Petersfield to Rowlands Castle (20 miles linear) W2PS7

Join me for a linear hike from Petersfield to Rowlands Castle - a long day with rewarding views of picturesque Hampshire villages, a curiously remote church and the mighty South Downs.

From Petersfield we head out west, sneaking up on East Meon from above.  We descend into the pretty village and then make our way back south east through rolling farmland before climbing up onto Butser Hill, the highest point on the chalk ridge of the South Downs.  At 270m we'll get great views back over this morning's trails.

We descend Butser Hill through the Queen Elizabeth Country Park to pass under the A3, before picking up the Staunton Way heading south.  We soon stroll into Chalton where, time permitting, we might inspect the inside of the Red Lion Pub.

We continue following the Staunton Way south, along a broad ridge before dropping down and crossing the railway line to visit the remote St Hubert's Church in Idsworth (http://bitaboutbritain.com/st-huberts-idsworth/) .

From here we're on the final stretch, continuing south to Rowland's Castle, skirting Stanstead Forest.

Note that it's likely to be a late finish of 6:30pm / 7pm due to the long distance covered.

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Note that we will need to set a good pace (2.5 miles / hr) over a long day to finish at a decent time, so keep that in mind when signing up.  

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What's the W2P S7 mean in the title? It stands for Waterloo to Portsmouth Stage 7 - This year I decided to lead a series of 8 linear walks which will take us all the way from London Waterloo to Portsmouth (W2P).  This is the 7th walk of the series.  If you haven't done any of the previous stages - or can't do any future ones (i.e. the last one!)  - please still free to join.  Each walk on its own should still be a great day out.

Proposed remaining legs / dates (not set in stone yet but likely dates at this stage.)

• Stage 8 : Rowlands Castle -> Portsmouth Harbour - 17th August (not yet posted)

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Photo attributions in order of appearance

• Heading Down Butser Hill. © David Zerk
• Downland above Coombe, East Meon
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Andrew Smith - geograph.org.uk/p/1593165
• River Meon beside the High Street, East Meon 
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Peter Facey - geograph.org.uk/p/2509908
• All Saints' Church, East Meon
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Martin - geograph.org.uk/p/5805270
• South Downs Way going up Butser Hill
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Trevor Harris - geograph.org.uk/p/3643122
• Red Lion
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © N Chadwick - geograph.org.uk/p/2686107
• The Staunton Way on Chalton Down
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Shazz - geograph.org.uk/p/1923513
• St Hubert's Chapel, Idsworth (2)
  cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Barry Shimmon - geograph.org.uk/p/4056240
• The Castle Inn. Rowlands Castle © David Zerk