Test Way

Background Information

The Test Way is a 47-mile trail in Hampshire, following the River Test from Eling Wharf near Southampton to near its source at Inkpen Beacon at the north of the county. Unfortunately it is only occasionally in touch with the river, and often diverts off into the surrounding countryside.

On the way it passes through pretty villages such as Hurstbourne Tarrant, St Mary Bourne, Longparish, Chilbolton and Mottisfont, and passes close to the town of Romsey. At the southern end of the trail it passes through the centre of the town of Totton.

Waymarking is generally easy to follow, in the form of circular discs, with 'TW' on a green arrow. These will be stuck onto any stationary furniture found on the route, such as gateposts, lampposts and marker posts.

Map of the trail

Maps courtesy of Google Maps. Route for indicative purposes only, and may have been plotted after the walk. Please send me have comments you may have on what you think of this new format.

List of legs

Leg	Distance (miles)	Ascent (feet)	Descent (feet)	Difficulty
Eling to Romsey	9	180	151	easy
Romsey to Mottisfont	5.4	351	289	easy
Mottisfont to Stockbridge	6.2	187	157	easy
Stockbridge to Longparish	9	512	459	easy
Longparish to St Mary Bourne	5.3	390	312	easy
St Mary Bourne to Ibthorpe	4.5	492	390	easy
Ibthorpe to Inkpen Hill	7.6	915	417	easy

	47	3027	2175

Further information (books)

Sadly I know of no books or guides detailing the Test Way.

Further information (websites)

The following websites detail the trail:

Hampshire County Council's webpage describing the trail. - www3.hants.gov.uk
Hampshire County Council's leaflet on the trail, downloadable in PDF form. - www3.hants.gov.uk
SouthernWalks' webpages on the trail. - www.southernwalks.co.uk
The Long Distance Walkers Association page on the trail. - www.ldwa.org.uk
The Wikipedia entry for the trail. - en.wikipedia.org
Details of an annual charity walk along the length of the trail. - www.walkthetestway.org.uk

Transport

Sadly the Test Valley is not well served with public transport, with most links crossing between the towns that sit wither side of the valley. For this reason transport can be difficult at times. Travelline SW is a very good source of information on transport in the area. Individual legs on this website give more information on the particular links.

Map information

1:25,000 maps


Explorer 131 (Romsey, Andover & Test Valley)	Explorer 144 (Basingstoke, Alton & Whitchurch)	Explorer 158 (Newbury & Hungerford)

1:50,000 maps


Landranger 196 (The Solent & The Isle of Wight, Southampton & Portsmouth)		Landranger 185 (Winchester & Basingstoke, Andover & Romsey)		Landranger 174 (Newbury & Wantage, Hungerford & Didcot)

Suggested schedules

The following schedules are advisory. They indicate various ways that the trail can be split up into walks of several lengths, with convenient end-points for each day's walk.

Naturally, you may want to alter this according to whether you are staying in B&B's, hostels, camping or are doing the walk in sections and are relying on public transport. Your own walk will probably vary from the itineraries shown below.

Night	Leisurely		Good		Fast
Night	Place	Distance (m)	Place	Distance (m)	Place	Distance (m)
0	Eling		Eling		Eling
1	Romsey	9	Mottisfont	14.4	Stockbridge	20.6
2	Stockbridge	11.6	Longparish	15.2	Inkpen Hill	26.4
3	Longparish	9	Inkpen Hill	17.4
4	Ibthorpe	9.8
5	Inkpen Hill	7.6

The Test Way is hardly a well-known trail, but can reward a leisurely walk. It is not strenuous, with minimal climbing to be done and there are many things and places slightly off the trail that are well worth visiting.

Tourist Information

There are various tourist information offices on or near the route.

Southampton tourist information office has a website at visit-southampton.co.uk. The office itself is situated in the Civic Centre at SO14 7LW.
Romsey has a small but helpful tourist information centre in the heritage centre opposite the Abbey. They have a website at romseynet and can be contacted on 01794 512987.
Andover tourist information centre is situated in Church Close in Andover. They have a website at visit-hampshire.co.uk and can be contacted on 01264 324320.

When to walk

The Test Way can be walked at any time of year, but the ground can be muddy in the winter months. Flooding may also effect some parts of the trail, particularly the stretch to the north of Totton. For this reason spring, summer or autumn walk may be the best times of year to walk the trail.