Netley to Botley Walk

Netley to Botley (the main walk)

1. [1] Coming off platform 2 at Netley Railway Station cross over the footbridge, go out of the station the other side for 20 metres through the car park, then turn left on the road, signposted Royal Victoria Country Park, your direction 145°. In 120 metres the road ends at a cul de sac and you keep ahead, to the left-hand side of house number 30, past a ‘No Cycling’ sign, now on a surfaced path, soon with a steep wooded valley below to your right-hand side and light industrial units on the other side of a mesh fence to your left.
2. 200 metres down this path, turn right on a tarmac road, your direction 235°, past No. 4 Taylor Cottage on your left-hand side. In 90 metres you come to a road junction, with a notice board with a map of the Royal Victoria Park 10 metres ahead of you, slightly right. Here, turn left for 15 metres then turn right on a surfaced road, by a "Police and Residents Only" sign, your direction 165°. In 120 metres, where the road swings to the right, keep ahead passing between two wooden posts on to a surfaced path, your direction 205°, with the tower of Netley Chapel visible ahead to the south. In 70 metres, go through a wooden barrier and turn left on a tarmac road, your direction 145°. The road swings to the right and in 60 metres, take a right fork on to another road.
3. In 80 metres, enter the park proper, with the Cedar Tea Room (open May to October 9.30 to 5, November to April 9.30 to 4 ) a YMCA (which opened in 1940) and toilets on your right-hand side. Head for the chapel, due south, on a surfaced path with a miniature railway track running parallel to your path on your left. In 100 metres cross a road and keep ahead, now over grass, and in 200 metres you come to the Netley Chapel, now The Heritage Visitor Centre.
4. From the front of the chapel, head straight on down a surfaced path between lamp-posts for 140 metres to Southampton Water , your direction 235°.
5. At the pier head,[2], turn left along the shore, and in 90 metres, by the entrance to Netley Sailing Club , continue along the beach for the next two kilometres to the pier, its pipes and crane visible in the distance.
6. On the way, you will in due course see ways up into the trees that border the shore, and you can follow paths there (including ‘Hamble Valley’ and ‘Strawberry Trail’) which run parallel to and above the beach, if you so prefer.
7. On reaching the oil terminal security fencing you will need to leave the beach up stone steps to follow the concrete path next to the fence, still along the shoreline.
8. In 320 metres go down steps and so under the pier (with its oil pipelines) to continue straight on until you reach the end of the fence in 200 metres. Here you go down concrete steps to continue along the shore but [!] in 5 metres turn left through a gap on to a path through light woodland, your direction 50°. In 40 metres at a T-junction and with a footpath post on your left, turn left on to a gravel path which soon swings to the right to pass a footpath post marked "Hamble Common Circular Trail".
9. You come out into a grassy glade which you cross and in 60 metres you re-enter the light woodland on a wide path which swings to the left.
10. In 90 metres, cross over a four-plank footbridge and keep ahead, slightly left. In 60 metres, fork left at a path junction, to follow the direction of another Hamble Common trail sign. In a further 80 metres by a footpath-signed post and a rustic wooden bench, [!] turn right (where to continue would lead you in 20 metres to a rustic totem pole!), your bearing 140° Do not be tempted by the wider path, turning back on yourself on a bearing of 175°.
11. Stay with this twisty trail through woodland (houses visible to your left), and in 180 metres exit the wood by going over wooden boards (by water) on to a tarmac road. Here turn left on this road, your direction 30°. In 40 metres, and some 8 metres before you reach a Hamble Common road sign on your right, turn right into a car park, your direction 120°, to go past a barrier to follow a path into the wood.
12. In 90 metres, ignore a ‘Hamble Common’ sign to the left (pointing to the path to your right) and instead keep ahead, now on the Strawberry Trail. In a further 90 metres, keep half-left with the main path and in 25 metres go over wooden slats, to bear left, now beside the River Hamble on your right. In 100 metres, the path swings left, then right. Ignore a kissing gate to your left-hand side; keep going through the copse on a winding path.
13. In 100 metres you pass a Hamble Common sign on your right, to keep ahead. In a further 160 metres, you exit the wood by going over boards, passing a noticeboard and another Hamble Common sign on your right, keeping ahead for 30 metres where you join a gravel access road. Turn left and in another 50 metres, by a ‘No Entry’ signs for cars, turn right downhill on the road passing Oyster Cottage on your right and other Hamble Village houses, your direction 75°.
14. By the water’s edge, go left towards the white metal pier, at the end of which you can catch the distinctive pink-painted Warsash Ferry which you need to take to cross the Hamble River.
15. On the other side of the river (after a 5 minute ride), take care when walking up the damp, seaweed covered concrete jetty, as it can be slippery. At the top of the jetty, with a Ferry Shelter on your right (also painted shocking pink), turn left and follow the riverside causeway, heading north, through mudflats, ignoring all ways off, for some three kilometres. On a sunny summer's day this leg with the wide River Hamble over to your left is a delight.
16. In 3 kilometres you go through a pair of open wooden fieldgates (or if closed, take the narrow footpath to their left). You have a Donkey Sanctuary over to your right, a popular visitor attraction. In 100 metres turn left over a 5 plank footbridge with metal handrails, and turn right. In 60 metres, with the south entrance to Universal Marina on your left, turn right on a surfaced path, and in 70 metres you enter the Universal Marina and Boatyard complex. on your right is Banana Wharf , the restaurant in the Marina, an early lunch option. Follow the pedestrian signs painted on the ground through the Boatyard complex. You soon come to Mermaids at Universal Cafe which shares a building with the Marina Office, where you can take a light lunch. Go past this office on your left to drop down to a gravel path where you turn right , and in 70 metres you go through a wooden kissing gate, to keep ahead on the gravel path, your direction 50°.
17. In 160 metres you cross a wooden footbridge and keep ahead, now on a public footpath which goes down a private car-wide gravel drive, with the shoreline to your left. In 400 metres the drive joins a tarmac road at a bend in the road, and keep ahead (now on Swanwick Shore Road). In 110 metres you pass Swanwick public slipway on your left.
18. In 100 metres you come to the main road, the A27 (Bridge Road), where you turn left. In 100 metres cross the road at a busy traffic light junction to continue along the road. In 50 metres you come to Harper's Steakhouse (formerly The Navigator) pub and restaurant on your right-hand side, the suggested lunchtime stop. Directly opposite Harper's, within Premier Swanwick Marina, is The Boat House Cafe and Restaurant an alternative lunchtime stop.
19. Coming out of Harper's, turn right to continue on the main road. In 150 metres, go over a bridge over the river, and then in a further 160 metres you go under the railway bridge.
20. At this point, those ending the walk at Bursledon Railway Station, should turn left on Church Lane for 100 metres, then fork left into Station Road for another 300 metres, coming to Bursledon Railway Station on your left.
21. To continue on the main walk, turn right here, up Blundell Lane, your direction 50°.
22. In 250 metres, where the tarmac public road goes left, carry straight on through a boat repair yard which shares its entrance with Brixedone Farm. In 300 metres your way swings right then left and in a further 150 metres you go under the M27 Motorway. In 20 metres [!] fork right over a stile and turn left, back on the Strawberry Trail, your direction 50°, to keep alongside the shore on a winding path. In 60 metres go over another stile to the right of a metal fieldgate.
23. In 80 metres, with a bench on your right, pick up the footpath forking half left diagonally across the field, heading towards woods, your direction 20°. In 200 metres, bear left to come beside a channel of water on your right-hand side that joins the river, your direction 330°. In 80 metres go through a potentially muddy hedge gap, with a redundant stile on your right, to bear right and in 70 metres go over a stile on your right-hand side, to cross the channel [5].
24. At the other side, in 40 metres at the T-junction, turn right, your direction 140°, with woodland to your left and the shoreline down to your right. In 90 metres, you come to a bench at a fork.
25. [!] Here, you have a choice of routes up to Manor Farm and Country Park. Either the Direct (original book route), or the more attractive Strawberry Trail route.

26. The Direct Route

27. By the bench at the fork, turn left on a path which winds steadily uphill, through woodland, your initial direction 50°.
28. In 300 metres, at a cross paths, by a two-armed sign which points left to Barnfield WCs, with play and adventure areas over to your left, keep ahead , still uphill on a woodland path, your direction 30°. Ignore all ways off and keep ahead at all cross paths, and in a further 300 metres you come out of the wood onto a car wide track, with a car road to your left, and with a wooden fence and field on your right-hand side, your direction 30°.
29. Ignoring ways off, in one kilometre you come to a path T-junction, where you turn left to go through a wooden kissing gate to the left of a pair of wooden fieldgates, to enter Manor Farm and Country Park premises. Continue from point [2] below.

30. The Strawberry Trail Route

31. By the bench at the fork, keep ahead , and in 15 metres you pass a Strawberry Trail disc on a post on your right. (The discs are hereafter referred to as STDs in these Directions). The trail is marked by STDs on posts or bridges intermittentlty along the trail. In 90 metres you pass a bench on your left and the path gradually curves to the left.
32. In 170 metres keep to your path (now a track) as you pass a jetty and cove to your right, your direction now due north. In 70 metres you have a timber post and mesh fence on your right, with the shoreline down to your right. In 30 metres pass a bench and viewing point on your right. In 30 metres [!] turn right down steps to a cove, then go up the otherside. You pass a bench on on your left and the path swings left.
33. In 70 metres cross over a path crossing (with earthen steps left and right) to follow the direction of a STD ahead.(But if you turn right here, the cove below is an excellent bay for a swim). In 30 metres at a T-junction, turn right , initially uphill, your direction now 40°,to keep ahead, still with the fence on your right, with woodland to left and right and the shore now away down below to your right.
34. In 250 metres, at a path junction, with a tree trunk seat ahead, by a STD, turn right down earthen steps. In 80 metres cross on a four plank wooden bridge with an STD over a water inlet and go up earthen steps on the other side. At the top go through a barrier, with a STD, and keep ahead, your direction now 130°, through trees, and in 80 metres the fence rejoins on your right.
35. In 275 metres cross a ten plank wooden bridge. Immediately you have a path junction on your right.
36. [!]You now have a choice : more shoreline (the Cove route) or up through woods (the Woodland route).
37. Woodland Route : This route through Dock Copse ignores the junction and keeps ahead on a clear path which winds gently uphill, deep into Woodland, away from the shoreline, your initial direction 40° In 300 metres the path swings down to the right and in 70 metres you bear left down earthen steps to cross planks over a stream.
38. Cove Route : At the path junction, turn right onto a narrow winding path through woodland, with the shoreline now nearby on your right. In 150 metres you come to a cove on your right. Keep ahead, with the estuary on your right. In 250 metres ignore a steep descent ahead, bear left then right , to go uphill on a winding, minor path. In 70 metres you come to a path T-junction where you turn right to drop down to go down the earthen steps and cross the planks over the stream to join the Woodland Route .
39. Both Woodland and Cove routes continue :On the other side of the planks follow the direction of a STD on a post on your left, bearing left, uphill, and in 125 metres you exit the woods. Now keep ahead, gently uphill, along the left-hand edge of an open field, with a hedgerow to your left. You soon have a fine view of the River Hamble some 450 metres away and below to your right. In 180 metres at a track junction, and with a two-armed footpath post ahead, turn left through gate posts onto a wide earth track between fields. In 300 metres you go through the wooden kissing gate to the left of the pair of wooden fieldgates, to join the Main Route at point [2] .

40. [2] Both routes continue

41. Continues ahead, slightly left, downhill, through the farm (ignoring the right fork with the large Manor Park sign), marked ‘No Unauthorised Vehicles’, past a post ringed blue and yellow and passing to the right of a metal fieldgate, your directions 25°, with buildings to your right-hand side. Soon you pass the fieldgate to the Manor Farm and Café entrance on your right-hand side, and then the wheelwrights on your left-hand side, and soon a pond on your right-hand side; to emerge through a wooden gate onto an earth road [6], with St Bartholomew’s Church, the old Botley Parish Church, to your right-hand side. You go left on this road, your direction 15°.
42. In 60 metres, you come to a T-junction with the tarmac road, where you go left, your direction 300°. In 120 metres, just 30 metres past the Old Rectory on your right-hand side, go right through a wooden kissing gate to the right of a metal fieldgate, on a signposted footpath, your direction 30°, along the right-hand edge of a field with a ditch and tree line to your right. You soon pass a small barn on your left.
43. In 330 metres, ignore a concealed and overgrown metal kissing gate to your right-hand side. In a further 90 metres, at a T-junction, turn half-right at the end of the hedge onto a broad grassy way across fields, your direction 60°.
44. In 150 metres, where the main way swings to the left to the farmhouse, you keep ahead, now on a narrower path between fences, and in 90 metres go through an old metal kissing gate and 25 metres down onto a tarmac road. You turn right for 30 metres, and then left through a metal kissing gate, your direction 35°, on a footpath known as Lovers Lane.
45. In 40 metres, you cross water on a concrete bridge with wooden slats and metal railings to go up the other side, in a further 100 metres to a road, where you turn right, eastwards.
46. In 25 metres, turn left by the ‘No Entry’ sign, to go northwards, on Church Lane, into the centre of the town of Botley, coming to the main road (The High Street) in 200 metres.
47. You have 3 pubs and a tea room in the centre of the town. Directly opposite Church Lane is Winchester Street and a short distance down it on your right is the Brewery Bar pub. Turning left on the High Street you have the Dolphin pub on your left and, directly opposite, the Bugle Inn . Some 100 metres turning left down the High Street you come to Elsie's Traditional Tea Room .
48. Returning to your point of entry to the town, turn right on the main road to go (via the crossroads) up the A334, your direction 105° for 820 metres, over the stream and past Botley Mills Craft and Business Centre on your left-hand side, to Botley Railway Station, ignoring the A3051 right turn. Just before the station you have the Londis convenience store within the BP garage, and opposite the station is the Railway Inn, your suggested late tea stop.
49. The near platform is for Winchester, Basingstoke and London, although the opposite platform can get you to London via Fareham or Fratton.

Botley to Netley (the walk in reverse, with optional extension to Sholing)