Walk #791: A circular walk from Chilbolton to St Mary Bourne

P2007A259728 Pants hanging from a tree in West Down Woods.		P2007A259729 West Down woods.

General Data

P2007A259735 The river in Chilboton.		P2007A259738 The bridge over the river at Chilbolton Common.

General Walk Information

P2007A259739 The river at Chilbolton Common.		P2007A259745 The River Test in Wherwell.

Notes

Now that I have moved down to Romsey I am keen to get some of the trails in the area completed, and the first of these is the Test Way. Already completed are the sections from Romsey to Chilbolton, and today I decided to do the next stretch northwards, from Chilbolton to St Mary Bourne. I set off later from home than I expected, and when I got to Chilbolton there was a lorry loading up with the recycling from the bins in the car park. It was unlucky to have reached the car park at the exact time that the bins were being emptied - it surely must only occur once every week or two - and I had to wait for the lorry to finish.

This extra delay meant that it was nine before I was ready to go,and immediately I started climbing along a footpath along a track. Within a few minutes, however, it became clear that I was on the wrong path, so i reluctantly headed back down towards the car park and took another path that headed up into the woodland. At one point there was a pair of lace panties hanging from a branch of a tree, leaving me wondering exactly how they had got there. It was fairly obvious that I was still on the wrong path, and at the top of the hill I took another path that led out onto a broad track, which seemed to be the correct path.

After passing an obviously little-used bench the path descended down from Westdown to meet a road in Chilbolton. So far the walk had not gone too well navigationally, so I made sure that I went the right way as I joined a footpath that ran northeastwards, with a little stream accompanying me to the left. The path soon reached a white house with a post box built into the wall, and then on to a footbridge over what I believe to be the River Dever - the river Dever and River Test meander so much on the map in this area that it is hard to tell which is which at amny spots. Once across this short bridge a path led on to a much longer footbridge that passed over several streams of the River Test, with a remarkably clear water running below my feet.

Another footpath took me along a field behind houses in Wherwell, in places skirting a disused railway line before taking New Barn Lane northwards. In places this was a sunken lane, with ivy-clad banks below the overhanging trees as it climbed and then fell to reach a pretty white cottage at New Barn., with what I guessed was the New Barn behind it. From here another path took me on, climbing uphill to meet the edge of some trees as what had been a light drizzle became slightly heavier, although not enough to force me to put my coat on. The edge of the trees were followed as far as Park Farm, where the sound of barking and howling dogs greeted me. Soon I passed a cage full of bloodhounds that gave me an accompaniment as a track led downhill into the woods.

The next track was broad and the concrete surface was almost covered with fallen leaves as it headed through the trees but was blocked in a few places; firstly by a fallen tree that suspiciously looked as though it had been placed there, followed by a gate and finally some potentially dangerous chains draped below knee height. Soon afterwards the track emerged from the trees at Patchington Copse, where I was greeted by a slightly malodorous air and a large shed on my left. This was followed by two more of the long buildings, and a couple of workers told me that they housed chickens, as expected.

The track curved to head away from the barns and climb up towards Patchington Farm, where I was again greeted by a foul smell, this time the far worse smell of pigs as the farm is now a piggery. Examination of the map showed that the Test Way went through the piggery, but instead waymarkers pointed away from it towards the farm, the first of several route diversions during the day. The waymarking was clear and soon the track was taking me past a large barn that was under construction before passing under the old abutments of an old railway bridge to reach a road.

Again here the waymarkers showed a different route, with the Way following the road instead of heading down towards the river, which must be a better route. For a short distance the path skirted the road through the trees, making it an off-road route, before rejoining the road and using a long looping road that climbed up over the A303(T) road. On the other side of the main road a footpath was joined, which took me down to the road in Forton.

What followed was a fairly pleasant walk along roads and footpaths through Forton, passing the attractive area around the church before taking a path that headed off to the left (here I went slightly wrong; the Test Way took a slightly different route from the church). This track soon became fairly boggy, although as it slowly climbed it became firmer underfoot. A track junction was reached and the new track continued to climb through trees, crossing an old railway line on a bridge and continuing straight on through the woods. It proved easy to follow the track northwards, and soon the B340 road was reached, and the Way continued on along the other side.

From Fox Cottages the path twisted and curved as it headed in a rather indirect route to Faulkner's Down Farm, but a driveway led away from the farm towards a road. From here a combination of roads and tracks took me northwards, crossing a railway line to reach Lower Wyke Farm, from where tracks took over, passing Lower Wyke Barn before eventually starting to descend down towards the village of St Mary Bourne.

Here again the route diverted away from the one marked on the map, and a signpost at the junction with a path was marked as Inkpen Beacon being eleven miles away. The path headed along the southern side of a man-made lake, following a good path that was wheelchair accessible. The gates across the many small fields had an elegant ellipse design on them, and the whole path seemed pleasant.

When the school was reached I diverted off the path to try and reach a pub that was marked on the map. Fortunately this was open, and I went in to have a rest. The barmaid was friendly, and I had my usual - a pint of bitter followed by one of orange and lemonade, each one washing down a pack of crisps. There were many pensioners in and although the food looked good quality I really had to press on, and so I said goodbye and walked back up towards the church.

I only continued on the Test Way for about a third of a mile as the Way climbed out of the village to reach a road, which will leave me about ten miles to do to complete the northern end of the Way in the future. I felt sad to be leaving the Way as the return route that I had planned was not going to be as enjoyable as the Way had been, but I strode on southwards along the road, passing a complex road and track junction at Five Lanes before a footpath took me on southwards to reach the track that I had walked along earlier.

This took me on past Lower Wyke Farm, and then a road led on to the railway bridge and then to a road junction. Another road took me past a pub and golf course on the way towards Andover, before I took another road called Ox Drive that skirted the very eastern outskirts of the town. Once across the A3093 a footpath took me on along a track to a footbridge that passed high over the now-disused Micheldever Road below. The track was high on the hillside and there were some views down over Andover, but these were hazy and imperfect due to the low cloud and slight drizzle that was still hanging in the air.

When the track ended I took another one that started to head southwards, passing under the A303(T) via an underpass that was dark, noisy, boggy and smelly, hardly a nice location. Two car wheels in a puddle outside the underpass added to the ambiance, and I accelerated for a short distance until the smell and finally the noise retreated. A footpath running along a track took me southwards, and although in places the track was wide in others it was narrowed by overhanging vegetation, and as the drizzle started to get heavier I started to wish that the walk would end.

The drizzle was not heavy enough for me to put my coat on and my fleece and woolly hat were keeping me dry underneath, and so the drizzle was only an annoyance. In a couple of places I could see golfers at the adjacent Hampshire Golf Course, and as the path passed some woodland on the left it ended at another road. This was relatively busy, but fortunately it only had to be followed for a short distance until a car park was reached, and a footpath headed off westwards. Initially on the left of this path there is a fenced compound with some green tanks within; I wondered what these were for, and can only assume that they are something to do with the nearby sewage works. The path descended to meet the river, although any views of the water were blocked out by the thick hedges for most of the time, and soon the awful smell from the sewage works were assaulting my nostrils.

I sped on past the sewage works and soon reached a footbridge over the river Anton, which was a fairly pleasant spot. On the other side of the bridge the river crossed the floodplain to join an old railway trackbed, and I was hopeful of following this all the way back to the car park at West Down. Unfortunately the trackbed was blocked with a gate, and so I kept on the footpath as it started to climb uphill. The worst of the drizzle was now over, but there was still enough moisture in the air to spoil any views that there would have been.

The path levelled off and ended at a road, and after this had dropped downhill it joined a walk that I had done last week in Fullerton. The road took me back across the River Anton, with an attractive mill on the right and an old railway bridge on the left. Immediately afterwards the road ended at a main road, and instead of walking along this back to West Down I turned left and very carefully crossed an old bridge over the railway trackbed. The traffic was fairly busy and it was not too safe crossing the bridge, but once on the other side a surfaced driveway took me to the site of the old Fullerton station.

This was rather a dark, overgrown affair that was not helped by the overcast sky or the lateness of the hour. To the left there was a channel that looked as though it may be part of the old canal, but a little further on I saw that I was actually walking along an old railway platform, and on either side of me there were the spaces for the tracks. Fullerton station must have been a far bigger - and busier - station than the rural site warranted, perhaps because of the RAF station on the hillside above Chilbolton.

A gateway marked the start of a stretch of the Test Way, and once across a river bridge I reached the site of the old railway junction. By now it was quite dark in the overgrown cutting, and as I climbed the steps that led up to the car park from where I had started the walk it became brighter as I left the tree cover. It had been a long walk for the time of year, and had been a varied stroll - there were some boring stretches, but also some glorious ones,despite the bleak and overcast weather. I now only have two walks to do before I have completed the Test Way - one at the southern end, and the other at the very northern end. I am looking forward to both of these.

P2007A259748 The River Test in Wherwell.		P2007A259749 The River Test in Wherwell.

Directions

Distances

This makes a total distance of miles, with feet of ascent and feet of descent.

P2007A259754 New barn.		P2007A259756 Fungi beside the path leading towards Park Farm.

P2007A259765 An old barn at Patchington Farm.		P2007A259770 Approaching Middleton church.

P2007A259785 Heading north toward Fox Cottages.		P2007A259797 St Mary Bourne Lake.

P2007A259805 The path heading south past the airstrip.		P2007A259808 Steam engines under repair.

P2007A259819 Heading south from the A303(T).		P2007A259828 The River Anton.

P2007A259837 Heading southeast towards the road abiove Fullerton.		P2007A259839 The river Anton at Fullerton.

P2007A259841 The river Anton at Fullerton.		P2007A259812 The path heading towards Micheldever Road.

Disclaimer

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