A Test Valley Sally

Walk Event icon - Jewel Created with Sketch.
Lowland and Hill Walks
Jul 15
2023

22 people attending

3 places left

Your price
£12.50
Event difficulty background shape EventDifficulty
Easy Moderate Very Hard
19 km (12 miles); 6 hours

Starting from and returning to the attractive market town of Romsey, we'll walk along some of the Test Way and follow footpaths and quiet lanes through a gentle and cosy landscape of fields, villages, water meadows, woodlands and genteel suburbs. We'll also have time to look around Romsey, including its magnificent Norman abbey. All this is just an hour and a half from London Waterloo. 

The River Test is one of the country's finest chalk streams, famous for its trout fishing. Much of the river can be experienced along the Test Way, a 44 mile long-distance trail that runs from the river's source, high on the chalk downs at Ashe, to Eling where its tidal waters flow into Southampton Water.

The clear waters of the little streams, or bournes, are ideal for watercress growers and the numerous water meadows and tidal marshes are thick with wildlife. Many wild birds can be spotted along the Test such as kingfishers, marsh harriers and little grebes.

Romsey is a pleasant and prosperous market town in which medieval, tudor, Georgian and Victorian buildings cluster around a square. King John's House, which is a museum, is 750 years old, and for Simon Jenkins in England's Thousand Best Churches, Romsey Abbey is one of the two finest churches in Hampshire. The exterior is dull but the interior is impressive: 'one of England's grandest Norman churches', which possesses 'phenomenal variety' and 'a rich gallery of art of all ages'. Don't miss the wizened hand of a medieval abbess emerging from her coffin.

Dogs are welcome to join us on this event but we do ask the following:
Please appreciate the fact that not everyone is a dog owner or lover- especially when we stop to eat
Please ensure you adhere to the Countryside Code at all times - see (Keeping Dogs Under Effective Control)
If your dog is uncontrolled and strays in open land frightening other animals or livestock, the leader is supported by the OutdoorLads board of trustees to ask you to leave the event as this is not acceptable behaviour.

IMPORTANT! - Participation Statement

You MUST complete a Participation Statementin addition to booking your event space before attending an OutdoorLads event. You only need to complete this Participation Statement once, not for each event you attend.