If you’re keen to experience a night-time ramble for the first time, then try this straightforward route – although it’s a delightful walk in the daylight as well! Amberley is one of the most attractive villages in Sussex, with thatched cottages and a 12th-century church. A short lane takes you up and on to the South Downs Way, and from here the public bridleways should present no serious navigational problems, even by moonlight. After a loop through the undulating downs to the south, the return to Amberley is via the South Downs Way across Rackham Hill, with superb views over the Sussex countryside.
[1] Take School Road southwards out of Amberley (TQ030133), carefully cross the B2139, and follow the narrow Mill Lane opposite as it climbs uphill. Where it swings right after a junction leave it and go straight on, past the entrance to a house called Highdown, and pick up the South Downs Way (TQ034126) along the clear bank on the left.
If you turn left at the road junction you will drop down to the B2139 once more, where you can reach the open-air industrial heritage centre of Amberley Working Museum and also the railway station.
[2] Follow the well-walked National Trail as it climbs the open slope, ignoring tracks off.
(A) As you make your way up past Rackham Banks (TQ047126), which are early Iron Age cross dykes or boundary markers, the lights of mid Sussex and the Weald will be twinkling away to the left – the view extends to 48km/30 miles in clear conditions.
[3] As you approach the top of the hill you come to a junction of tracks. Turn right and walk along the edge of some woodland. Another bridleway comes in on the right, then you soon reach a complicated intersection of routes. At first go right, towards Burpham, then almost immediately left for a long, straight bridleway that gradually descends towards Wepham Down.
[4] After a kilometre or so turn off left, then left again to head back northwards. Ignoring a right fork, go straight on along a clear, rising track that skirts the edge of a narrow strip of woodland. Just beyond this the track emerges at a major route junction on Kithurst Hill (TQ071125), where you rejoin the South Downs Way near a car park.
[5] Turn left, heading westwards along the National Trail across the crest of the downs and making for Rackham Hill (TQ054126).
(B) At 193m/633ft, Rackham Hill is one of the best viewpoints on the South Downs, overlooking the stately grounds of Parham House and also Amberley Wild Brooks – a large area of floodplain centred on the River Arun. Winter flooding provides a valuable habitat for wildfowl, and the RSPB and Sussex Wildlife Trust both manage reserves that are open to the public.
To conclude the walk simply follow the South Downs Way due west from the hilltop, rejoining the outward route and dropping back down into Amberley via the lane.