Length: 17.3km (10.7 miles), or 14.5km (9 miles) without the Tufton loop. T=swc.53
9.50 train from Waterloo (9.57 Clapham Junction) to Overton, arriving 10.48
Buy a day return to Whitchurch (Hants)
For walk directions, GPX and map click here
This walk has proved an excellent snowdrop walk in the past. It follows the River Test on several occasions but at the time of posting there are no flood warnings on that river. I will do further checks during the week. The crystal clear waters of the Test conceal trout, who hide in the river bottom weeds but can be summoned to the surface by bread. I am not sure if it is good for them, but it is fun to do.
Lunch is at the Watership Down Inn, famed for its rabbit pie (joke!!!). I have made a booking for six people for 12.45. The pub is 4.5 miles into the walk and after it there are only 2.7 more miles to Whitchurch, where there are other pub options or the possibility of tea at the Riverside Cafe of the Silk Mill. The latter is still a working mill and can be visited (4pm last entry, 5pm close) though this costs £15.50 (with a generous £1 discount for oldies).
After tea you can do a shorter route around the village - the 9 mile version of the walk - or do the longer loop around Tufton - the 10.7 mile version. The latter is actually very pretty and includes the huge snowdrop display (pictured) of Whitchurch Cemetery, though you could just visit this without doing the loop.
Note that it is 2km from Whitchurch village centre to the station, so leave half an hour or so to do this
Trains back from Whitchurch are at 14 past the hour to 19.14, then 19.53, 20.53 etc
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N=11 today, on a gorgeous w=mostly-sunny day - mostly, because it did cloud over at the very end. But we won’t mention that, will we?
So, lovely blue sky, no flooding and the ground weirdly dry - even on paths you would expect to be muddy. The scenery was very pretty. Snowdrops widely, as advertised - possibly fading a bit? - but also some daffs, a few celandines and the odd primrose. Birdsong included two adventurous greenfinches and one chaffinch practising its riff, both signs of the season.
It turned out two of us had booked tables at the Watership Down Inn, giving us ten places in all. Everyone initially sat at the other table, leaving me alone at mine. But I huffed and puffed and inveigled them to join me. Six ate and all liked their food. No rabbit pie, but two had Bambi bangers. It was hot in the conservatory and we had to open windows, but that was a nice problem to have: the picknickers outside complained it was too cold, however.
In the afternoon we made two attempts to summon trout with bread and leftover chips. These failed but everyone admired the crystal clearness of the water. We visited the ancient church with its 18th century tomb and amazing wooden roof. We saw some Belted Galloway calves, which looked very cute.
On the last footbridge before Whitchurch we made one last attempt to lure out the trout. The result was a gratifying feeding frenzy. The fish are clearly used to being fed here.
In Whitchurch we went for tea in the silk mill cafe. The staff were unnecessarily grumpy and served us tea in paper cups with plastic lids even though crockery cups were available. This annoyed two of us who could have produced reusable cups if asked. I heard other customers complain about this too, which was gratifying. We had our tea outside next to the “duck feeding area”, where locals were ignoring the large signs to the contrary and feeding bread (rather than peas, pulses and whatever else you are supposed to feed ducks) to an enthusiastic scrum of mallards.
After tea some mumbled about trains and disappeared. Five of us went on to do the loop to Tufton, which met with general approval. We met another of the group doing it in the reverse direction.
Once back in downtown Whitchurch, we checked the train times and found the next one was in 14 minutes. It was a 15 minute walk to the station according to Google, so we hammered up the hill and did it in 11.
At the station we met the reverse loop walker and another who said she had thought of coming on the walk but had changed her mind and done a walk around Whitchurch. Tempted though I am to add her to the attendee count, I decided after due consideration that she does not qualify.
All in all a fine day out, and while not over-taxing in terms of gradients, one while filled the available daylight very satisfactorily. Worse things happen at sea, eh?
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