Reconnaisance
This is third and final instalment of my Surrey/Hampshire epic. As an aside, I have been working a bit hard to try and get these walks written up before I forget. The consequence appears to be that the laptop has been overheating and draining battery a bit too regularly. I thought my device was on its last legs. As a last ditch, I got Henry Hoover on to it and as I write this, the fans have miraculously gone silent. So there's a tip for you.
I was pretty tired on my third day but not deterred from taking in a few more highlights before extraction. My choice of direction, however, was made on the basis of being able to get home in a relatively timely manner from Liphook. What this means is that some of the walking is not classically attractive but was dictated by public transport needs at the far end. Because of the current oppressive heat dome and physical baggage carrying that weighed upon this journey, I did not warm as much as I might to the some ex military sewage systems and current military training areas, the route took me through. I wasn't made to feel entirely comfortable by the vegetation encountered and I did not always find that the location delighted but some of the common was startlingly as good as that on my previous days. There is also a certain frisson to be had by walking legitimately through danger zones on rights of way.
Keen to move on, here follows an account of my exit from the campsite and homeward manoeuvres: From Huntingford Bridge Camping, return south and west along Smithy Lane and Picketts Hill until you can take the Shipwrights Way on the left into Broxhead Common. Make you way west from the trail and take the minor tracks through the access land to head south. Good views open up. Rejoin the Shipwrights Way as it crosses the Lindford Road and enters the Bordon Inclosure. There are number of different trails through the area. Bordon grew from the occupation of the military at a garrison built here. There are archaeological remains of this recent history and that which was part of the much more ancient and extensive Woolmer Forest.
The Deadwater Valley Local Nature Reserve extends south into Alexandra Park. Take a path through to Chalet Hill. Hollybrook Park leads to Conde Way, rejoined by the Shipwrights Way. A path off to the left allows you to enter the Woolmer Forest remnant also part of the reserve. As you Head south beyond Knox Pond, you reach Walldown Road. Go east over the crossroads into Whitehill Road. The bridleway down to Liphook Road was a little overgrown. A short distance east and you can enter the access land just south and go to the edge of Hollywater Pond. Your way through to the Woolmer Ranges Perimeter Track could probably be better than my traverse through thick vegetation and over a stream. There is certainly a more solid track that leads you here. This is the line of a dismantled military railway. You are on the edge of the Danger Zone but eastward travel will bring you to the footpath that can take you within it. Observe the warning signs!
The footpath will take you over Polecat Hill but at Long Down, turn right and begin your return on a footpath back over the perimeter to the bridleway. Turn right and proceed south at Holmhills and the opposite side of the A3. Continue on a path over Longmoor Road and south onto the byway at the edge of the Thorn Hill Golf and Country Estate. You can stick with the Shipwrights Way until the access land on the left gives you opportunities to explore what is now within the South Downs National Park. This is East Weavers Down and is managed by Amphibian and Reptile Conservation. Woolmer Forest is a stronghold of reptiles and amphibians, including the natterjack toad. To the east is Champneys and Follys Pond at Forest Mere, itself an SSSI. The heat was peaking in the late afternoon and I slumped happily for a while amongst the tiny but abundant heathland flowers. I took a path through the middle of the access land and made my way over to the Sussex Border Path to where it crosses the track next to the Langley substation.
Continue on the road until you take the left to Chapel Common. From the byway, continue on the bridleway until you can bear left on the Serpent Trail. Bear right onto the bridleway at the far end and continue on the Sussex Border Path as it crosses the Portsmouth Road to join the byway across the golf course. I was hungry for the finish by this point. Take the bridleway next left to go back over the road and the railway. Take the bridleway on the west of the and fairway and Wheatsheaf Common. Finally, back on the Shipwrights, you join the road and take a right on Station Road to the station at Liphook.
I had to make do with a sandwich at Havant.
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