There had been a downpour on the night before my walk on Sunday 26th March and we'd had a lot of rain in previous days. With a forecast of more rain during the day, I knew this was going to be a soggy walk. Six of us (five regulars and someone trying us out) met up at Odiham Wharf car park for this figure-of-eight walk.
This was effectively two walks either side of the car park, allowing people to do just the first loop or both, depending on how long a walk they wanted to do. In this case, a choice of a 7 mile or an 11½ mile walk was on offer.
We began by following the Basingstoke Canal north-east along the towpath, which was quite muddy in places. We were overtaken by the occasional runner, who hadn't been put off by the slippery conditions.
It wasn't long before we left the canal for Odiham Common. We passed Wilk's Water and Odiham Hunting Lodge, which was undergoing renovation. As we splodged our way through the common, Pat, one of our members who has recently been on a foraging course, pointed out various plants that are edible.
Out of the common, we crossed farmland and re-joined the canal at Sandy Hill Bridge. From there we followed the tow path to Stacey's Bridge where we left it for a woodland path through Hellet's Copse. Next a path through grassy fields brought us back to the canal near Winchfield.
After about a mile of towpath, we left the canal once more and entered Dogmersfield Park, stopping by Tundry Pond to eat our packed lunches and watch the various aquatic birds. We also heard a woodpecker drumming nearby.
After lunch, we crossed through the park, initially wading through a very deep puddle by a swing-gate. Following a footpath that went between two fields, we saw highland cattle on one side, and on the other, we saw ponies and a very colourful goat.
Water had collected in a paved lane near Dogmersfield Lake, which required more wading. At this point a dark layer of cloud was building up and we wondered whether we'd complete the first loop of the walk before the rain started. We didn't.
Pausing only to put on our waterproofs, we trudged through extremely soggy woodland to get to Broad Oak, just as the rain stopped. Re-joining the canal at Broad Oak Bridge, it was a short walk along the towpath back to the car park.
Three of the group went home while the remaining three of us stopped for a drink at The Waterwitch before doing the second loop of the walk. This followed the canal westward to North Warnborough, where we crossed the River Whitewater at a ford and then visited the remains of King John's Castle. After that, we continued to follow the canal as far as the Greywell Tunnel.
My original route would then have taken us across farmland and fields back to Odiham Wharf, but after a brief discussion, we all agreed it would probably be easier to retrace our steps along the towpath than risk the boggy fields. So that's what we did. See our route on Google Maps.
Rob led this walk and wrote it up.
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