Tag: Walks

Walks/Misc

GPS – how odd!

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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.

Walks

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

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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.

7 miles coastal walk
  • Lee-on-Solent promenade
  • Picnic lunch on the beach
  • The Diving Museum, Stokes Bay
  • The Diving Museum, Stokes Bay
  • Boats on the Solent
  • Approaching Portsmouth
  • Can you see the submarine?
  • Big ferry
  • The local ferry and two aircraft carriers
  • Spinnaker Tower
  • Even bigger ferry
  • HMS Warrior
  • Spinnaker Tower
  • Multi-storey boat-park
£2.50 worth of yumminess

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Walks

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

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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.

7 miles coastal walk

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

London

The man on the step

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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

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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
Southampton used to be walled
An attractive small park
The marina at Ocean Village
From the impressive Itchen Bridge
Another view from the Itchen Bridge
Western Shore
Western Shore art-deco shelters
A lovely path through to Netley
Victoria Park (I think)
Yet more beach walking approaching Hamble
Approaching the back of Hamble village
The pink ferry
On the ferry to see my sister in Warsash!
A short ferry ride
I love this little ferry!
Southampton to Hamble

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

A rare selfie!
Misc/New Forest/Walks

Solent Way (part 3) Beaulieu to Hythe

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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.

Beaulieu at the start of the walk
Typical New Forest
Across Southampton Water
Hythe Pier
The old train on Hythe pier
Hythe pier
Leaving Hythe
The IOW ferry
Arriving in Southampton
Beaulieu to Hythe

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Misc/New Forest/Walks

Solent Way (part 2) Lymington to Beaulieu

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The 2nd part of the long-distance Solent Way goes from Lymington to Beaulieu. At just over 10 miles it isn’t the nicest of walks, being along the sides of extremely large fields and mainly on quiet, country roads. ie There’s not much to see in the way of views.

It’s almost 3 years since I did the first part of the Solent Way. I hadn’t expected this delay in progressing through the 8 parts. The next section is a short 6 miles from Beaulieu to Hythe, followed by the ferry across Southampton Water for the 3rd leg, Southampton to Hamble.

The extremely pretty Buckler’s Hard looks as if it could justify a longer re-visit but on this occasion I was just passing through. On leaving I spotted this lovely boat being worked on in the boatyard and I got talking to its owner who, amazingly, lives only a few miles from me.

Lymington
A field
Another field
Much of the walk was along minor roads
Buckler’s Hard
Buckler’s Hard
Lymington to Beaulieu

The 60 miles of the Solent Way

Surrey/Walks

Box Hill to Guildford (15.4 miles)

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A warm, sunny day made for a gruelling 15.4 mile hike along the North Downs Way, from Westhumble (near Dorking) to Guildford. I was expecting it to be about 12 miles and I intended it to be a bit of a training session in preparation for a 16 mile walk along part of the long-distance, Solent Way. Not only did I underestimate the length but I also improvised an extra bit at the end in order to pick up the River Wey, just to the south of Guildford. But I now know 16 miles is within my capabilities. Not only that, I’m expecting the Solent Way to be fairly flat, whereas today’s walk was up and down and totalled over 2,000 feet elevation – (walking up Snowden is just over 3,000 feet elevation!)

Surrey/Walks

Guildford to West Byfleet

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Yesterday was a wonderfully sunny and warm March day (shirtsleeves weather!). I struggled to complete the almost 12 miles along the River Wey-Navigation from Guildford to West Byfleet. I’d done this walk before, but this time it was harder on my feet. It didn’t help that I was standing for almost 5 hours – I rarely stop to rest. A highlight of the walk might have been to capture an image of a heron as it flew to and from its nest, not far from where I was standing. Unfortunately I wasn’t quick enough with my camera, and waiting a few minutes for the heron to return proved fruitless.

At the start of the walk was this curiosity above a car park barrier.