Walking the Wayfarers Walk from Basingstoke to New Alresford

About 1 week earlier, on Friday August 7th, I cycled from home into Hatch Warren, and then to Beggarwood Lane, to find Long Copse Lane, and sure enough I found it, and found where the Wayfarers Walk meets Long Copse Lane, so now I knew how to walk the Wayfarers Walk from Basingstoke.

So, on Friday 14th August 2020, I decided to walk the Wayfarers Way from part of Basingstoke to New Alresford. I needed to get a bus to where I could walk to where the Wayfarer’s Way went to the village of Dummer, then use walk to go to the Candover Valley, then to New Alresford.

I decided to use the Wayfarers Walk as a basis for a walk that day, to link it with other paths, so I could walk to New Alresford within a reasonable time.

I left home at 0838 and walked to the bus stop near the Railway station where I could catch the number 8 bus to Beggarwood Lane, and get off it near Canberra Way. Then I could walk to Long Copse Lane and then walk to Dummer. 

The number 8 bus left the bus stop opposite the station at 0940, and it went to Kempshott, then crossed the A33 and went to into Hatch Warren, then along Beggarwood Lane and I got off it near Camberra Way. Then I walked to Long Copse lane, turned left along it to where it ends and becomes a footpath. To the right hand of the path is a golf course-I soon saw a footpath sign.

Not walking this footpath very long, I could hear the heavy noise of traffic, and saw that the footpath I was on had reached a junction, with this footpath sign on. 

I saw that the Wayfarers Walk sign pointed down the track which was to the right of the footpath I had been on so I decided to turn left and walk up a slight hill, and saw that the footpath now crossed over the M3 Motorway.

Then I realised I had been correct because I remembered how the Wayfarers Way comes over the Roman Road, then over the A33 and comes on a track towards the M3, then crosses over it, so I now realised where I was on the route.

The photograph above of my OS Map number 144, entitled Basingstoke, Alton & Whitchurch, which shows the Wayfarers Way as a green stepped line with blobs on, going along South Wood, then crosses the A33, the Roman Road, then over the road to the M3, then alongside Peak Copse, then next to the M3, which is to its right hand side, then passes the footpath next to Basingstoke Golf Club, which I had just walked on, then, goes over the M3, motorway as seen above, then goes alongside it, with the motorway to its right hand side again.

So now started to walk along this footpath as shown on another sign- 

The footpath ahead went next to someone’s garden

The path went next to the motorway, then reached a minor road that comes off the M3, so I walked along it into the village of Dummer, keeping to the straight path or lane, and following the route on the map.

The lane goes next to another clubhouse, shown as CH on the map, passes a public house, comes to a minor road. The Wayfarers Way sign shows the route along a concrete lane, going past Manor Farm.

The path went up a slight hill, then turned right, then downhill, and onto a better surfaced lane which goes to Dummer Grange, and then the path meets another country lane which goes from North Waltham to Axford. 

I turned left along the country lane, to look for a sign for Breach Farm, and soon found Breach Farm Lane.

 On the corner of this lane was a sign against a wooden fence saying Manor Farm.

There was also a sign against a hedge saying Breach Farm and on a piece of wooden fence, were two waymarks, one of which was "the Wayfarers Walk"

I was now following this part of the OS Map:

I walked up this lane, soon came to the farm, seeing a sign pointing up a lane to the left, not my walking route:-

I continued along the lane, passing the driveway to Breach House and went up the lane to reach a footpath sign & restricted byway sign, which was my route, the Wayfarers Way towards Chilton Candover.

This was the route I was following on the maps:-

The map below shows the first part of the route I took, from Breach Farm, into some woods, then past the sign above, and up a hill, towards Becketts Down which are some woods. 

So, following the path on the map above, this track which went up a hill, passing an old chalk pit, which on the map says Pits (dis) soon the track was blocked by fallen and cut down trees.

 Soon I came to where there the track went ahead with no signs around.

The next map, then shows the route from Becketts Down towards Lone Barn House, then Church Lane, which is a track, that ends near Church Lane Farm.

Soon I passed Lone Barn House, then walked along a gated lane

Then came to Church Lane Farm and on the footpath saw a tree with a branch holding a children’s swing.

The track went downhill and soon went past a church and came to a lane in the village of Brown Candover. 

I then turned left and went up a restricted byway again, passing Moth Farm. I went up the byway and soon came to Oxdrove Way where I had been on before. 

As I came out onto Oxdrove Way from the byway from Moth Farm there was a waymark sign in front of me.

The restricted byway I was on now is used by cyclists as a cycle route as the waymarks on the sign above show.

The track is grassy in places and goes down a slight hill

I turned right and walked along Oxdrove Way and soon met Spybush Lane, where I turned left next to a farm house & walked up the track which was a tarmac track & a cycle way.

The Wayfarers Walk went right, and followed this route as shown on the map below.

The Wayfarers Walk went along the B3046, then along a lane, then to Totford Farm, then to a minor road, where it turns left and goes to Totford, then along a path to meet Oxdrove Way & Spybush Lane.

Soon I passed the Wayfarers Walk again and followed it up the tarmac lane.

Below is looking back to the farm which I had just passed.

The track went right, and around a bend to the left and downhill, then uphill, then along a narrow path to cross over the B3046 road from Basingstoke to New Alresford.

The path goes through a wide gate with wooden fingerpost around.

Now I was going to walk past a car park.

On the map I was on the Oxdrove Way & Wayfarers Walk, going over Abottsham Down as this photograph shows.

The path went down a narrow track 

Then I met a footpath that went over the cycle way. The Wayfarers Walk which went straight ahead-this  whereas I turned left along the footpath. This was where I was using the Wayfarers walk for the basis of a walk, and then using another set of footpaths to get to New Alresford.

The tarmac track going straight ahead is the Wayfarers Walk as the sign above states

I went left along the footpath which went alongside a field and up a slight hill towards a hedge.

The path I followed on the map went up this hill, then down the other side, then right alongside a field, then left across another field, then alongside the field edge, next to some houses, and through a gate and onto a lane towards the B3046 road as this map bit shows:

I then went along a footpath next to the road, then onto a footpath next to a mill stream, the River Alre, and into the town of New Alresford.

The Wayfarers Walk on the map below shows the way it goes, but someday I will follow this walk instead of the way I went before.

As can be seen the Wayfarers Walk goes along the Oxdrove Way from that car park, then over that footpath that I went on, then to Abbotstone, then towards Itchen Stoke Down, then left towards a river & some watercress beds, then to a minor road, then left alongside the river Alre, and then into the town of New Alresford, going up the B3040, to cross the B3047. It then goes through a church yard.

Then turned right, crossed the road, and walked to the bus stop where I saw a bus stop sign informing me that the next 64 bus to Winchester was due at 1417. It came along and I sat on the top deck, looking at the passing countryside & the cathedral. I alighted the bus at Broadway and walked up to the railway station and caught the 1457 train to Basingstoke. I had walked 12.41 miles and climbed 828 feet.