I left Slindon a bit later to wait for a heavy shower to clear and took this picture of the church I stayed in last night.
On the way to Arundel it was mainly forest and impressive trees
In Arundel I visited first the Catholic Cathedral
After that I visited the Anglican Church of St Nicholas
Its building is shared with the Chapel of Arundel Castle. It used to be one, but with the English Reformation it was split in two. The Castle side is Catholic, and now a fence is erected between the two halves, behind the Anglican altar
After lunch I went up the Downs via Arundel Park
Of course there they have to be sheep too!
But had to come down again to cross the river Arun. Its water levels are very high at the moment and at times seemed to flow backwards. Later on I realised that this was a tidal river!
I crossed a piece of land in the loop of the river and find these escaped(?) chickens liking the apples.
On my final approach to Houghton I had to walk alongside of the river. Fortunately it had boardwalks, unfortunately one tree had fallen, and I couldn't go underneath with or without backpack. Fortunately I could go along the side sliding my backpack along the planks.
The next obstacle bested me. The boardwalk finished, but it didn't lead to dry land but to a stream! I tried but gave up as it was deeper than the height if my boots, and I didn't fancy sopping wet feet.
So I returned, doing the same trick with sliding my rucksack.
I finally had to walk along the road, with no pavements, and as it was getting darker, I was glad fir my hi-viz jacket I carried along as well!
So I bit wetter than I wanted to be I arrived at the South Downs Bunkhouse, shared overnight accommodation, that I have completely to myself! And the first thing I did was to rinse my backpack rain guard as that's where the backpack was sliding on! Then a shower (first in three days!) and food.
Tomorrow will be a long day again...
