Book 2, walk 11 - Petersfield to Liss or Alton Length: 16.2 km (10.1 miles) or 23.9km (14.8 miles)
Toughness: 5 out of 10
9.30 train from
Waterloo to Petersfield, arriving 10.31
(From Clapham Junction you can take the 9.27 to Woking, arriving 9.45, to catch the above train at 9.55) Buy a
day return to Petersfield.
For
walk directions (main walk to Liss) click
here.
For the extension, see below.
I thought it would be nice to do this fine Hampshire outing before winter mud makes it too slithery. The morning is a tour-de-force, taking you out of Petersfield and up a stunningly steep path onto Shoulder of Mutton Hill (there is a gentler way up also), with correspondingly fine views from the top. You then descend into lovely hilly/wooded territory. Lunch is in the Hawkley Inn, which serves food till 2.30pm.
After lunch the 16.2km (10.1 mile) version of the walk is to simply stick with the book two route to
Liss, from where trains go back at
02 past the hour, with one mysterious extra train at
17.48.
If you just miss an 02 past train it is theoretically possible to take the 06 in the other direction, changing to the opposite platform at Petersfield for a fast train to London.
Or do the extension to Alton: see below
EXTENSION TO ALTON
This is a long walk (23.9km/14.8 miles) but may tempt the more red-blooded among you looking to make the most of the daylight before the short days come.
It makes use of directions found in
this document, which link the Walk 11 route with
Selborne, the lunch stop on
Book 2, walk 10, Alton Circular, essentially keeping along the Hangar's Way after lunch in Hawkley - a very pretty route, taking in Noar Hill and some lovely countryside.
It is
6.4 km (4 miles) from Hawkley to Selborne and once upon a time you could catch a bus there back to Petersfield. But alas, this bus no longer runs on Saturdays, so you have to continue on foot another 6 miles or so to Alton. It is thus
10 miles from Hawkley to Alton if you do this option
To get from Selborne to Alton either follow the book 2 walk 10 route in
this document from paragraph 61 (turning
left off the road just
before the Selborne Arms, since you are coming from the opposite direction), or - nicer but requiring a map or the ability to read walk directions backwards - reverse the morning route of that walk, which also follows the Hangar's Way.
Tea options en route are plentiful and include the pleasant
Selborne Arms (though not the Queen's Arms, which is now closed), the tea room in the nearby
Gilbert White Museum (which can be visited without paying the entrance fee, if you ask nicely), and possibly the
Coffee Room cafe between the two (if it is still there). If you follow the afternoon route of the Alton walk, the
Rose and Crown in Upper Farringdon is also a tea/drink option along with the
Greyfriar Inn in Chawton. And incidentally if light is fading you can do the whole rest of the walk from the Greyfriar in the dark as it is all on residential or town centre roads.
Note that if you do this option, you will have to buy an
extra single train ticket from Alton to Woking, which is
£6.80 with a Network Card. Trains leave Alton at
15 and
44 past.