Getting Outside Day Sunday 27 September 2020

The Watercress Way is too long for most walkers to attempt in one go, so the Trustees have devised 7 separate circular walks which follow part of the main 26 mile trail then loop back via other scenic footpaths and bridleways to the starting place.On Sunday 27 September 2020 in crisp autumn sunshine and amongst the first falling leaves, Kim led 8 walkers and two dogs along the section between Itchen Abbas and Martyr Worthy, looping back via Easton.Stephen was a high viz backstop!This was well timed because the Ordnance Survey’s  national Getoutside Day was scheduled and we reused the bright orange t-shirt of the 2018 and 2019 events.Despite Covid-19 we felt part of a wider community enjoying the great outdoors, even in a small ‘bubble’!Many participants had travelled for over an hour to join the walk.Our local sponsor pubs, The Plough and Chestnut Horse offered welcome coffee and lunch in the sunshine in their gardens.We walked the longest stretch of the old Watercress Line opened up for walkers and cyclists between Alresford and Kings Worthy, heard what life was like for the Victorians living in the still existing railway cottages next to the long gone Itchen Abbas Station.Paused over the Monet style bridge at Easton over the sparkling River Itchen to spot trout.Soaked up the echoes of the past in the ivy covered foundations of Lord Grey’s fishing retreat, where as Foreign Secretary he made the decision to enter into WW1.Many of the walkers aim to do all 7 walks scheduled over the next few weeks.There are spaces on some of these, do email us or check out the Facebook page.