Send me yours
I've decided to start collating what people say about Chanctonbury Ring. There is plenty already written down, on forums and in comment sections, and that is over on the Accounts page. But I'd like to put something together myself, and see if any interesting patterns emerge.
So if you have been up there, I would like to hear about it.
Including if nothing happened.
Most of what you find written about Chanctonbury was written by somebody who had 'an experience'. Nobody writes a forum post about the afternoon they walked up a hill and had a nice time. So the record may be a bit skewed.
If you have walked up there two hundred times since 1974 and it has always just been a pretty hill with some trees on it, that is genuinely useful and I would love to hear about it.
What happens to it
I read everything. Nothing goes on the site unless I put it there, and I will leave your name off unless you tell me not to. There is no account to make and nothing to log into. It comes to my inbox.
Sent in
These arrived through the form above. There's no source line on them because there's no source to give you: somebody typed them and sent them to me. I read everything before it goes up. This section will grow.
Walked up from the Washington side last autumn and honestly the main thing I remember is the mud on the track, it was ankle deep in places. We got to the top, had a look, and came straight back down because it started raining. Nothing to report at all really. Sorry.
Neil · Roughly when: Last autumn · Time of day: Afternoon · Heard the stories beforehand: No
I went up on purpose after reading about it online, with a friend, and we stayed until about half eleven. Sat on the bank on the north side and waited. Absolutely nothing happened. It was quite nice actually apart from being much colder than I'd dressed for. Not sure what I was expecting to be honest. Someone's car alarm was going off down towards Steyning for about twenty minutes which rather spoiled the mood.
K.M. · Roughly when: Last October · Time of day: Evening, until about 11.30 · Heard the stories beforehand: Yes
I've walked up Chanctonbury loads of times and never felt anything at all, sorry. The place that does it for me is a bit of woodland behind where I grew up in Hampshire, near Liphook. There's a sunken lane there and I have never liked it, not as a kid and not now, and I'm 54. My sister's the same about it and we've never really talked about why. Chanctonbury is just a nice walk with a good view. Hope that's still useful.
Jules · Roughly when: On and off over about thirty years · Time of day: All sorts, mostly daytime · Heard the stories beforehand: Yes