Peacehaven — Lewes
Pealew two
Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Pealew here.

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Pealew here.
By MJRW12345 on 03 May 2021
Description
Slight changes from Pealew1:
Takes a slightly different route from Hoddern Farm to Deans Farm to stay on clearly marked paths.
Stays along the river from Deans Farm to Lewes (not via Rodmell village)
Slight changes from Pealew1:
Takes a slightly different route from Hoddern Farm to Deans Farm to stay on clearly marked paths.
Stays along the river from Deans Farm to Lewes (not via Rodmell village)
Status
This route has been reviewed by 4 people.
This route has potentially been flagged (1 time) for reasons relating to access.
This route has potentially been flagged (1 time) for reasons relating to accuracy.
Photos for Pealew two
Photos of this route will appear when they are added to a review. You can review this route here.
Information
Route status - Live
Reviews - 4
Average rating -
Is this route good enough? - Yes (2) No (1) Maybe (1)
Problems reported - Access (1) Accuracy (1)
Downloads - 15
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Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Peacehaven
Grid Ref
TQ4154400885
Lat / Lon
50.79026° / 0.00681°
Easting / Northing
541,544E / 100,885N
What3Words
mirror.crossing.situation
Lewes
Grid Ref
TQ4161409815
Lat / Lon
50.87049° / 0.01125°
Easting / Northing
541,614E / 109,815N
What3Words
another.fatherly.rigs
Peacehaven | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | TQ4154400885 |
Lat / Lon | 50.79026° / 0.00681° |
Easting / Northing | 541,544E / 100,885N |
What3Words | mirror.crossing.situation |
Lewes | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | TQ4161409815 |
Lat / Lon | 50.87049° / 0.01125° |
Easting / Northing | 541,614E / 109,815N |
What3Words | another.fatherly.rigs |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Daisy C
27 Apr 2025This was a wonderful walk, starting from a bus stop in Peacehaven but very quickly reaching open land. The secluded and very quiet valley where this route differs from PeaLew 1 adds variety. At that time many of the fields were flooded (not the route though) extending the wetlands up stream. At the end I met the River Ouse, recently designated an independent legal entity, and followed it to just outside Lewes. A sign explained the Egret Way hasn't been fully surfaced yet, but the final work was due to start in Spring 2024?! I was lucky to find signs of mink feeding and stopped to watch short eared owls hunting in part of the extensive marsh and wet fields visible from the embankment. A happy accident which meant I approached Lewes as the sun was low in the sky glowing through the reedbeds, dramatically shading the folds of Firling Beacon and Mount Caburn and highlighting what looks like a relict ridge and furrow farming system.
The route is let down a little by the GPS file linking sparse points which is a bit more involved if you are navigating with a GPS watch or an app. Snap To Fit functionality might, or might not, automatically resolve this. Presumably this also explains why it goes along an unusable alley in Peacehaven. Also, as David notes, it leads you through the local dump by the Lewes waterworks instead of the encircling wooded pathway, although for me that was after hours, and so empty bar a dog walker, there were no significant physical barriers either. As navigation of PeaLew 3 is easier and clearly avoids the dump I've given that route 5 stars and this only 4 and a maybe. I'd probably have given 5 otherwise.
I walked from Peacehaven to Lewes in early March 2025 following a few dry weeks but a very wet winter. There were stiles and gates and a fairly steep hill dropping into the small valley and shortly before the hill was a narrow wet and muddy stretch between brambles, enough to splatter up onto my hastily applied gaiters. Nowhere else was significantly wet except puddles on the Egrets Way, below the embankment which I chose for better views, and one short muddy bit of embankment, easily stepped across. The embankment paths was occasionally rutted. The only facilities are at Southease, turn east at the iron bridge for Southease station and a few minutes further for the YHA with an all day café and water refills or turn west for the bus stop in Southease village. Apparently there's a lovely display of snowdrops in the churchyard. Photos have not uploaded in quite the right order.
David Sanderson
16 Mar 2024Walked from Peacehaven to Lewes. On arrival in Lewes, the route takes you off the footpath and on to a track which leads to a locked gate at water works. Sadly a failure. I will post a corrected version as I was able to complete the walk.
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MJRW12345
16 Mar 2024Hm, that bit is part of the Egret's Way so not sure why it's been locked..
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Daisy C
24 Feb 2025Could it be the Peacehaven works rather than at Lewes? Might try it out this weekend.
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MJRW12345
24 Feb 2025It's at the Lewes end - the path has been diverted slightly since I drew the route out but when I walked it last I thought it was reasonably obvious where you needed to go!
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David Sanderson
24 Feb 2025It's why you need multiple people to try out a route and to try it in both directions. As you
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David Sanderson
24 Feb 2025As you can see, at a fork in the path, the route directs you left, rather than continuing along the Egret's Way
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Daisy C
26 Feb 2025I’ll probably walk in the same direction as David this weekend anyway. I've become much fussier about these smaller things the more routes I've looked at. Either way we only need one more review, that is MJRW would you mind copying your review onto PeaLew 3 if need be?
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Daisy C
26 Feb 2025Thanks both for such fast replies, especially as my trip is imminent. :D I'm afraid I didn't get a notification about them, somehow you still don't unless you wrote either the review or the route.
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Daisy C
02 Mar 2025Walked it yesterday. Glorious! I liked the views from the route you chose out of Peacehaven. So many skylarks. And a short-eared owl nearer Lewes, which was very very cool.
From that end the Lewes plant does send you the "wrong" way, which is legitimate but may have uncomfortable traffic for the dump at the wrong time. Signs were much clearer the other way.
I'll review both once I'm home but David's is snap-to-fit which was less effort to follow. If you could repost your review there it'd might be easier for others and Slow Ways app users, which doesn't have the OS background map.
Thanks for a lovely day! -
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Bostal Boy
30 May 2022Walked from Lewes to Peacehaven. An absolutely glorious and peaceful walk along the west bank of the River Ouse to Piddinghoe, then up over the Downs past Halcombe Farm to Peacehaven.
The route is easy to follow, there are no stiles and just a couple of kissing gates to negotiate. There are no shops, pubs or facilities along the way.
I walked at the end of May, after a period of dry weather, consequently the lower path beside the river was dry. I do know that this path floods after periods of heavy rain and high tide (the river here is tidal). This leaves the path wet and muddy. The upper path along the levee bank is more overgrown.
A new cycle path called the Egrets Way has been laid below the levee bank for part of the route. This provides an easier surface to walk on.
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MJRW12345
26 Jun 2021Route follows the river Ouse for the majority and then follows a tarmacked bridleway over the hill into Peacehaven.
Was a bit muddy in places and probably vulnerable to flooding at high tide.
The start/end point in Peacehaven is probably in the wrong place too, suggest it needs to be a bit further west at the Meridian Centre.
There is a project to establish a surfaced cycle route between Lewes and Newhaven.. Pealew (and Lewnew) would be best following this if/when it ever gets finished!.
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