Length: 20 km (12.4 miles), or 16¼ km (10.1 miles) with shorter afternoon. Toughness: 3/10 (longer) or 2/10 (shorter)
10:07 Alton & Basingstoke service from Waterloo (Clapham Jct 10:15, Wimbledon 10:22, etc), arriving Hook at 11:14. You need to be in the portion for Basingstoke when the train divides at Woking.
Trains back from Winchfield are hourly at xx:27. While these are waiting for the Alton portion at Woking the timetable suggests that you could nip across to Platform 2 and get a faster train back to Clapham Jct and Waterloo, saving about 10 minutes.
This Hampshire walk has had a few Saturday outings in recent years but its last Sunday posting was a long time ago, in 2015. Since then the walk's morning section has been revised, adding some attractive stretches alongside the River Whitewater to contrast with the Basingstoke Canal towpath. Other features include the ruins of an 800-year old castle and a medieval pest house for isolating travellers (an early example of enforcing social distancing).
There should be sufficient lunch places in Odiham to suit all tastes. Half an hour into the afternoon leg you can decide whether to do the full 20 km walk or stay on the canal towpath for the shorter route. There's a pub with a beer garden near Winchfield station for post-walk refreshments.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.84
4 comments:
Hi Sean. Thanks for posting this walk. Do you know if the there are any works blocking access to the canal towpath sections? The website refers potential walkers to the Basingstoke Canal Authority 'Closure and Works' web page, but this is hard to relate to the walk notes. Thanks if you can offer any further insight.
I did check this website earlier (and some other pages online). The only planned works in the vicinity were at Crookham Wharf but that would only affect the 24 km Long Walk option. In any case that work seems to be on hold. Still, you can never rule out a fallen tree or some other incident...
4 on this walk. Weather overcast but no actual rain. Street party in Odiham taking over the High Street. We managed by luck to get a table at the Bel and Dragon, which was excellent but expensive.
We took the short option due to menacing cloud. Recent improvements the this walk route have made it far more enjoyable.
Andrew
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