Weather: Sunny & very hot.
Distance: 32 km (
miles) Total Distance: miles
It was one of the hottest weeks on record, not the right
weather for walking but since this was the week the rest of the family were
going to Ireland I decided to made the most of the opportunity. I dropped the family off at Birmingham
airport for their trip to flight and then went down the motorway. I had booked
into the Ellmee guest house for two nights and was a little concerned what I
may find - being told it was next to the Happy Shopper corner shop. It was fine
- run by an elderly couple who were trying to sell up because of ill health. He
was a bit of a wag always saying at breakfast that he had just returned from a
walk from Winchester or somewhere similar.
I left the car there and caught the bus from the front
to Southampton. I was dreading this journey because of the heat but in actual
fact it was not too bad because the driver went along with his door open. At
Southampton I had a burger and milk-shake though did not very much enjoy them as I was very keen to get going. They were spreading sand on the road since it
was so hot!
I walked around the marina and then over the tall bridge
over the River Hitchen. It looked like a popular place for suicides given the
number of samaritan stickers on which someone with a perverse sense of humour
had crossed off the phone number. Woolston was a shipbuilding area and I
stopped to buy a bottle of pop because I had a headache - Happy Shopper limeade
- awful!
Then onto the coast proper for the first time that day and
a fairly straightforward walk all the way to Hamble. There was only one stage
which appeared blocked by private residences but I managed to get around below
the low water mark and a bit of scrambling.
Inland, up to Hamble was along a tree lined path parallel to the main
road. Hamble itself looked very expensive.
I stopped to recover for a while. This section was baking hot since there
was no breeze and I was sweating a great deal.
Through a wood bought me into another picturesque village of Burlesdon.
Once over the river I stopped off at a garage and bought
the last 2 litre bottle of chilled water they had. The people before me had
just grabbed the other six bottles. The proprietor looked astonished at the
sudden rush on water. He would only have had to step outside to realize why. It was one of the most refreshing drinks I had ever had!
The was a bit of a breeze on the east side of the Hamble
River where the path follows the sea embankment with some lake on the shore
side. It was beautifully quiet and peaceful along this section with a great
deal of bird-life on the lakes. The river was busy with boats returning from
Cowes week yacht races. Rounding the headland it should now have been a
straightforward walk to Lee but at Solent Breezes holiday camp the path was
blocked and I was diverted inland. Iff I had known the length of the diversion
I would have made more of an attempt to force my was through since it was
marked as a footpath on the map.
From there to Hill Head was along what was almost a
cliff. The path again signposted as closed this time because of land slips,
but plenty of people were walking it and the path had detoured slightly into
the adjoining field to get around the slips.
Once around the harbour at Hill Head the last section of
the day was a promenade walk. The beaches were still busy because of the very
hot weather. By the time I reached the B&B it was 8.30pm and I was well
tired. I showered and still did not feel hungry so being assured I would
have a cooked breakfast I went to bed.
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