Walks – things change

My next two long walks

Wednesday, Feb 8, 2023Wednesday, Feb 15, 2023 MikeBLeave a comment

My next two long walks

With the Solent Way out of the way it’s time to prepare another challenge. As with previous long walks I will do them in stages, using public transport wherever possible to get to/from the starting/end points. I try to keep stages to be between 8 and 12 miles.

The first walk will be from Salisbury to Winchester using the Clarendon Way (26 miles) followed by Winchester to Farnham using the St Swithun’s Way (34 miles).

I found the guides, below, to help me on my way:

The Clarendon Way

The Clarendon Way – 26 miles
(Salisbury to Winchester)

A 24 mile walk joining the two Wessex cities of Salisbury and Winchester. The Clarendon Way crosses the Test Valley between Kings Somborne and Houghton. It starts near the Avon at Salisbury Cathedral and ends beside the waters of the Itchen in the heart of Winchester.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/099350573
2/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item

https://www
.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/walking/clarendonway

Possible timings (3 stages)

Stage 1 (7 miles) Leave home (9:20) then 9:42 from station to CJ (10:07), then 10:27 to Salisbury (11:43) leaving 4 hours to do the walk and possibly visit the pub

Walk Salisbury to Middle Winterslow (7 mile mark).
The Lord Nelson Arms looks worth a visit though the timing might not be right. Closed Monday/Tuesday, food from 12pm to 1:30 (closes 2pm)
From Middle Winterslow take bus 88 to Salisbury at 15:43 arriving 16:10. See https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/salisburyreds/SWWD/87-timetable-20221114-4c527fec.pdf

Stage 2 (7+3 miles) Leave home (8:20) then 8:42 from station to CJ (9:07), then 9:27 to Salisbury (10:43)

Take Salisbury bus 88 at 11:35 arriving Middle Winterslow (7 mile mark) at 12:03.
See https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/salisburyreds/SWWD/87-timetable-20221114-4c527fec.pdf leaving 4+ hours to do the walk (10 miles)
Walk Middle Winterslow to Houghton (14 mile mark).
The Boot Inn looks worth a visit though the timing is almost certainly not right. Closed Mondays, food from 12pm
Walk 3 miles to Stockbridge to pick up bus 7 to Winchester at 16:23 arriving 17:06. BUT ONLY on Sparsholt College days! See WI7 04Sep22 timetable.pdf (tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com)

Stage 3 (12 miles) Leave home (9:20) then 9:42 from station to CJ (10:07), then 10:27 to Basingstoke (11:06) then 11:11 to Winchester (11:26)

Winchester (bus 16) 12:15 to Houghton (14 mile mark) arrive 13:03.
See Winchester Route 16_19-11-20_V1.pdf (tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3.amazonaws.com )
Walk 12 miles to Winchester (26 mile mark).

St Swithun’s Way

St Swithun’s Way – 34 miles
(Winchester to Farnham)

St Swithun’s Way runs between Winchester and Farnham. Unable to follow the original route, as much of this is now the A31, St Swithun’s Way follows some of the county’s best countryside paths. Starting at Winchester Cathedral, the route passes through the Itchen Valley. It then continues northeast passing the towns of Alresford and Alton, as well as Chawton, the home of Jane Austen. Following the path of the River Wey, the route reaches Farnham in Surrey and continues to Canterbury.

https://shop.hants.gov.uk/products/st-swithun-s-way-guides-winchester-to-alton-and-alton-to-farnham

Walks

Solent Way (part 8) Hilsea to Emsworth

Sunday, Jan 22, 2023Sunday, Jan 22, 2023 MikeBLeave a comment

It was an eventful final section of the Solent Way that I walked on a sunny but sub-zero, January day. Starting at Hilsea and ending at Emsworth, the walk is supposed to be just 8 miles, but my 12.4 miles also included the stretch from Hilsea train station to the actual Solent Way path as well as extra miles caused by some unexpected backtracking (see below).

From what I saw of Emsworth I would hope to return to explore what looked to be an attractive, small town. Lots of small pubs and independent shops, a bookshop, a Victorian cafe on platform 2 of the station (charming), and a large harbour which I’m sure would be more interesting when the tide is in.

An eventful day had began with a fallen tree blocking part of my route, threatening a cancellation of the whole day. Fortunately, using my wonderful phone app, I found an alternative route. Whilst on the walk, flooding had swept away part of the Solent Way, requiring some backtracking and rerouting across fields leading to lots of mud as well as a face-off with cattle (one with horns) blocking my way. I couldn’t face more backtracking so by making a lot of noise I managed to create sufficient space to be able to dash past the now rear-facing cattle. Phew.

To top it all, my return journey home began with a train bus-replacement service from Emsworth station. It didn’t turn up, neither did the next one 30 minutes later. I was almost certain that I was waiting in the wrong place – it clearly wasn’t the station.

In the end I found a bus stop where I could pick up a local bus service, though not the rail replacement. The rest of the journey happily went to plan.

What a day to finish off the Solent Way, long-distance path. Now I need another challenge…..

The 60 (actually 71!) miles of the Solent Way

Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
Walk 5: Hamble/Warsash ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles) (✓ 7th July 2022)
Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (7 miles) (✓ 15th July 2022)
Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (10 miles) (✓ 12th November 2022)
Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (12.4 miles) (✓ 21st January 2023)

River Thames/Walks

Kingston upon Thames

Tuesday, Dec 27, 2022Tuesday, Dec 27, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

Things that caught my eye on a short, filling-in-time walk along the river at Kingston upon Thames.

Walks

Solent Way (part 7) Portsmouth to Hilsea

Saturday, Nov 12, 2022Sunday, Nov 13, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

The 7th of the 8 sections of the Solent Way walk was, on a lovely, sunny and warm November day, uninteresting and tiring . Starting at Portsmouth and ending at Hilsea, the almost 10 miles was mainly along the seafront.

Nothing of interest once I had left Portsmouth other than a Hovercraft service to the Isle of Wight – I didn’t realise hovercrafts were still ferrying passengers. Sadly I missed out on taking a picture.

I’ll be glad when this walk, the Solent Way, is finished – only one section to go!

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
Walk 5: Hamble/Warsash ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles) (✓ 7th July 2022)
Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (7 miles) (✓ 15th July 2022)
Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (10 miles) (✓ 12th November 2022)
Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (8 miles)

Travel/Walks

Wells-Next-The-Sea

Sunday, Oct 23, 2022Thursday, Oct 27, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

A busy month – two funerals, flu and covid jabs, dentist and optician appointments, a car breakdown followed by scrapping and replacing the car. For a change of scenery we made a last-minute decision to visit the Norfolk town of Wells-Next-The-Sea. We always planned to travel there by public transport which took over 6 hours, involving a train, tube, two more trains and a bus!

A Monday to Friday stay in a rented house gave us three full days to explore and get in a couple of decent length walks. Wells-Next-The-Sea is a charming fishing and holiday town with magnificent sands (when the tide is out).

We managed long walks on two of the three days. The first day was sunny as we walked westwards from Wells to Holkham, catching a bus back to Wells. The second day was extremely windy and we caught the bus to Blakeney, walking eastwards to Cley before catching the bus back.

On the third day it rained but we were still able to revisit the magnificent sandy beach.

Fish and chips in the evening!

Misc/Walks

GPS – how odd!

Monday, Sep 26, 2022Tuesday, Sep 27, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

GPS – how odd!

Tracking my activity (walk) into the village, my iPhone’s GPS put me in some odd locations.

The red block is where I shopped in Waitrose – I never went to the left as would be suggested by GPS. The red circle is where I stopped to make a longish phone call.

All very odd, though perhaps explained by the accuracy of GPS, the strength of the GPS signal and the quality of my iPhone’s GPS receiver,

Update: I came across the following at Why-is-GPS-data-sometimes-inaccurate

When signals from the GPS satellites bounce off buildings, the GPS receiver can be confused by the extra time the signal took to reach it. In these cases, you may observe sudden large errors in position. There is not much that can be done to reduce the effects of multipath errors – GPS is simply less accurate in canyons, whether they are made of buildings or natural formations.

images/Walks

Shot on a walk

Tuesday, Sep 20, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

Walks

Solent Way (part 6) Lee-on-Solent to Portsmouth

Saturday, Jul 16, 2022Sunday, Jul 17, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

The 6th part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Lee-on-Solent along the coast to the city of Portsmouth. It’s not a pleasant 7-mile walk – too much of it is along busy, main roads, but on a very hot, sunny day there was the chance to take some nice pictures of boats and blue sky.

I have fond memories of Stokes Bay which is just along the coast from Lee-on-Solent. As kids we would be driven there to sit on the beach, kick a ball around, to picnic, to play on the putting green (now a crazy golf), to have a knockabout on the grass tennis courts (now just hard courts). It’s still a largely unspoilt, but busy little seaside area.

The water between Gosport and Portsmouth is bustling with boats of all sizes, and the short and expensive ferry is well worth taking to get to the interesting city of Portsmouth. The city really requires at least a day to explore its delights – something for another day, perhaps.

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
Walk 5: Hamble/Warsash ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles) (✓ 7th July 2022)
Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (7 miles) (✓ 15th July 2022)
Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (7 miles)
Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (8 miles)

Walks

Solent Way (part 5) Warsash to Lee-on-Solent

Friday, Jul 8, 2022Friday, Jul 8, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

The 5th part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Warsash along the coast to the seaside town of Lee-on-Solent. At some point I must have lost the coastal path which resulted in much of the walk being along pebbled, sometimes sandy, beach. At 7 miles and on a hot, cloudy day, it was exhausting walking mainly along pebbled beach. Only at the end of the walk did the sun come out.

Lee-on-Solent is a pleasant seaside town. As kids we would pass through on the way to Stokes Bay which is a couple of miles along the coast. In later life my Mum liked to visit either the Penguin Café or the Blue Bird Café on the Lee-on-Solent front. At the end of my walk I sampled the delights of Kathy’s Seaside Treats Bakery.

It was not the most interesting of walks, plus I had some exhausting journeys to get to the start of the walk and to return home.

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
Walk 5: Hamble/Warsash ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles) (✓ 7th July 2022)
Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (6 miles)
Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (7 miles)
Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (8 miles)

London

The man on the step

Saturday, Jun 18, 2022Saturday, Jun 18, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

I haven’t posted for over three weeks (because I haven’t done anything but read books!), so here are some interesting images taken on a walk in London in January 2017. Normal service will be resumed shortly, hopefully…

Southampton/Walks

Solent Way (part 4) Southampton to Hamble

Saturday, May 28, 2022Saturday, May 28, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

The 4th part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Southampton, along the coast to the attractive village of Hamble. At just under 10 miles and on a hot, sunny day, it was exhausting. I was surprised by how much walking there was on stony beaches. On the other hand it was nice that for most of the walk there was water to be seen.

On arriving at Southampton Central station I walked towards the docks and saw a side view of this large liner, then on to the Hythe ferry where the previous leg of the Solent Way walk had finished.

A liner in Southampton, near the start of the walk

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Walk 1: Milford on Sea ⇒ Lymington (9 miles) (✓ 4th July 2019)
Walk 2: Lymington ⇒ Beaulieu (10 miles) (✓ 4th May 2022)
Walk 3: Beaulieu ⇒ Hythe (6 miles) (✓ 10th May 2022)
Walk 4: Hythe ⇒ Hamble (10 miles) (✓ 27th May 2022)
Walk 5: Hamble ⇒ Lee On Solent (7 miles)
Walk 6: Lee on Solent ⇒ Portsmouth (6 miles)
Walk 7: Portsmouth ⇒ Hilsea (7 miles)
Walk 8: Hilsea ⇒ Emsworth (8 miles)

Misc/New Forest/Walks

Solent Way (part 3) Beaulieu to Hythe

Tuesday, May 10, 2022Tuesday, May 17, 2022 MikeBLeave a comment

The 3rd part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Beaulieu to Hythe. At just over 6 miles it isn’t the nicest of walks, much of it being along the sides of busy main roads.

Trains to Lymington followed by the 112 bus (Tuesdays & Thursdays only) to Beaulieu took me to the start of the walk. At the end there was the ferry across Southampton Water and then it was on to Southampton station and the return journey home. A long and exhausting day even though the walk was relatively short.

The next section is a short 6 miles from Southampton to Hamble.