9.42 train from Waterloo (10.00 Surbiton) to Hook, arriving 10.48
From Clapham Junction get the 9.52 Portsmouth train and change at Woking to the above train, arriving 10.12, departing 10.19. This train leaves Waterloo at 9.45, so is an option if you just miss the official train. T=swc.84
Buy a day return to Hook
Due to its several firm-under-foot sections along the picturesque Basingstoke Canal this walk tends to be done as a winter walk, but it has several summer delights, including the Greywell Moors nature reserve early in the walk, a marshy area that should be awash with flowers at this time of year. The morning also passes the ruins of Odiham Castle and goes for lunch to the town of that name, which has various pubs and cafes.
After lunch there are other canal sections, along with other types of scenery, and it is then that the options kick in. Basically the main walk is 12.4 miles but there is a short cut reducing it to 10.1 miles, or a longer loop of 15.1 miles.
As well as the Winchfield Inn by the station at the end of the walk, there is also a more rural stop a bit before the end - the Barley Mow.
Trains back from Winchfield are at 05 and 35 past.
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24 at the station, joined by another later, I am told, so n=25 on this walk - quite like the old days. W=Grey-skies predominated thoughout the day, but it did not rain. The coolness was welcome to some after yesterday’s heat.
There were definitely some warps in the space-time continuum today, because having been left far behind by the group due to attention to nature - swallows! house martins! - I was astonished when approaching Odiham to find eleven walkers coming up behind me. I wonder where they had been.
A few took a shortcut to the aforementioned town, but most did the full route around the Greywell marsh reserve. Once in the town a large chunk of the group went to Bel & The Dragon for lunch. Whose idea this was is a mystery, since everyone later said they had been following everyone else. We had three nice tables on the outside terrace (more house martins overhead - and swifts!!), but the food was mostly rated rather niggardly in portion sizes. Mine was the exception because I had fish and chips (accompanied by mushy peas, tartare sauce and - bizarrely - curry sauce).
In the afternoon some did the shorter walk, some the main. Having often done this walk in winter, it was interesting to see the canal sides all lush with flowers, and the fields likewise. A few of us looked at the Barley Mow pub but it did not look that inviting. A fairly sizeable party eventually assembled for tea, drinks and mini-cheddars in the garden of the Winchfield Inn. We got the 18.05 train.
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