17.3km (10.7 miles) - or 14.5km (9 miles) if you want to be extra lazy. T=swc.539.50 train from Waterloo (9.57 Clapham Junction) to Overton, arriving 10.48
Buy a day return to Whitchurch (Hampshire, not Shropshire or Cardiff...!!!)
A last minute change of plan has handed me this slot (normally Stargazer's) to bring you..... more snowdrops! Hopefully, anyway. I remember this walk from years back as packed with the little blighters. One thing I can attest to is that last year Whitchurch Cemetery was awash with them (see photo).
This walk also crosses and shadows the River Test, its crystal-clear waters attesting to its chalk origins. It is famous for its trout, and past experience has suggested dropping a bit of bread in the water brings large numbers of them to the surface, which is rather fun. (Whether it is good for the fish, I do not know...)
Lunch is at the Watership Down Inn, 4.5 miles into the walk, named after the famous novel (I hear their rabbit pie is good...**). I am not sure how busy it gets, but I have made a booking for six people just to open the batting, so to speak. Otherwise, one could continue to Whitchurch and eat in one of its pubs
You actually get to Whitchurch after 9 miles. The full 10.7 mile walk includes a loop out to Tufton. Whitchurch Cemetery is at the start of this loop, but if you want to go and see the snowdrops and then slink back to tea at Whitchurch Silk Mill, there is an obvious short cut back to the village centre along a road (see map). This might be particularly tempting as last orders in the tea room are at 4.30pm. The mill shuts at 5pm and costs £10 to visit (or £9 for over-60s, but that doesn't cover any of us, right?)
Trains back from Whitchurch are at 14 past till 19.14, then 19.53, 20.53 etc
** Joke! They don't serve rabbit, at least not on the lunch menu...
1 comment:
A very creditable n=18 on this walk. Those inveigled into coming by the promise of snowdrops were not disappointed, I think. There were clumps throughout the walk - in churchyards, on verges, in woods, even once in a field. Also some crocuses, the odd adventurous primrose and (on the extra loop) a cherry plum in full blossom.
There was w=generous-amounts-of-sunshine too: not wall to wall, but more sunny than not. This gave everything a lovely springtime feel, which the birds responded to. I heard my first chaffinch song of the year (several times) and my first (three) greenfinches. Wrens, dunnocks and robins were also belting it out.
On the approach to Freefolk a local resident kindly informed us that the pub had been “ruined”, which was encouraging. In fact it has been modernised. We had booked two tables of six, though for a second week in a row I cast a longing look outside, where a group of runners was enjoying drinks in the sunshine. But my booked table was in the conservatory, which was also bathed in sunshine. Actually a bit too hot for a time.
Our food came quickly. The other table, inside the main bar, was mysteriously waiting for their meals when we left an hour later. Not sure what went wrong there, as the pub was not busy, and we hope they emerged before nightfall. The menu is not extensive and not vastly imaginative, but the meat and fish eaters on our table were happy. The vegan lasagne, however was minuscule and lacking in protein. Frankly it would have made a good starter.
I had forgotten to bring bread, but when we got to the River Test we persuaded a non-luncher to part with a morsel of his bagel (his only sustenance for the day…) to try to tempt the trout out of their cover. It floated downstream untouched. Later, approaching Whitchurch, we crossed another footbridge where the trout were all lurking within suspiciously convenient reach. Bagel man was not in sight so they went hungry.
In my splinter group we decided to go straight to the silk mill for tea, getting there about 3pm. The vegan lasagne eaters here caught up with their calories with a nice chocolate fudge cake. After tea there was subversive talk about “looking round the village” and “going straight to the station”, so only three of set off to do the extra loop. Briefly on this expedition we met two independents using our written directions who said they had done “nearly all” of the walks on the website.
Those who did not do the loop missed a treat, as it was delightful. The snowdrops in Whitchurch Cemetery were perhaps not as spectacular as I remembered and the route twice passes under the hideously noisy A34, but otherwise it was tranquil and calm, bathed in lovely low sunlight, passing more snowdrops and visiting an ancient church with traces of 800 year old frescoes.
I later discovered that three sandwichers also did the loop (they and some others were on the 4.14 train). The three of us were just a bit too late for the 5.14 and so sojourned in the very cosy White Hart (where we met one of the lunchtime runners who was incredulous that we had walked “all the way” from Freefolk, a distance of about 2.5 miles). We got the 6.14, having had a full and varied day out.
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