On the last day of May 2021, Commando decided to take me to see part of his Sunday Runday route. He said it was such a nice day and the route along the River Hamble was so pretty he thought I’d enjoy it. Obviously, he didn’t have to ask me twice.
We parked the car in the Bursledon Railway Station car park, walked down a quiet, winding lane and came out onto the road close to the Swanwick Bridge. At this point I was beginning to worry that this walk was going to be a repeat of my walk along the Hamble back in November 2014. Then I’d ended up lost and accidentally trespassed on someone’s private drive. Thankfully, Commando crossed to the other side of the road. After a short walk along another quiet lane, the river finally came into view. Sadly the view was slightly spoilt by the railway bridge. Then we reached a boatyard and I wondered if it was going to be a repeat of my 2014 walk after all.
In fact, it felt as if we were trespassing as we walked through the boatyard and, interesting as all the boats were, I was afraid to stop and take photos in case someone challenged us. It wasn’t until we were well away from the boats that I felt confident enough to get my phone out of my pocket to take a picture of an interesting looking houseboat. Then we had to walk under the motorway. So far, it hadn’t exactly been the pretty riverside stroll I’d been expecting.
Once we had the motorway behind us, things took a turn for the better, even if we could still hear the rumble of cars. The trail took us across a grassy field, bright with golden buttercups. The sky overhead was blue and clear, the sun was warm on our faces and, to our right, the river was blue and inviting, had we dared wade across the mud to reach it.
We were now on the edge of Manor Farm Country Park and heading up Hoe Moor Creek. During World War II, this stretch of the river was home to the Royal Marine Landing Craft Crew Training Base, HMS Cricket. Commissioned in July 1943, the base was used to assemble troops and landing craft in the build up to D-Day. For obvious reasons, from May 1944, the area was completely sealed off.
I might have found this fact interesting had I known it at the time. My maternal grandmother’s second husband, Denis Shiels, was a Royal Marine, although he was involved in the First World War, not the second. As it was, I had no idea that this dry, meandering stream was called Hoe Moor Creek, or what its history was.
On the other side of the creek we stumbled upon an inviting looking bench. As we walked towards it I noticed that it had a name inscribed. In the dappled shade I couldn’t quite make it out. I blinked once or twice and tried to focus my eyes. As I’d never set foot on this spot before, it came as a bit of a shock to realise it was my name! Was Commando was playing some kind of elaborate joke?
A few more steps and I realised the bench was not a joke, it was a case of mistaken identity. Laughing, we carried on along the creek. At extremely low tide, I’d heard it was possible to see the remains of Henry V’s warship Grace Dieu along this stretch of the river. There is supposed to be a yellow hazard marker marking the wreck. We did see some curious wooden posts sticking out of the water that might have been the wreck of something, but we didn’t see the marker, or the famous ship.
We left the river behind for a while and took a trail through the trees. Sadly, this was where our luck ran out. There hadn’t been a single soul about so far on our walk, but as soon as we reached the shade of the trees there were people everywhere, mainly families with young children. Things began to get very noisy and crowded. We kept walking for a while, hoping that the hordes would thin out. After about half a mile, we conceded defeat and turned back.
When we reached the bench I’d thought was mine, we stopped to rest and contemplate the creek. The bench might not have really had my name on it and we might not have got quite the walk we’d hoped for, but we’d both enjoyed strolling along the banks of the Hamble in the spring sunshine.