h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think I went on my first walking holiday when I was about 17. I joined an organised YHA holiday and went walking in the Wye valley. All I remember is a view of Tintern Abbey, and a stay at a youth hostel at St Briavel’s Castle. After that, my walking holidays became more ambitious, until the one in the Cevennes, in southern France. I remember sitting on a little bridge over a stream, eating cherries – oh, and meeting my future husband! Together, we went walking in the Sibertal area in Austria, and in Andorra. The last was spectacular – we crossed snow fields and one day we reached 3,000 metres. I remember craggy dark mountains, blue tarns and our guide sitting on a rock, playing a tune on a little flute.

We have always gone walking from our home in Sussex. The most striking of our walks is the one that follows the cliffs along the Seven Sisters, which I’ve described at A87855899. Another notable walk runs from Steyning Bowl to Cissbury Ring, which is a Bronze Age hill fort. It is possible to complete a number of walks along the South Downs, using the South Downs way and other footpaths. Ashdown Forest is another good area for walking, although the paths are not as clear as on the Downs and it is possible to find oneself facing an impenetrable gorse thicket! We are still walking, but the distances are getting shorter...

I'll be doing a spot of South Downs Way walking next year - I've signed up to do Trailwalker How many of those are on the South Downs Way?

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Since the South Downs Way runs from Winchester to Eastbourne, probably most of it. However there are doubtless exceptions - for example, if you go down into Brighton itself.

That's a very romantic walking holiday, the bridge, the cherries, meeting the husband to be!

I've never been on a walking holiday, but I used to do a lot of hiking. I don't enjoy slithery mud though. My niece took me on coastal trails in Cornwall, recently, and it was too slithery.

I love the South Downs turf, all springy, with wild scabious.

Slithery mud is no fun! Because we're on clay where we live, the local paths get almost impassible in winter.