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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Wednesday 18 July 2018

Wednesday Walk: Botley to Netley - Southampton Water and the River Hamble [swimming walk]

Book 1, Walk 3(R) - Botley to Netley

Length: 15.2 km (9.5 miles)     Option to extend to Sholing (adds 3.4 miles)
Toughness: 2 out of 10

London Waterloo: 10-09 hrs  Portsmouth Harbour service: Basingstoke: 11-00 hrs  Does NOT stop at CJ
Arrive Botley: 11-38 hrs

Clapham Junctioners: 10-12 hrs   Weymouth service from Waterloo
Arrive Basingstoke: 10-47 hrs    Change trains
Leave Basingstoke: 11-00 hrs     on Portsmouth Harbour service as above

Return

Netley to Waterloo:  17-02 [via Fareham ( F)]; 17-18 [via Southampton Central (SC)]; 17-51(SC); 18-02 (F); 18-18 (SC); 19-02 (F), 19-18 (SC)

Rail ticket: Buy a day return to Netley any route permitted.


This Book 1 walk works well in both directions, but in recent times rail timetables have made it preferable to do the walk "backwards", which we will be doing today.
After a short(ish) walk from the railway station along the road into Botley, the route soon takes you over fields to Manor Farm with its visitor centre and cafe. From there you head down through woods on the meandering Strawberry Trail, with the River Hamble below you, passing a number of coves along the way.  Swimmers: bring your cossies as two of the coves make for a pleasant swim. Non-swimmers (me) keep going to Burlesdon and Lower Swanwick where we stop for lunch at the Navigator pub, much improved since its days when called the Spinnaker (tel: 01489-572123). If there are more than 4 of you requiring luncheon, best 'phone ahead. Your e.t.a  13-10 hrs - a bit later for swimmers.
After lunch you have a delightful, relaxing walk alongside the River Hamble, and once through  Universal Marina, you have mud flats on your left and boat moorings and marinas to your right. After some 3 kms you take the Warsash Ferry to cross the River to the village of Hamble. You cannot miss the ferry - or its shelter on the eastern side of the River -  as both are visions in shocking pink.
In Hamble you can stop for a cuppa if you wish before heading over Hamble Common to the waters edge. You now walk along the stony beach to Southampton Water all the way to Netley (although you can take a woodland path parallel to and above the beach if you find walking along it hard-going).
In Netley you walk up through the Royal Victoria Country Park to its main cafe for tea. Netley Chapel in the Park is still undergoing major restoration work, and has not yet re-opened to visitors. From the cafe allow fifteen minutes to Netley railway station, for your service back to London, either via Fareham or Southampton Central..
If the weather is kind to you today, you should enjoy this seaside-outing-with-a-difference.
T=1.3
Walk Directions here L=1.3

4 comments:

Marc Ricketts said...

I be on Holiday in Devon when some of yous do the Walk on the day. While Botley Brings me back Memories when I went Away with the School a long time ago. And we stayed at the Y.M.C.A Fairthorne Manor.

Marion said...

Swimmers should bring their reef shoes as the pebbles are quite painful without! Could I suggest a posting of the Bournemouth and Studland Bay walk where the sand is clean and beautiful for swimming. Just got back from 3 days on the beach in wall to wall sunshine with a refreshing breeze and warm seas.

Walker said...

N=7 w=Cloudy-till-late-afternoon-then-sunny. There were even spots of rain in the morning, which luckily did not come to anything because no one had brought waterproofs.

We quickly split into two groups - two fast walkers, five slightly less fast. We five did the Hamble River route and even though it was low tide and the water looked a bit .... weedy.... two of us swam across the estuary at the prescribed swimming spot.

A nice lunch in the Navigator - passing the fast walkers leaving as we arrived - and then down the Hamble Estuary under brightening but not yet sunny skies. We caught the 3.30 ferry, not realising the 3.50 was the last, and had tea on the upper deck of the cafe on the far side.

A now sunny walk through the woods and up the beach along Southampton Water. Two of us swam when we got to Victoria Park and then we all hoofed it to get the 6.18 train. Unluckily this was cancelled. Luckily we were in time for the 5.51. Unluckily at Southampton all the Waterloo trains were delayed. Yours truly bailed out here to get a local train for a family visit. Hope the others got home eventually

Thomas G said...

The two fast walkers had tea at the Cafe in Victoria Park and ploughed on to Sholing, in time for the 17.22 to Southampton. The connection, the 18.00 fast train to London, then couldn't leave the platform as the front part of that platform was still blocked by the 17.55 stopping service, awaiting relief train crew. So after some lengthy deliberations, our train then pulled back out the station to beyond the points and then travelled through the station along the westbound platform 4, half an hour late, and with the stopping service still marooned on platform 1A. What can go wrong, will go wrong...