Walk - The Four Hills

10.30am, December 28th, 2006. Two dogs, two girls and four blokes meet up in South Street for a long walk they have arranged in the pub the previous night. It’s an ambitious venture: up Chapel Hill to Caburn, down through Glynde, up Firle Beacon, down again through Southease to Rodmell and straight up again onto the South Downs Way, a descent into Kingston and a final hop across Juggs Way to Lewes. Four hills, in all. The humans are all pretty sure they’ll make it, but what of the dogs? One-and-a-half-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, who’ve never walked half as far before. “You’ll be dragging their bodies up the last hill by their leads,” says Matt.

The dogs start at a cracking pace: holding both of their leads at once is a great help up the steeper slopes. When there are no farm animals around they are freed, and run off together, returning at a pace when called, ears flapping. In Southease one of them attacks a black chicken; the chicken escapes through a hole in a fence. At the Abergavenny Arms in Rodmell the humans have a roast lunch; the dogs fall asleep on the carpet. There’s another stop-off in Kingston; the dogs sleep again. This seems to give them the energy to race over Juggs Way in what is by now the dark. My legs have started feeling tight about halfway through and by our return to Lewes they’re pretty leaden. We all split up in the town centre. The last hill up to Malling is something of a killer. The dogs look pleased to get back, and immediately settle on the sofa. They’ve loved every minute of it. It’s been their version of Christmas Day. They could probably do it all over again. Me? I’m human tired. AL