🥾 Walking route
A Walk at Blackcap, Blackcap
East Sussex
- 📏 4.5 km · 2.8 mi
- ⛰ +153 m
- ⏱ 1 hr 15 min
- 🐕 On lead
Walk stats
- Distance4.5 km · 2.8 mi
- Elevation+153 m
- Duration1 hr 15 min
- DifficultyModerate
- Route typeCircular
- TerrainChalk paths, field tracks and woodland; one sustained climb
- Best seasonSpring to autumn for clear ridge views
- DogsDog-friendly; livestock likely, keep on lead near grazing
About this walk
Starting and finishing at Cooksbridge, this circular route climbs steadily out of the Ouse valley and onto the northern escarpment of the South Downs. The gradient is gentle at first, easing you into the 153 m of ascent that eventually brings you to the open chalk grassland at the summit of Blackcap.
From the top, the panorama stretches out across the Weald to the north and along the ridge towards Mount Harry to the west. A small clump of beech trees marks the trig point, making Blackcap easy to pick out from miles around. The return leg drops down through Ashcombe Bottom, a quiet, wooded dry valley that feels a world away from the exposed tops.
Nearby Coombe Plantation and Broad Shackles add further wooded character to the surrounding downland, and the route back to Cooksbridge follows field edges and quiet tracks before returning to the station. Allow around an hour and a quarter at a steady pace.
Route map
Route line drawn from OpenStreetMap footpath data. Numbered markers are waypoints on the route; amber star markers are points of interest a short detour away.
Waypoints along the route
3 waypoints along the way
- 1
Cooksbridge (start and finish)
- Start / finish
Start and finish of this circular route.
- 2
Blackcap
- 3
Ashcombe Bottom
Worth a short detour
Points of interest just off the route, look for the amber markers on the map.
Mount Harry
~241 m off the route
Coombe Plantation
~364 m off the route
Broad Shackles
~479 m off the route
Route & waypoint data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).