13th March - Winchester to Romsey - 15 miles

Sally returned to Arundel this morning - after 4 days of walking, the train journey from Winchester to Arundel was going to take just an hour and 20 mins!!!
From the station I walked through the site of the old castle
 to visit the Military Museums housed at the Peninsula Barracks. 
At the Royal Green Jackets museum there is an impressive model of the battlefield of Waterloo covering the 2 and a half square miles where the battle raged over 3 days between almost 200,000 men and 60,000 horses. Unimaginable!!
Then back to sanity and a long muddy climb out of Winchester to the South West along the Clarendon Way.

Almost at Yew Hill, I met Carol with 4 year olds, Mitzi and Bear. 
Carol had lived in Belsize Park and knew Fairhazel Gardens before moving to Winchester. 
We exchanged reading suggestions. Carol has been enjoying reading Chris Lewis' walk around the UK raising funds for the SSAFA. I mentioned my favourite 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage...' 
Carol explained that Mitzi is also planning a long walk soon when she joins Carol's son for a week long walk in the Lake District in a few months time.

Yew Hill
Some trees had blown down in the storm overnight - these took some careful negotiating on the muddy path.
before joining the Monarch's Way for a walk across the fields and passing the church to the pretty village of Hursley.
for a sandwich and a tempting quencher from
 the local brewer in Romsey
at The Dolphin.
 Then out of Hursley for some enjoyable walking through Ampfield Wood
before arriving at the entrance to Harold Hillier Botanical Gardens. The Camelia flowers blown down overnight were beautiful
Romsey is surrounded by ...a lot...of housing estates and though today had been a long walk, the last few miles into Romsey passing inumerable signs for Taylor Woodrow seemed the longest. 

After a long day, it was lovely to meet up for supper with TT and Jerry who'd driven down from Salisbury.

 ..and another opportunity to sample the local brew! 
We had a really good evening.





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