‘Come far?’
I turn from the bar, where I’m waiting to place my order, and two elderly ladies, seated at a nearby table, are surveying my sweaty running gear and rucksack with a pleasant air of enquiry. ‘Pevensey,’ I tell them. ‘We’re heading for Battle today and then on to Rye tomorrow.’ I wait for the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ and perhaps a ‘Gosh, you must be fit…’
‘STILL A WAY TO GO THEN,’ says one of them, prompting me to downgrade my pint of Long Man bitter to a shandy.
I carry our drinks out to the beer garden of the 17thcentury Ash Tree Inn, where my husband, Jeff, has bagged a table. Morris, our terrier, is sprawled out beneath it, grateful for the shade on this unseasonably warm May afternoon. We’re running the 1066 Country Walk, a 32-mile marked trail in East Sussex that weaves north-easterly from Pevensey to Rye. The wonderfully named hamlet of Brown Bread Street, where we’ve stopped for lunch, is 10 miles in.
The route retraces the footsteps of William, Duke of Normandy, who landed his troops at Pevensey in 1066 and, as every English schoolchild should know, marched into a battle that would change the course of history. But there’s more to 1066 country than battle trivia: the route passes through diverse landscapes, from the Pevensey Levels – a 3,600-hectare expanse of grassland criss-crossed by waterways – to the rolling, wooded hills and deep valleys of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and the ancient settlements of Battle, Winchelsea and Rye. With well-trodden paths, a peak height of 115m and a total elevation of 2,500ft, it offers a perfect bite-sized running adventure.
Like William, we begin our journey at Pevensey. Unlike him, we have arrived not by boat but by train – a direct journey from the end point at Rye. A short jog brings us to the atmospheric ruins of Pevensey Castle, where the official start of the route is marked by a stunning wooden sculpture of a Norman longboat, the first of 10 Bayeux Tapestry-inspired works along the trail, carved by local artist Keith Pettit.
ON THE LEVELS
Pressing start on our watches, we leave the castle behind, curving north on to the gloriously flat Pevensey Levels. The sky is blue and cloudless, though the day still cool. We follow
