16.2 miles, 4-11 centigrade.
The rain was falling gently this morning but the forecast was for it to stop by midday, so i set off on the first train that would get me to Andover (2 changes en route) for a rather late 10:30 start. The rain had stopped and i was soon heading roughly south to the river anton along whose bank there is a footpath under the main town orbital road and so out into the countryside. For a while it’s possible to follow the path on an old rail track bed but before upper clatford this is built over and so it’s small roads through the clatfords until a footpath that veers of behind westover farm, this after a while turns right uphill on a grassy path that gives a good view over the valley.
Descend through fullerton and the river crossing is reached where a fine old mill sits beside the running water and i come across another of many pretty cottages along the way so far.
At this stage i had met an occasional dog walker, jogger and horse rider and during the rest of the day i met even less, a quick turn on the A road to Cottonworth put me on the road to wherwell where i joined the test valley way (national path) after a touch of uncertainty as it was signed only occasionally, behind the village i moved back on to an old rail track bed which was quiet and overgrown but passable which is near ideal, this came to an end where a shed was built across the way and i diverted to a field boundary and small lane to get back on the road which came to a footpath stile, time to sit and enjoy my pork pie.
The path led east towards Bransbury until i came to the steam side running north which i followed to Gavelacre where i happened upon a sign saying right of way no longer allowed access, hurumph, never mind turn left back towards the road and take the test valley way route over the major road towards Forton, here i picked up the old rail track bed and followed it northeastwards, i mostly followed this marveling at the depth of some of the cuttings towards Budgett farm where suddenly it has been backfilled and provided a very steep slippery slope for my exit as well as for the two roe deer that had been moving just ahead of me for at least a mile. Then getting through one hedgerow on a field boundary i managed to tear my shirt (that is to say the brambles did), ho hum shirts tend not to last me long in good condition.
After crossing a road the path is blocked by a recycling place with high fences, so i moved along the east side of the rail route and soon regained access to the old track which here is incredibly deep below ground level with amazingly steep sides to the cutting, it’s obvious to see these are very stable due to the sides being of hard chalk/limestone, to think of how much soil was moved with pick and shovel is another example of how hard life was back then. A small road used at one point got me around a blocked area and back on the old embankment where this disused line used to join what is still a busy line, from here i descended down to the valley bottom for an excellent rest beside a stream of crystal clear water that had just exited the water cress beds while admiring the St Mary bourne rail viaduct, not the best in the country but the best i know of in this area.
By now the sun had been shinning for some time and the temperature was certainly springlike, so a near perfect day as i took a small section of road to reach a footpath around cowdown copse which was superb from there and across farmland to the small town of Whitchurch for some quiet streets to the station.
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