Saturday 1 September 2018

One day one photo - 1: Running in the South Downs

Chattri Indian War memorial in the middle of the South Downs

It's the first day of meteorological autumn. Gee, where did the time go? September 1st also represents the first day of my annual one day one photo snapshot. Basically I publish a photo of the day for every day of the month of September.

Today's photo is of the Chattri Indian War memorial, built in 1920 to commemorate the lives of the Indians who fought for Britain in the first world war.

I was out on a trail run in the South Downs, and mapped out a route to get back to my car, which was parked in Ditchling Beacon. The easiest way back from Stanmer Park was to run along the bridleway parallel to the main road, and then up the Sussex Border path to reach the South Downs Way.

As soon as I made the right hand turn to head north, I saw this structure - which wouldn't have looked out of place in India - in the middle of the South Downs? Really? I thought I was hallucinating. But no I wasn't. This makes quite a change from farmhouses and sheep!

I have a secret ambition to run a trail marathon this autumn, and so have been doing long off-road runs. Sometimes the scenery can get a little monotonous. If my route were peppered with a few more monuments like this that would certainly jazz things up.

This is the route I took.

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