Adventures in
South-East England.

The most-walked corner of Britain, and the place where the country's commuter outdoor culture lives — chalk ridges, sandstone outcrops, Surrey heath and the London-belt cable parks.

The South-East is the obvious base for the 18 million people who live within an hour of central London. Sixteen spots in the directory reflect that — with paragliding schools clustered along the South Downs, MTB at Swinley and Bedgebury, wakeboarding at Liquid Leisure, climbing at Harrison's Rocks, and the North and South Downs Way running east-west across the chalk.

The South Downs Way is the most-walked National Trail in southern England, 100 miles of open chalk ridge from Winchester to Eastbourne. The North Downs Way runs in parallel along the Pilgrims' Way from Farnham to Dover. The Ridgeway picks up where the North Downs ends and runs west into Wiltshire. All three are walkable in winter on well-drained chalk.

Harrison's Rocks is the largest of the southern sandstone climbing outcrops — soft sandstone (no nuts or cams; top-rope only) but a real outdoor venue half an hour from London Bridge. Bedgebury near Tunbridge Wells is the largest MTB centre in the south-east. The South Downs paragliding schools (Green Dragons, Airworks, Cloudbase, High Adventure on the Isle of Wight) run BHPA pathway courses on the chalk ridges from Caterham to Brighton.

The region's real advantage is access. Almost every spot in this region is a day-trip from central London via train; many are walkable from a station. The flipside is the crowding — popular spots get busy on summer weekends, and parking is at a premium near every coastal town.