Vole Explosion

Friday 8^th March 2024

WARSASH TO HARDLEY

   After camping for five nights it felt luxurious to sleep in an actual bed and not have to walk across a field to have a shower. The guesthouse is lovely – nice and quiet, very clean, and not far from the trains, buses and city centre.

   I arrive back in Warsash for the third time, determined to have a ride on the bright pink ferry – third time lucky. This time there are a couple of sight-seers waiting at the pink shelter when I arrive. They have never caught the ferry before and so far there has been no sign of it again. I’m really starting to dislike that little pink bastard.

   One of the couple tries phoning the water taxi and finds that, despite the signs and website saying the ferry resumes operations in March, it doesn’t say when in March. Apparently it doesn’t start until next week, but the river taxi will take us across for the same price (a bargain at £2.50 each).

   Within a few minutes he has arrived and less than five minutes later we are on the other side of the River Hamble in the village of Hamble-le-Rice (which is French for Hamble-the-Rice… probably). The pink ferry is moored inactively on the jetty.

   Hamble-le-Rice is tiny but beautiful, with a variety of pubs, cafés and shops. It has a vague feel of a Cornish fishing village, and I definitely feel like the West Country is getting closer now.

   I wish I could stay longer but, after making no progress yesterday, I have quite a long day today. I notice that there’s a decent bus service between here and Southampton, so I didn’t really have to cross the river at all, but I enjoy getting those little foot ferries (at least when they turn up).

   I avoid temptation by leaving before the pubs open and skirt around a marina through the wooded (and very muddy) Hamble Common, eventually coming out onto the waterfront of Southampton Water, where an old Bofors anti-aircraft gun stands on the site of a WWII gun emplacement.

   Once past a fuel depot the path becomes very pleasant – sometimes on shingle, sometimes on an undulating track through woods – until I reach Royal Victoria Country Park, where families are out enjoying the sunshine.

   This is the site of Royal Victoria Military Hospital – built in the 1850s to treat casualties from various conflicts, including both world wars, and as a centre for medical research and training. The original building covered a vast area, but was mostly demolished in 1966. All that remains today is the tower and chapel, which contains a small museum. I have a quick look around and then I’m off again.

   I pass Netley Castle, a private building partially hidden in the trees, and walk through Netley village, before coming out onto a nice paved path along the shore, where I treat myself to an ice cream.

   Eventually I turn right alongside the River Itchen where it meets Southampton Water, and I’m immediately in the industrialised suburbs of Southampton. There is a lot of construction work going on here, and the neighbourhood of terraced houses is being gentrified into waterfront apartments.

   It doesn’t take long until I reach the road bridge over the River Itchen. The high vantage point of the bridge gives good, if not particularly attractive, views from both sides, including the stadium of Southampton Football Club.

   It takes a good ten minutes to cross the bridge and then I walk through the city towards the ferry quay.

   Like Portsmouth, Southampton is also a big maritime city. It is one of the main British ports for cruise ships, and it was from here that the Titanic set sail.

   I could call it a day here as I’m not far from my guesthouse, but it’s still early enough to cross over Southampton Water on the ferry to Hythe.

   Once on the other side, the ferry docks at the end of Hythe Pier, which is 640m (2100 feet) long, with a narrow gauge electric train to carry passengers along its length. As we’re still technically over water, the pier doesn’t count as coast walking so I allow myself the luxury of taking the train. By ‘luxury’ I mean ‘absolutely no luxury’, but it’s quite good fun to ride in the tiny, antique carriages as we rattle along the boardwalk. Built in 1922, this is the oldest continuously operating public pier train in the world.

   Once in Hythe, I have a beer in a pub garden and shakily film the train retreating back along the pier to the next ferry.

   I continue walking through Hythe and then out into the countryside. It is much more peaceful on this side compared to the urban setting of Southampton. On the shore of Southampton Water again, I can clearly see where I walked earlier today, with views of Netley Castle and the tower of the Royal Victoria hospital across the water.

   The trail crosses a railway from the nearby oil refinery and the crossing point lays in a small flooded area of low-lying land. I walk through just as an oncoming car drenches me in an extravagant arc of stagnant puddle water. Dying slightly inside, I walk on impassively as if nothing has happened, not wanting to give the driver the satisfaction of seeing an angrily gesticulating hiker retreating in his or her rear-view mirror. In truth, I can’t even be angry with them as I only have myself to blame. I’m normally hyper-vigilant of this kind of pedestrian-puddle-oncoming vehicle scenario and I really should have been paying more attention. Well played, anonymous motorist, well played. You win this round.

   I stop off at another couple of pubs, one of which has a sign saying “Physical or Verbal Abuse of our Staff will not be Tolerated”. The only member of staff I see is a big, gruff, tattooed, slightly intimidating landlord, so I decide to save my physical and verbal abuse for another occasion.

   I reach the last pub, on a main road, just as it’s getting dark. There is a bus stop nearby where I can catch a bus back into Southampton.

10.8 miles;  17.3km;  8.25 hours

Rivendell Guesthouse, Southampton (£43)