De-havilland-first-flight-memorial-stone

The Wayfarer's Walk is a 71 mile long distance footpath in England from

Walbury Hill Walbury Hill is a summit of the North Wessex Downs in Berkshire, England. With an elevation of , it is the highest natural point in South East England. On the hill's summit is the Iron Age hill fort of Walbury Camp, whilst the flanks of the hill ...

, Berkshire to

Emsworth Emsworth is a town in the Borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, England, near the border of West Sussex and located at by the south coast of England. It lies at the north end of an arm of Chichester Harbour, a large and shallow inlet fr ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. The north-west end is at the car park on top of Walbury Hill, near to the landmark

Combe Gibbet Combe Gibbet is a gibbet at the top of Gallows Down, near the village and just within the civil parish of Combe in Berkshire (formerly Hampshire). Location The gibbet is located at , on the Test Way close to the Berkshire-Hampshire border, it ...

, and the south-east end is

town square. The footpath approximates an ancient route that might have been used by drovers taking

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

for export. It passes through the towns of

New Alresford New Alresford or simply Alresford ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in the City of Winchester district of Hampshire, England. It is northeast of Winchester and southwest of the town of Alton. New Alresford has independent shops, a ...

Droxford Droxford ( Drokensford) is a village in Hampshire, England. Geography The village is clustered with slight ribbon development along its main, north–south, undulating road. It is entirely on the lower half of the western slopes of the Meon v ...

, Hambledon,

Havant Havant ( ) is a town in the south-east corner of Hampshire, England between Portsmouth and Chichester. Its borough (population: 125,000) comprises the town (45,826) and its suburbs including the resort of Hayling Island as well as Rowland's Cast ...

and

and the villages of North Oakley, Deane, Dummer, Brown Candover, Abbotstone, Cheriton,

Hinton Ampner Hinton Ampner is a village and country house estate with gardens within the civil parish of Bramdean and Hinton Ampner, near Alresford, Hampshire, England. The village and house are 8 miles due east of Winchester. The name probably derives f ...

, Kilmeston,

Soberton Soberton is a village in the Meon Valley, Hampshire, England, east of the A32 and a few miles south of the village of Droxford. It appears in the Domesday Book as "Sudbertone" or "Sudbertune". For administration, it is in the Hampshire County C ...

, and

Denmead Denmead is a village in Hampshire near Portsmouth, England. It is part of the City of Winchester district. As of 2005, it had a population of 6,457 and an electorate of 4,987. At the 2011 Census the population had increased to 6,736 Denmead occ ...

. By the path is a memorial to the first flight of

Geoffrey de Havilland Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, ...

. The footpath also passes close to

Watership Down, Hampshire Watership Down is a hill or a Downland, down at Ecchinswell in the civil parish of Ecchinswell, Sydmonton and Bishops Green in the English county of Hampshire, as part of the Hampshire Downs. It rises fairly steeply on its northern flank (the esca ...

. The footpath is waymarked by metal and plastic disks found attached to wooden and metal posts, trees and street furniture, and where this isn't possible stickers on lampposts etc. It has also spawned several circular routes that use sections of the main footpath. These are also waymarked. This route is shown as a series of green diamonds on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps and as a series of red diamonds on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps. Walbury Hill is also the start of the

Test Way The Test Way is a http://documents.hants.gov.uk/countryside/walks/TestWayleaflet.pdf long-distance footpath in England from Walbury Hill in West Berkshire to Eling in Hampshire, which follows much of the course of the River Test. The northern ...

and is the start of the

to Overton 16 Mile Trail Race, the first 11 miles of its route being on Wayfarer's Walk.

Places of interest

The following places of interest, hillfort sites and hills can be found along the length of the Walk (listed from southeast to northwest): *

Fort Purbrook Portsdown Hill is a long chalk ridge in Hampshire, England. The highest point of the hill lies within Fort Southwick at 131m above sea level. The ridge offers good views to the south over Portsmouth, the Solent, Hayling Island and Gosport, wit ...

* The source of the River Itchen * Tidley Hill *

Watership Down ''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natura ...

* Ladle Hill and Iron Age hillfort and SSSI * Pilot Hill and Dean Hill *

and the Iron Age hillfort of Walbury Camp * The start of the

Map

These maps show the footpath in relation to nearby major roads. Maps are not on the same scale.

External links

Hampshire County Council information on the Wayfarer's Walk

(Walking on the Web)
Wayfarer's Walk
(Long Distance Walkers’ Association)
Overton Harriers & AC
(Combe Gibbet to Overton 16 Route) {{coord , 51.095, -1.167, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Footpaths in Hampshire Footpaths in Berkshire Long-distance footpaths in England

Places of interest

Map

See also

External links