Walking (half of) the South Downs Way

Published: May 8, 2026 by

Every year a small group of us like to plan a long weekend getaway. In previous years we have visited the Peak District, walked a part of the Cotswold Way and even walked the Ridgeway (that time over a full week). This year we decided we wanted to try doing a bit of thru-hiking, but we weren’t quite ready to carry a tent and all the camping gear too, so thought we would arrange places to stay along the way.

We discussed several different potential routes, including Hadrian’s Wall walk and walking the rest of the Cotswold Way, but something about the South Downs way stood out so we decided to settle on that. The transport links seemed good and it looked like there were more towns and villages along the route that the Ridgeway, making it easier to find places to eat and stay.

For me, there is something special about the UK’s National Trails. Following along the same path, but seeing the scenery change along the route each day. It’s a very different feeling than walking a circular route where you know what to expect when you start heading back to the start. The national trails are also marked by the acorn symbol on the signposts, giving you confidence you are heading in the right direction and a constant companion across the whole route.

Planning the walk

The total route of the South Downs way is 100 miles and the national trails website suggests taking 9 days to complete it. As we only had a long weekend of four days, we decided to do just under half, averaging around 12 miles per day.

The route starts at Winchester (when heading west to east) and it turns out there is a direct train to Winchester from Oxford. This would allow us to get dropped off and not worry about doing a car shuffle each day like we did when we walked the ridgeway (driving both cars to the end, dropping one off and driving back to the beginning, then doing the same the other way round). We could then follow the South Downs way to Amberley and catch the train back to Oxford, via London, when we were finished.

Itinerary

Next we needed to work out where to stop each day, ensuring there was somewhere to stay, but also somewhere to get supplies too. I ended up purchasing the Trailblazer guide to the South Downs way, which has some really helpful itineraries based on pace. In the end we decided to do a slightly faster pace than the relaxed pace and a bit slower than the medium pace, working out at around 12 miles per day.

In terms of accommodation, we decided to book three Airbnbs for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, before catching the train home on the Monday.

The itinerary below is the main part of the walk, but you always need to add the bit extra from the South Downs Way to your accommodation and back.

Day one

The first day we plan to catch the train from Oxford to Winchester and then walk to Exton - 13.5 miles

Day two

The second day is from Exton to Buriton - 13.5 miles

Day three

Day three Buriton to Cocking - 11.5 miles

Day four

Day four Cocking to Amberley - 12 miles

What to pack?

Like I said previously, this is the first attempt at a thru-hike without having cars to shuffle us back to the campsites along the way. Although we didn’t need to carry camping gear, we would still have to carry everything we would need along the way. Here is a list of what I packed in my bag.

Clothing

Spare t-shirt
Spare trousers
Shirt for the evenings
Underwear
Spare walking socks
Waterproof jacket and waterproof trousers

Food and drink

Water bottle
Travel mug
Packed lunch (and lunchbox)
Porridge pouches
Cereal bars
Coffee (cappuccino instant mix in case there was no milk)
Tea bags
Trail mix

Other bits

Blister plasters (essential) and standard plasters
Phone chargers and battery power bank
Head torch
Waterproof bag cover
Drybag for clothes to keep them dry (I ended up using a bin bag instead)
Trailblazer guide book (or whichever you choose)

Backpack

In terms of backpacks, I decided upon a 40 litre EuroHike backpack, which was a great price in Go Outdoors. I have used it for a few day hikes around the local area and it seems quite comfortable. I guess that I will find out for sure how well it works after our long weekend trip.

Getting ready

So we had our accommodation, route and kit sorted, now we just had to turn up and walk the route.

I plan on writing some more posts summarising each day’s route, along with some photos.

Spoilers

This post was written before the walk, but published after. The South Downs Way seemed a lot more up and down than the Ridgeway walk, with more tracks and roads. The views when you climb up high are great, but a lot of the time you are surrounded by trees, which is lovely, but you can’t always enjoy the view.

The path is full of sharp pointy flints and was very hard on the feet. This was the thing that caught me off guard. I did a lot of practice walks before we went, but my feet weren’t quite ready for the surface.

Overall, the walk was very memorable and I enjoyed escaping to the countryside for a long weekend. Thru-hiking was challenging, buy not having to drive each day was great, despite carrying the kit.