Another heatwave arrived with September, so I decided to start my walk at 9:30 instead of the usual 10:30 on Sunday 10th to avoid the afternoon heat. As it transpired, the weather broke that afternoon, so the early start meant we nearly - but didn't quite - avoid the afternoon rain!
It was already 24°C when eleven of us (including two visitors) set off from the centre of Hook village, heading westward on the A30 London Road before taking Newnham Road and then a footpath through Owens Farm. A path through woodland brought us onto the A30, which we crossed and continued south on Heather Row Lane.
A bridge took us over the M3 motorway and after some more woodland, we reached the Basingstoke Canal near the small village Up Nately.
This part of the canal had not been restored and was left to nature, with trees growing out of its muddy bed. We walked along the edge of it until we reached the entrance to the Greywell Tunnel. This also is unrestored and home to a number of bat species. It has more roosting bats than any other site in Britain!
We followed the course of the tunnel through woodland. This would have been the route that the horses that pulled the barges were taken as the bargees legged the boat through the tunnel. The tunnel is over a kilometre long, so that would have been hard work.
We joined the towpath at the other end of the tunnel where the canal has been restored. There was an unusual mist over the water as we followed the canal to Odiham Castle. Here we met Greg, who had missed the start of the walk due to road closures and diversions. He had made his own way to the Castle by another route.
Now there were twelve of us looking around the ruins of the early 13th century hunting lodge and fortress built by King John. We continued on the canal towpath to the Lift Bridge at North Warnborough. Here we left the canal and followed Mill Lane as it crossed the River Whitewater through a ford. Our route more-or-less followed the Whitewater to Newlyn's Farm Shop, then a footbridge over the M3 motorway took us into Bartley Heath where we stopped for lunch.
It began to rain, so we rapidly finished our packed lunches and quickened the pace as we crossed the heath and emerged into Hook village. The rain got much heavier as we headed up Station Road, back at the car park. See our route on Google Maps.
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