Tag: Winchester

Winchester and the long walk home – first published 26 April 2013

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At any given point in a long walk there is an internal battle against the voice inside my head telling me I must be mad and to turn for home immediately and check myself into a clinic to get help for my obvious mental health issues. Mostly I ignore it and keep walking but, when the walk in question is twenty-six or more miles, the voices get very loud. From the outset Winchester had been the aim of all these walks, the holy grail that I’d been walking towards for months. It was within touching distance but the voice in my head told me it might be a step too far. Did I listen? Continue reading Winchester and the long walk home – first published 26 April 2013

Moonwalk training, Winchester at last – first published 12 April 2013

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There’s something about the halfway point in a long walk that always makes me smile. After that I know there are more miles behind me than in front and I’m homeward bound. At the same time, these are some of the most difficult miles. Tiredness begins to set in, muscles begin to ache. This is when the mind is more important than the body and the little things to make me smile are the things that keep me going. Continue reading Moonwalk training, Winchester at last – first published 12 April 2013

Plague pits, locked gates and dredgers

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13 July 2015

Pretty soon we were back to where we would have been without the castle detour, looking over Blackbridge at the wharf that is the start of the Itchen Navigation. The river still looked very low to me and it wasn’t long before we found out why. I’d been hoping to take CJ over the 1760’s built Wharf Bridge, the oldest bridge on the waterway, and onto the Navigation path as far as Tunbridge. When we walked onto Domum Road the gate to the bridge was barred and a sign told us the river was being dredged. I couldn’t help thinking that dredging equipment was going to make a real mess of an already uneven and at times precarious path. Continue reading Plague pits, locked gates and dredgers

Winchester, weirs and castles

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13 July 2015

On a bit of  a whim I decided to get a train to Winchester on Monday morning. It wasn’t the best of weather but CJ said he’d like to come along too, especially when I said I’d be heading for Plague Pits Valley near St Catherine’s Hill. Maybe if he’d known how much walking was involved he’d have been less eager but I kept that little detail to myself. We were lucky and caught the fast train. Apart from a teeny bit of getting lost when we first left the station, we were soon walking down the High Street in search of a coffee to keep us going for the walk. Continue reading Winchester, weirs and castles

An old walk, a new footpath, an almshouse and a cathedral

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10 March 2015

When I was training for the first Moonwalk my route was always the same except I added a mile each week. Usually I prefer a circular route but the need to add that mile made it impractical so I’d walk in the general direction of Winchester, add half a mile then turn round and walk back. For months and months I went out in all weathers and the only real variation, except when I got lost, was the last half mile of each walk. Oh, how I looked forward to that half mile of new ground and the excitement of finding something different to look at.

Continue reading An old walk, a new footpath, an almshouse and a cathedral

Unfinished business in Winchester, The Hockley Viaduct

The River Itchen
The River Itchen

10 March 2015

On Tuesday morning with no idea where to go I sat staring at the map looking for inspiration. This would be the first walk of my week off and, as far as the weather forecast was concerned, the best day to be outside. Lots of places looked interesting and I was toying with the idea of taking the Red Jet to the Isle of Wight until I realised I didn’t have a clue what to do once I got there. In the end the best I could come up with was a return to Winchester to take care of some unfinished business. Continue reading Unfinished business in Winchester, The Hockley Viaduct

Winchester, an exercise in not getting lost

Right, which way now?
Right, which way now?

3 March 2015

It started with a bus. The bus was late due to the roadworks on the bridge. It crawled along but it got me there in the end. Then there was a train. The train was delayed due to signalling problems at Woking. It arrived at the wrong platform, necessitating a mad dash up the stairs and down the stairs but I got there in the end. Good job I’m intimately acquainted with Southampton Central station so I knew where to go. I’m pretty sure a few people missed it. At least I’d had time to grab a coffee from the station cafe beforehand. Continue reading Winchester, an exercise in not getting lost