The South Downs Way
Gumber Corner and Glatting Beacon
There are several footpaths and bridleways which traverse and encircle the top of Glatting Beacon and you need to pay attention otherwise you may have to retrace your steps.
You could find yourself heading off along the Monarch's Way or perhaps turn onto Stane Street - the Roman Road from Chichester to London - or Noviomagus and Londinium as the signpost would have you believe.
Gumber Corner is an especially lovely spot up here - there's a bench where you can look towards Slindon, Eartham and the coastal plain beyond. It's tempting to stay there.
Hilaire Belloc, MP, walker, writer about the best things in Sussex and sometime resident of Slindon village and later Shipley where he owned the mill, loved this part of the South Downs.
Belloc, who knew a thing or two about walking in Sussex, went so far as to claim that, if pushed to choose, the walk from Eartham to Hardham by the River Arun and the section of Stane Street across Gumber would be his favourite of all.
This spot crops in his work time and again.
He wonders what ancient engineer's eye picked out the straight line of the Roman Road from Gumber to Chichester. Belloc's Sonnets and Verse (1923) contains the phrase "lift up your hearts in Gumber". and in his essay The Slant of the Land Belloc writes that the he would remember the windblown scent of the first flowers in North Wood or Gumber and be reminded of home.
On 27 July 2003 the fiftieth anniversary of Belloc's death was marked here by the unveiling of a plaque near the bothy which the National Trust at the Slindon Estate maintains for the benefit of walkers needing overnight shelter.
If you're walking with a friend you're fully entitled to point southwards and say "Great Bottom" to them without fear of them taking offence - for Great Bottom is the name of the wooded valley below Gumber Corner.
Places to visit close to the South Downs Way
Amberley | Arundel | Ashington | Bepton | Bignor | Bramber | Bramber Castle | Burpham | Bury | Chanctonbury Ring | Charlton | Chilgrove | Clayton | Cocking | Compton | Cootham | Devil's Dyke | The Devil's Humps | Didling | Duncton | East Dean | East Harting | Edburton | Findon | Graffham | Harting Down | Heyshott | Houghton | Hurstpierpoint | North Marden | Parham House | Poynings | Pyecombe | Rackham | Singleton | Slindon | South Harting | South Stoke | Stedham | Steyning | Storrington | Torberry Hill | Treyford | Trotton | Truleigh Hill | Uppark | Up Marden | Upwaltham | Upper Beeding | Washington | West Dean
You might also like
- Along the South Downs Way in Sussex - a guide
- Some walking boots and hiking equipment shops in Sussex
- The Downs Link - a flat walk from Shoreham-by-Sea to the North Downs
- Some good places for West Sussex walkers
- Along the New Lipchis Way all the way from Chichester to Liphook
- The Monarch's Way as it runs through West Sussex
- A level walk Chichester to West Wittering Beach along Salterns Way - a good family walk
- West Sussex Horse riding information
- West Sussex Mountain Bike information
- About Horse riding on the bridleways of West Sussex
- B&B Midhurst
- Hotels Midhurst
- B&B Chichester
- Hotels Chichester
- Hotels Petworth
- B&B Arundel
- Hotels Arundel
- B&B Worthing
- Hotels Worthing
- B&B Haywards Heath
- Hotels Burgess Hill
- Butser Hill to Harting Down
- Harting to Cocking
- Cocking to Upwaltham
- Upwaltham to Amberley
- Burton Down
- Gumber Corner
- Westburton Hill
- Bury Hill
- The Arun Valley
- River Arun crossing
- Amberley to Washington
- Washington to Upper Beeding
- Upper Beeding to Devil's Dyke
- Devil's Dyke to Ditchling Beacon
- South Downs Way Tips
- Cycling in Sussex
- Bike repairs
- Bicycle hire
- Mountain Biking
- Sussex Walking
- The Ramblers
- Other trails
- Horse riding
- Arundel
- Bognor Regis
- Burgess Hill
- Chichester
- Crawley
- East Grinstead
- Haywards Heath
- Horsham
- Littlehampton
- Midhurst
- Petworth
- Shoreham-by-Sea
- Steyning
- Worthing
