Itchen for a walk!
You will be itching to try these walks along one of Hampshire’s world renowned chalk streams, The River Itchen. Flowing from Alresford via Winchester, it runs across watercress beds, over mills, through country parks, nature reserves and water meadows towards its mouth at Southampton Water. The long distance path, The Itchen Way follows its course and features heavily in this selection of shorter walks.
Passing within a hair’s breadth of the source of the river, the highlights of this 5km walk also include The National Trust’s Hinton Ampner, Raine’s Vineyard and the site of the Battle of Cheriton.
Starting in the same village, this 7km walk heads out in the opposite direction towards the summertime café and campsite at Holden Farm. Children will enjoy passing the park on the way.
This walk takes less than 45 minutes in theory, but will likely take much more if you want to enjoy paddling in the ford and the riverside pub, The Bush.
Just downstream, you can enjoy this 4.3 km walk around Avington Park. Look out for the pigs and cows and don’t miss the swing hanging from an old oak tree.
This 5km walk has it all, including two pubs, a park and multiple crossings over the River Itchen. It is a must do on a summer’s day.
As the Itchen makes its way towards the city of Winchester, it flows through this wetland nature reserve. Follow the pretty board walks to see what wildlife is thriving and then stop off at the park for a play and picnic.
One of the reasons that Winchester is such an attractive city is that the river and its water meadows lie right next to the busy centre. You can enjoy them on this 7.6km walk as well as some of the city’s best historic sites including the cathedral, Wolvesey Castle, Hospital of St.Cross, Winchester College and Hockley Viaduct.
South of Winchester the river splits into the natural river course and a once navigable channel, The Itchen Navigation. One remnant of the water course’s past is the old Compton Lock where the man made basin provides the perfect swimming pool. It can be enjoyed on this 2.8 km stroll.
Slightly further along the navigation is this 5 km circular walk known as The Otter Trail. It has many highlights including a small picnic park, a miniature steam railway, a garden centre café and woodland.
With no obvious way to circle back, our walk along this section of the navigation is a 5.5 km linear there and back one. There are places for dogs and humans to jump in the river and a little park at the turning point.
Many families are probably so busy enjoying the fantastic woodland play areas at this country park, that they may not even realise the river runs right through it and there are meadows beside it that you can walk through. Go explore!
And so, the river comes to and end at Riverside Park. The northern section of the park has walkways beside the freshwater river and then around halfway through the park, the river mixes with saltwater to form the estuary with Southampton Water. There are a few different play areas, a bike track and skate park to enjoy.