Length: 15 km (9.3 miles), or 12¼ km (7.6 miles) with shorter ending. Toughness: 2/10
10:45 Andover train from Waterloo (Clapham Jct 10:53), arriving Whitchurch (Hants) at 11:49.
Trains back from Whitchurch are hourly at xx:23. As a fallback there's also an hourly bus (#76) from the town centre to Basingstoke at xx:10 (until 18:10).
Apologies for posting a second west-of-London walk this Sunday, but I've had a request for this one and because of engineering works further down the line there's a convenient direct service from Waterloo (on Sundays you usually have to connect with a Reading–Salisbury service).
This slightly shorter variation of the Overton–Whitchurch walk never strays too far from the River Test. There should be masses of snowdrops at this time of year and on the riverside stretches you can usually summon large numbers of hungry trout by scattering a few breadcrumbs onto the water.
If you want to stop for an early pub lunch (after 5 km) you'll need to book a table at the popular Watership Down Inn in Freefolk. If they're fully booked (or you just want a shorter walk) you could choose to turn back earlier and make your way to one of Whitchurch's hostelries. The town has three pubs and there's also the Riverside Café in its Silk Mill; this is the suggested tea stop but it also does light lunches.
From Whitchurch you could just head up the hill to the station, but the published walk offers the choice of a fairly short loop out to Tufton or an even shorter one going directly to the picturesque Fulling Mill.
You'll need to bring the directions from the L=swc.53.b page. Clicking ‘Circular’ on the Walk Options heading will hide the directions for the longer walk starting from Overton.
1 comment:
N=14 assembled on a w=sunny day. It didn’t take long for before the hares left two tortoises behind. Wherever the hares went, it wasn’t the same way as us but they did eventually catch us up back in Whitchurch .They said they encountered a closed path on the way into Freefolk. We tried not to look smug.
In Whitchurch, most had picnic lunches by the millpond (don’t bother feeding the ducks, the fish steal the bread) two ate in the White Hart and at least one in the mill café.
Most then continued on the afternoon loop. More path trouble here. First we had to climb over a padlocked kissing gate and later negotiate a (not very) ‘closed’ bridge. It wasn’t in great shape but not impassable. The most dangerous thing about it was the bar we had to clamber under or over after crossing. Health and safety gone mad. And the church we’d come to see was shut. We got the 16:23 back.
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