Travel Log Lewes Newsletter www.travelloglewes.co.uk
August 2015 newsletter
Travelman says “Do you know the secret paths of Lewes?”
SECRET PATHS OF LEWES
In 2015 travelman undertook a survey of the footpaths and rights of way of Lewes town and found some paths that he had not known about before.:
• Footpath 11, parallel to Cockshut Lane and the A27 • Footpath 4 through the car park opposite the Southdown Club • Footpath 37 from Juggs Lane to an overlook over the Ouse Valley • Lewes footpath 51, a cut through from the Malling industrial estate to Spences Lane
How many of these did you know? You can find the full article, with maps and description here
HELP THE RAMBLERS SURVEY AND PROTECT YOUR FAVOURITE PATHS
Will you take part in the Ramblers’ great survey of footpaths and other rights of way? You do not need to be a member. Full details here
THE LEWES RAILWAY TICKET MACHINES
Beware of buying a ticket from the ticket machines at Lewes station just before the time your ticket becomes valid.
Travelman attempted to buy a ticket to London with a railcard to travel on the 8.48 which is the first ticket on which railcards and off peak fares are available. Although he inputted that he had a railcard the machine only offered the non-railcard fare. The booking office explained that the machines are programmed not to offer cheaper tickets until the time they normally become available.(in this case 9 am)
It may be better to always buy your tickets from the staff when you can, to keep them in jobs, but it certainly is when your ticket is only just about to become valid.
NO MORE TROLLEY SERVICE ON THE TRAINS
Southern Railways has been accused by a union of treating its workers like "dirt" after the sudden termination of its on-board trolley service. The rail firm said most passengers bought food and drink at stations.
The RMT union said staff in Lewes and Brighton had been given just four days notice that the service would be axed.
Catering company Rail Gourmet confirmed the contract would end on Sunday 26th July
Southern Railway joins the Govia Thameslink Railway franchise on the same date. The RMT said 70 staff would lose their jobs.
General secretary Mick Cash said: "This disgraceful move is an attack on both our low paid members and the services that they provide to the travelling public and we are calling for it to be halted immediately before the staff are thrown out of their jobs."
This is a sad end to a venerable tradition. Once the Brighton Belle train featured full meals served at your seat. Then there were buffet cars, which were replaced by the trolleys. Now even this has gone.
SOUTHERN AND THAMESLINK
The cut in trolley services comes on the same day that the Southern and Thameslink companies merge. Both companies are owned by Govia, but for a long time the Thameslink trains were run by the First company. This meant that there was some competition on the Brighton/London route. Thameslink offered slightly lower fares from Brighton to London and both companies offered off peak tickets valid in the evening rush hour. Thameslink did not do this north of London because its competitors in the north did not offer these tickets.
It could well be that the end of refreshments is the beginning of higher fares and other problems for passengers, because of the lack of competition. This would not be unusual. Since Virgin took over running the East Coast Main line the cost of advance fares is reported as rising, with fewer cheap tickets available, especially at the lowest prices. Virgin already runs the West Coast main line.
On the other hand we could see tickets like the daysave being extended to cover Thameslink trains.
KEYCARDS ON THE TRAIN
A reader who wants to be anonymous writes:
“First experience of Southern Keycard (with bike):
- You can only book online one journey at a time, which is a pain if you have a batch of trips coming up
- At Lewes station often the barriers are open, but unfortunately I found that the touch-in pads therefore don't work; if you want to start your journey properly by touching in, this means that you have to find the ticket-barrier person - go down a level to the office between Platforms 2 and 3; they will go up to the barriers for you with your card to validate it, to save you hoicking your bike back up and down, but it's a pain for them, and worrying for you if your train is imminent
- At Victoria, with a bike you have to join the scrum at the 'big' gate, and with the crush it's quite difficult to go through and touch out on the reader, as they're attuned to people showing tickets
So all good in theory but not quite yet in practice.
TAKE THE BUS UP TO FIRLE AND DITCHLING BEACON ON SATURDAYS IN AUGUST
On Saturdays in August and September there is a bus service from Lewes to the car park on top of the downs at Firle Beacon, run by Community Transport Lewes Area (CTLA)
Services leave Neville Green (on the Offham Road) at10.15, Law Courts at 10.18 and the bus station at 10.21. There is also a service from the bus station at 1.41.
Buses return at 10.34 and 1.54 but you will probably want to walk on to somewhere else, such as Alfriston, where you can catch the Cuckmere Ramblerbus back to Seaford or Berwick stations, or get the hourly train back from Southease.
You can find a walk which you can do to or from Firle Beacon here
Buses also run to the car park at the top of Ditchling Beacon. Leaving the bus station at 8.50, 10.50 2.10 and 3.50, calling at the High Street and Nevill Green.
They return from the beacon at 9.47, 11.47, 2.47 and 4.47. You can find a walk that you can do to or from Ditchling Beacon here
CTLA are also running a Sunday Lewes Town service throughout the year.
Full timetables here
Don’t forget that, for the Summer, there are Sunday services on the 123 to Newhaven and the 121 to Chailey. These services also go to the Bluebell Railway and Sheffield Park Gardens. Details here
NEW ONE HOUR M TICKET FOR GROUP TRAVEL IN THE EVENINGS ON THE 28 AND 29 BUSES
Brighton & Hove is planning to introduce a new ‘Share your fare’ M ticket to encourage group travel in the evenings. It will be valid for 60 minutes so passengers travelling together can use any number of buses to complete a single journey in that time. This is something we have campaigned for. We hope 60 minutes will soon be adopted for all single fare M tickets to enable passengers to change buses without having pay twice when there is no direct service. Watch out for publicity which will be here
Thanks to Brighton Buswatch for this information
LEWES CYCLESHACK BIKE RIDES
The Lewes Cycleshack bike shop runs a number of rides
The August ride will be back to leaving from the shop, in Cliffe High Street, at 10.00 AM on the 23rd. Route to be decided, but they will email again before the date to confirm.
Email [email protected] to get on their mailing list.
CYCLE STORAGE GRANTS
Businesses and organisations in East Sussex can apply for a grant of up to £1000 through Sustrans to install cycle storage, shower facilities, lockers or other facilities that will help to promote walking and cycling to work
For more details email [email protected]
SMALL BUSINESS TRAVEL SUPPORT AVAILABLE UNTIL DECEMBER
Sustrans also say “Our European funded project has seen us create Travel Action Plans and provide support for 17 small and medium businesses in East Sussex.
We have worked with these organisations to identify where they can save money, reduce their carbon footprint and improve environmental credentials.
We can offer up to 30 hours of business support from anything to researching, surveying, applying for grants, staff events, training and development around the health and environmental benefits of sustainable travel for commuting and business travel.”
Contact [email protected]
PERSONAL TRAVEL PLANS
Sustrans are working with Lift Share to provide businesses with personal travel plans for staff. This is a free service that generates a guide to traveling to work by active or sustainable travel and includes options for car sharing.
Get in touch to arrange this for your staff [email protected]
COCKSHUT LANE BY THE STANLEY TURNER GROUND
There have been many concerns about the amount of traffic on the lane which forms part of the Lewes Kingston cycle route and is situated between the Stanley Turner Ground and the Lewes Bypass.
It has been used, without the necessary permissions, by the owners of Rise Farm, as a route for vans and lorries. East Sussex county council had proposed to make it into a bridleway, which would have permitted them to erect barriers against traffic.
The owners of Rise Farm applied to the National Park for planning permission to use the lane for vehicles. This permission has now been refused. So the way is now open for the council to declare the bridleway and erect barriers.
LAND AT BREAKY BOTTOM OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
After a long battle by Action for Access and the Open Spaces Society walkers can now use some of the Access Land at Breaky Bottom near Lewes. A new stile has been erected. Grid reference TQ404054.
It’s a great place to take a break and enjoy the view while walking from Northease to Saltdean.
Here is a walk that passes the access land
PIDDINGHOE COUNCIL AND THE EGRETS WAY
The proposed Egrets way is working to overcome obstacles bit by bit.
Cycle Seahaven have posted a report on a meeting of Piddinghoe Parish Council that they attended about the progress of the Egrets Way through the village. This has been one of the major sticking points of the route. Details here
LEWES STATION APPROACH
Some Lewes Taxi Drivers, including town councillor Imogen Makepeace, are worried about the proposed new arrangements for the station forecourt, when works are finished.
They say “We are concerned about the issues affecting the forecourt at the Lewes Railway Station. The lack of enforcement, signage and bay markings are causing confusion and difficulty among the public and road users and have made the area a dangerous nightmare to navigate both before and during the current works.
We are concerned that the proposal for the station area does nothing to address the chaotic situation and is a safety risk to the public and road users. Whilst there will be a pedestrian crossing and a disabled bay (which is great) the rest of the space is far too small to contain the deliveries and lorries, passenger drop- off, bus services, rail replacement, taxis and two-way traffic.
In addition, the plans do not enable this traffic to flow safely in and out of the area, instead insisting that vehicles perform u-turns, three-point turns and reversing manoeuvres. Vehicles will continue to cause obstructions in the road whilst waiting for a space to move into and the entire process is extremely hazardous.”
They have set up a web site and a survey where you can express your views athttp://lewesstationapproach.com/
LOCO2 LIMITATIONS
Ian Eiloart emails to point out that, excellent though the Loco2 web site it, it will not display European train times if it cannot sell you a ticket.
In some cases this may be because the train is full, but more importantly, for some countries, including the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and many eastern European Countries, Loco 2 will have to post you a ticket, and they will not show train times if there is no time to do this.
For Germany, France, Italy and Spain the site is plugged into the booking computers of those countries and you can either pick up tickets from machines on the station or print off e-tickets.
Loco2 cannot deal with countries outside Europe and some countries inside Europe are also excluded, including most of the former Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece.
MORE EAST SUSSEX CUTS
County Councilor Rosalyn St. Pierre emails to say that the ESCC proposed cuts also include:
“cuts to subsided bus fares for families in financial need and families with young people with learning or physical disability? National government has ensured that education or training is compulsory for 16-18 year olds. Unlike schools, courses suitable for a young person may not be at the nearest 16+ college, or the young person may be offered an apprenticeship (must lauded by ESCC). ESCC hopes the college bursaries or the ‘learning provider’ i.e. the company offering apprenticeship will pick up journey costs. Further, Brighton and Hove, Stagecoach and the rail companies offer weekend travel on any season tickets, not so the little rural companies or those who get school buses (and pay full fare) out of villages”
GOVERNMENT STATISTICS ON WALKING AND CYCLING
Thanks to Simon Giddey of Cycle Lewes for forwarding a link to the latest (2013/4) statistics for cycling and walking. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/local-area-walking-and-cycling-in-england-2013-to-2014
Not sure what to make of them.
ARLINGTON FOOTPATHS
If you go down in the woods of Arlington today you may get a rude surprise, a survey by Travelman for the Ramblers Association has found.
Over 30 problems were found with footpaths in the Parish of Arlington, near Hailsham. These ranged from collapsing stiles, missing signs through to deliberate obstruction. Near Hailsham the nationally famous Path the Wealdway is obstructed by brambles and nettles. At Chilverbridge House, near Arlington reservoir someone keeps turning the footpath sign round so that it does not show the path through the grounds of the house.
Chris says “Although the total number of problems has reduced since I did a survey 10 years ago, I’m particularly concerned that the number of cases where a landowner has ploughed up the footpath and planted it with crops has increased. The Ramblers used to help East Sussex County Council deal with cases like this but they have dispensed with our services. Now things are getting worse.”
All the problems have been reported to East Sussex County Council, which is responsible for ensuring that footpaths and bridleways are open and easy to use and the Chris will be following up these problems.
Arlington parish is west of Hailsham and north of Berwick Station. It includes Arlington Reservoir, Arlington Village, Upper Dicker and parts of Abbots Wood. Here is a walk in the parish.
LEWES FOOTPATH GROUP WALKS
Lewes footpath group is our own walking club. They are always looking for new members. Here are a couple of walks that I am leading for them in the immediate future which you could come on.
You are welcome to come on one or two walks as a guest, but after that they would like you to join. You can download a membership form at http://www.lewesfootpathsgroup.org.uk/joining/index.html Why not join now?
TUESDAY 28TH JULY ORE, OLD HASTINGS AND GREY OWL
Have you ever heard the announcements for trains going to “or” and wondered where it was and what was there? Now is your chance to find out. Ore is not the most exciting of stations, but it is the nearest station to the Hastings Country Park and the Old Town. On this walk of 4 miles, which includes two hills, we will see some of the western part of the Hastings Country Park, the historic Hastings Old town, the haunts of famous artists including Lucien Pissaro, Lizzie Siddal, Rossetti and Whistler. We will pass the house where Whistler painted his mother. We shall also visit places associated with Grey Owl, the Hastings Indian and have the option to ride on the noted Hastings Miniature Railway past the drying sheds, amusement park and Jerwood Gallery. You will also be able to buy freshly caught fish for your supper.
For those who wish to save their knees or share my love of cliff railways, there will be the option to use the East Cliff railway (the steepest in Britain) to avoid the steepest descent or the West Cliff railway to avoid the steepest ascent.
You can see more about the walk at http://travelloglewes.co.uk/index.php?page=or-what-a-hastings- town-and-country-walk Note that we will be doing the short, urban alternative, not the full walk.
There are lots of places to get food in Hastings, but the timings mean that we are not likely to be near them at lunchtime, so I plan a picnic on the top of the West Cliff. Please bring food.
Please meet outside the main entrance to the railway station in time for the 9.53 train to Ore. As you probably know, you can no longer get groupsave tickets at half price for 4 people, so for those with rail cards there is no advantage in organising group tickets. However if you do not have a railcard please get to the station by 9.40 and I will organise a groupsave which will get us 1/3 off the price A railcard return to Ore costs £7.40
Trains leave Ore at roughly 20 and 50 minutes past the hour and I expect us to return on the 1450 or 1520 Train
SUNDAY 2ND AUGUST OFFHAM COOMBE
No travelling for this 5.6 mile walk, which sets off from North Street car park, by the police station, at 9.30.
We take the usual route to Offham, along the river bank and the Landport track and then enter the access land at Offham Coombe. Access to this land was gained as part of the “right to roam” legislation which was fought for by the Ramblers Association for many years and finally won this century. Some members may not yet have discovered this delightful valley. We will see the notable lollipop tree and the site of the battle of Offham Coombe. We do not ascend Mount Harry but instead turn left to visit the site of the Battle of Lewes before descending into the town. Some members may want to peel off to their homes, but if the weather is fine I propose that we finish our walk in Grange Gardens where refreshments can be taken. We should return about 12.30.
There is a climb of about 250/300 ft in Offham Coombe, but we will take this slowly.
You can get more information about this walk at http://travelloglewes.co.uk/index.php?page=the-battle-of- lewes-and-the-battle-of-offham-combe But note that we will be doing the walk in the opposite direction, so it will be more of a Simon de Montfort walk than a Prince Edward one.
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