Winchester ~ 21st - 28th September 2023

We just managed to get settled in at Winchester before the rain started. After our bright and sunny start in Fairlight Woods, which seems such a long time ago, the weather has started to be a bit unpredictable. Nevermind, we are in Winchester and hope to have a good look around and do some good walking here.



Friday we walked down into Winchester, which is some 3 miles away. We took the scenic route which brought us out at the outskirts of Winchester. A lovely Cathedral city, with castle and beautiful old quirky streets and shops. We picked up a path along the side of the river, opposite the old watermill and headed out of Winchester along the old railway line and to the outskirts and up to St. Catherines Hill, which we followed the circular walk around and then descended back down onto the trail and returned back to town. The Cathedral and surrounding area is beautiful. We stopped a couple of times for refreshment and then headed home.



Saturday we walked down to the local village of Easton and picked up the Itchen Trail. This was a lovely trail following the river which is a beautifully chrystal clear, fast running river.
We eventually ended up in Winchester, where we had another wander around before setting back off home.

Sunday we just took a stroll back down to Easton to the local pub for a bite to eat and refreshment. We didn't want to do much walking today, so this was just perfect.




Monday we walked into Winchester and picked up the Itchen trail where we left off on Saturday and continued on out of Winchester in the other direction. This time we only went so far and then turned around and retraced our steps back into Winchester.

Tuesday we met up with my sister, Deborah
in Winchester. First things first, a light refreshment break and then we strolled around and went to the Castle, which ironically, we hadn't been to, just hadn't found it. After this, we then went for a nice long lunch before heading back home. A most enjoyable day and lovely to catch up with her.




Wednesday we went for a walk and found the WWI camp location. Sadly there isn't much there other than just a couple of information boards. We also found the butterfly sanctuary and funnily enough, there were quite a lot of butterflies about too.

Thursday we headed off to Alresford. A lovely 
Georgian town with pastel buildings and a small
square which had a market selling local produce. We actually came to the town to go on The Watercress Line, an old steam train that travels not too far up the line to Alton and then back again. The stations, along the way are as they were when it was closed down in the 60's, possibly dating back to earlier than that. The line was originally used to send fresh Watercress up to London, hence the name. We had a great journey on the train and saw believe it or not 6 hares in total, a number of kites, a deer and bee hives being attended to. That's a lot on such a
short journey. 

We stopped at the railway station for light refreshment and then picked up The Millennium trail around Alresford town. It was very interesting and enjoyable with lovely scenery. There are some good sized trout in the river that flows down to Winchester. It used to be full of eels that were caught for eating. We also passed a vineyard full of big black grapes, I guess they will be harvesting them very soon. Once we'd finished the trail, we stopped for a late lunch and then headed back to camp. A really enjoyable day.

We are off tomorrow to The New Forest.


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