In 1912, Hilaire Belloc published a book called Four Men and a Farrago. It is a fictional journey of four men walking from Robertsbridge in East Sussex to Harting in West Sussex in 1902. The narrator is called Myself (Belloc) and the other three characters are Grizzlebeard, Sailor and Poet (widely believed to be Belloc’s alter egos).
As they walk, they talk and all sorts of subjects come up from local history and folklore, to politics, community modernisation and life generally. In 2026, I am re-walking the route with three main objectives:
- To see what has changed, what has been lost, what is at risk of being lost, what remains the same and what we must try to preserve?
- To seek out the women who are missing from Belloc’s stories. In Four Men and a Farrago, women are notably absent from the various historical accounts and stories. Who were the women who lined this route whose stories Belloc missed out (AKA The Missing Women)?
- To get a female perspective of the many issues that concerned Belloc, as they may be relevant today.
The Missing Women
If I had hoped to find the occasional story of an interesting woman connected to this route, my hopes were more than surpassed. I found myself tripping over interesting women, past and present, at almost every corner. So much so, in the end, I have had to give them their own article:
The Missing Women of Belloc’s Sussex: Heathfield to Fletching
A quick recap
You can find all the details of the first stage of this walk from Robertsbridge to Old Heathfield here:
Old Heathfield to Fletching, via Waldron, Framfield, Uckfield and Piltdown
Distance: 24.5 km
Walking time: 5 hours
Total elevation gain: Just over 500 metres.
In the last section I had walked with three other women and we had discussed themes of community, compromise and communication. For the next section I was walking alone. I’d like to say that was because I wanted to experience the contrast but the honest reality is that no one else fancied hiking 25 km cross country on the day after a storm.
Stage one: Old Heathfield to Waldron – from Star to Star
The second part of my Hilaire Belloc walk began at the Star Inn in Old Heathfield, where I had finished the first section from Robertsbridge via Brightling. And the first section of day two was taking me to the Star at Waldron. I was deviating from Belloc’s walk which took him along the dangerous and busy A265. Of course it wasn’t dangerous and busy in 1902. Instead, I followed in the footsteps of the famous Bob Copper who made this journey in the 1990s and as I set off, I very much felt like I was in conversation with Copper as much as Belloc.
I also had in mind Autumn by Kate Mosse and the way she takes us from September, which still has all the soft and gentle notes of summer, into October and November, when autumn has the cold embrace of winter. After a hot summer, this late October day was the first time I had really felt the changing season with a nip in the air and a “day after the storm of last night” feel. The wind was still blowing, the ground was slippery in places, and the trees were changing colour.
The route took me wiggling along footpaths, and through fields and woods. It was quite hard to navigate in places, but in Runtington, I was delighted to see the pub the Runt in Tun is still in business. Eventually, I arrived in Waldron, another beautiful Sussex village, and the Star Inn. The pub building is listed and dates back to the 17th century at least, and it was good to see that it is also still in business. Sadly, it was early when I arrived and they weren’t open, so I sat outside and drank coffee from my flask.
Stage two: Waldron to Framfield, via Blackboys
From Waldron, I continued cross country towards Blackboys taking a slightly more direct route than Bob Copper. This very much felt like High Weald country. So far, I had passed little traffic but I had noticed ancient activities like coppicing and hedge work as well as functional and interesting names like Weavers Cottage, Ragged Dog Lane and Hanging Birch Lane. The little village of Blackboys is believed to be have taken its name from the charcoal-burning industry that was once here and the boys who would emerge from the woods, faces black with charcoal. There is still a thriving pub in Blackboys, which is always good to see but again, I was passing before opening hours.
Belloc mentions Blackboys in passing so from here I felt like I had re-joined his route and, walking along an extended stretch of the B2012 to Framfield, I was relieved to see a pavement (albeit a very overgrown and narrow one at times). It’s a fairly busy road and quite a contrast to the quiet countryside I had been walking through. I was also conscious of regular aircraft overhead, presumably heading into Gatwick, another reminder of just how much the world has changed since Belloc walked these roads.
I gave a nod to Tickerage where Vivien Leigh once lived at the mill and finally reached Framfield. I had walked approximately 13 km and more coffee was needed.
Stage three: Framfield to Uckfield – or Irkfield
In Four Men, Belloc mentions a place called Irkfield. As there is so no such place, he surely meant Uckfield. In Copper’s book, he wonders why Uckfield irked Belloc so much. I think I found out.
Leaving Framfield, there were more quiet lanes and woodland paths, until eventually, after crossing the railway, I passed Hempstead Mill, an 18th century water mill astride the River Ick and also once owned by Leigh. Beyond this, Uckfield itself felt noisy and busy, even on a Sunday. There was constant traffic and even a helicopter overhead and I did indeed find the noise irksome. As many towns were at the time, in 1902, Uckfield would have been greatly impacted by the rapid growth caused by the arrival of the railways, in the 1850s and later 1860s. Not as noisy as it now, of course, but not sleepy either.
I found the Old Maiden Head Inn, where I believe Belloc stopped and Sailor ordered an Uber (a pony and trap). By this stage in Belloc’s journey, the four men had been walking all day, and it was getting late. They decided that Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill were too dangerous to pass through especially at night. The main reason for this seems to be that there were too many Londoners living there. Hence the Uber to take them around and up to Ardingly.
The Old Maiden’s Head dates back to the 18th century. It was a hotel and coaching inn during then and visited by the writer Fanny Burney in 1799. Sadly, in March 2025, the building was deemed unsafe due to severe vertical cracks in its façade. Emergency repairs have been undertaken but it remains closed and its future seems uncertain.
Stage four: Uckfield to Fletching, via Piltdown Golf Course
From here, the only place Belloc mentions passing through in his Uber is Fletching and I was tempted to follow suit and jump into a taxi. Instead, I plodded on.
I was a little bit nervous about this section because Rocks Road, which presumably Belloc, and definitely Copper took, is treacherous. So although I really wanted to detour via Lake Wood, with no pavement or verge, I decided to cut through the modern housing. This brought me to West Park Nature Reserve, and with a little scrambling through the undergrowth, I arrived where I wanted to be, right at the edge of the A22.
From here, I crossed the road and headed north into Butcher’s Wood, wending my way towards Piltdown Golf Course.
The public footpath winds its way across the golf course, and although it is waymarked, it was almost impossible to follow. I had my Ordnance Survey app, but every time I got a lead, it led to a bum steer. In the end, the footpath sign pointed straight into the overgrown undergrowth, where there was no discernible path, so I had to scramble through it, which, at 20 km in, was not fun. Eventually, I emerged to cross the A272 and although not brilliantly signed, once I had found the footpath, it took me away from the road and through woodland and bracken.
This was the one place I felt a little bit unsafe because I met a rather undesirable man. This was the first such time in the now nearly 50 km of this walk so far and I hurried past. Before I knew it, he was well behind me and I took my last left turn for the final few kilometres towards Fletching with Fletching Church as my waymarker in the distance. My phone battery and powerpack were now dead but I was heartened to hear the toot toot of the Bluebell Railway in the distance.
As always with these things, it would seem, the path goes down before it finally climbs reasonably steadily up to Fletching and the last 2 km felt more like 10! I was mightily relieved to arrive in Fletching High Street and my finish point, The Griffin.
Final reflections – better together
I had been looking forward to walking alone. But in the end, I missed the company. I missed the conversation, the ideas and the different perspectives that had made the first part of the walk so enjoyable. And I concluded that Belloc was right, or perhaps Grizzlebeard was right, that in his view, you are a better person when you are in company.
Day two’s walk felt very different to the first day. There were less stretching views and more winding, woodland paths. There was still evidence of ancient trades and only one pub has fallen by the wayside. There was a strange contrast between feeling very remote, with not much going on, and sections that felt very busy and cluttered with traffic. Piltdown Golf Club was first designed in 1904, and expanded in 190 and so Belloc would have rumbled past under cover of darkness.
And, unlike Belloc and his companions, I made it from Uckfield to Fletching without resorting to a pony and trap.
For more about this 2026 Belloc walk:
