The Easter bank holiday weekend is a tricky one for our walking group, you never know whether to expect a big or a small turnout on a walk, as many people will be spending time with their families. We chose to lead our walk on the Saturday (30th March) rather than Easter Sunday itself, to help people do both.
Thirteen of us turned up at Odiham Wharf for a figure-of-eight walk, designed to offer a choice of either a 6½ mile walk or an 11 mile walk. This was based on walks I'd led before, but adjusted to avoid the most muddy parts of the original routes, as we've had an unusually large amount of rain so far this year.
We started by walking alongside the Basingstoke Canal, heading north-east on the towpath. After passing under Broad Oak Bridge, we left the towpath and walked along the muddy path by Wilks Water to Odiham Hunting Lodge. This 18th century folly with its elaborate façade of three gables is tucked away in the woodland of Odiham Common and is also known as King Henry's Hunting Lodge.
We had planned to walk through a woodland footpath here, but the ground was so waterlogged, we took a small diversion and followed a track to Bagwell Lane.
We followed Bagwell Lane out of the woodland and then took a footpath across farmland, back to the canal, crossing it at Sandy Hill Bridge. Back on the towpath, we continued clockwise around the Dogmersfield Loop, passing Winchfield before leaving the canal and entering Dogmersfield Park.
Here we stopped for lunch, sitting on higher ground to avoid the waterlogged footpath by Tundry Pond. When sitting on the ground in this weather, it's worth investing in a Sit-Mat (or just bringing a plastic carrier bag to sit on) so you don't get a wet bottom!
After lunch, we crossed Sprat's Hatch Farm and rejoined the canal towpath going the other way, heading back to Odiham Wharf. Although this walk is similar to one I've led several times before, the return to the wharf was via the towpath this time rather than my normal route of Dogmersfield Lake and Broad Oak as these paths were so wet and muddy as to be practically impassable.
At Odiham Wharf, we said goodbye to six of our group who just wanted to do the first loop of this figure-of-eight walk, while the remaining seven of us continued along the canal towpath, heading in the direction of the Greywell Tunnel.
Soon after passing by North Warnborough, we crossed the canal at the lifting bridge and left it for a footpath through farmland, emerging onto Deptford Lane. We followed this quiet lane as it crossed over the River Whitewater and led us into Greywell village.
We rejoined the canal towpath by the Greywell Tunnel, which is home to tens of thousands of bats of various species. We crossed the River Whitewater again, which goes under the canal near Odiham Castle. This is technically an aqueduct, but it's not that obvious so you could walk over it without even realising.
We stopped to look around Odiahm Castle (also known as King John's Castle). There was a perspex panel with the outline of how the castle would have looked in the 13th century. If you look through it at the right angle, the sketch lines up with the ruins. I took a photo through it, but didn't quite get it lined up.
Here, we left the canal and crossed the River Whitewater yet again - this time at a ford. There is also a foot bridge over it, luckily for us. Crossing through Warnborough Green and into farmland, we crossed the Whitewater for the last time, then rejoined the canal (also for the last time) and followed it back to Odiham Wharf, where the walk finished. See our route on Google Maps.
Thanks go to Emma and Rob for leading this walk.
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