An amazing thing happened over the weekend, in Sussex at least: the rain stopped. Over the last few months – formerly known as “summer” - we seem to have been living in a JG Ballard dystopia, starting with The Drought and moving on to The Drowned World. But now the Jetstream has shifted and some kind of normal weather service seems to have resumed, making it worth the effort of jumping on a bus and getting out for a walk. The Breeze Up To The Downs bus runs to Ditchling Beacon, providing a carfree link to one of the higher points on the Sussex Downs. From where it’s about five miles along the South Downs Way National Trail (mostly) into Lewes. Which as well as being the county town of East Sussex, and home to Harvey’s brewery, is also bisected by the Greenwich Meridian – making it a convenient place to cross from the Western to the Eastern Hemisphere. 
