough to ride the route, conceding that there will be a fair bit of bike-walking involved.

   
Top left is the first (Lewes to top of Big W), top right W/ YBR/ Rodmell
The bottom two images are Sunday's run - left Rodmell/ Southease/ Firle, right Glynde/ Mount Caburn/ Lewes Golf Club

Likely route:
Lewes Prison/ Blackcap/ Houndean Farm/ Castle Hill/ Death Valley/ Yellow Brick Road/ Rodmell/ Southease/ Firle Beacon/ Alfrison/ Firle House/ Glynde/ Mount Caburn/ Lewes Golf Course/ Cliffe High St/ John Harvey Tavern.