• 3.8 miles

Today’s walk was only a short section of the route as it was my birthday which meant a later start and fitting in a lunch out. The next logical section (Ovington to Cheesefoot Head) would have taken us too long so instead we opted for a cicular route, planned as a figure of eight, but private roads made it more circular and a lot more road than hoped.

The walk took us along through Ovington past the quaint thatched cottages to a short stop at St Peter’s Church - which helpfully had a portaloo just outside. We continued along the road overlooking the fields where we saw a pair of Roe Deer skipping joyfully across the crops. After the fields we passed through a wooded section at the top of the hill, seeing an unidentified bird of prey circling and hovering through a clearing and then headed out of the woods to cross the A31 to rejoin the footpath the other side. Fortunately the road didn’t prove to be too busy and crossing was easy.

Along beside two more fields led us to the town of Tichborne, another town with pretty thatched cottages with perfectly trimmed hedges and Wisteria growing up their walls. This was where todays walk departed from the Allan King Way and we attempted to circle back. When planning the route initially I’d failed to distinguish between a path (which turned out to be private) and a public footpath. So after walking past where I’d expected the path to be, passing Raimes Sparkling Wines which was also disappointingly closed today, we ended up back tracking and walking along the road back round Tichborne.

We conveniently found a bench to gather round for a coffee stop and Laura surprised me with a birthday cake and candle that she’d secretly been carrying - so we had a lovely birthday cake and coffee stop then followed the road along until we reached a path through the fields back up to the A31.

The A31 at this point was much busier but we crossed safely and were pleased to see the wildflower verges there on both sides and on the roundabout. We then rejoined the St Swithun’s Way and Watercress Path along the road into Ovington - a road we’d driven along a couple of times in the two days, but hadn’t appreciated the beauty of the stunning foliage above and the water either side with wild watercress growing in it.

• 6.8 miles

Inspired by the Wildmans’ Wildmen on the borders, we were encouraged to start a walking project of our own. The Allan King Way is a 45 mile path from Portchester to Winchester. As we live in Portchester and I work near Winchester it seemed an appropriate walk to set out on, although we decided we wanted to walk towards home, so made Winchester our start point.

I dropped Laura and Abi off in Winchester by St Alfred’s statue to find the start of the walk and headed off to park my car and meet my parents at the end of the days route. We then headed back and met them by the tunnel under the A34 by Kings Worthy - hence I can only claim that as my start point!

From there we headed along past St Mary’s church in Kings Worthy and along by the pretty thatched cottages towards the A33 and over into the countryside. The path went along the edge of a copse with trees in a fantastic variety of colours from lime green to a rusty red before heading down to our first stretch along the side of the Itchen. Even on this short first stretch we see so many routes coinciding for a while and then going their own way.

We found a nice tree to sit under for our lunch which was a bit chilly as the wind caught us but still a lovely lunch break and we were ready for it! As predicted though, a short way on afterwards we came across a fantastic area with full sun and a bench which would have been a much better lunch stop, but instead made a spot for tree climbing and exploring along the waters edge.

We then made it along to St John the Baptist church at Avington where we discovered they had a stamp to collect as one of the churches on the Pilgrims Way so started a collection. Then after a stretch along by Avington hall and golf course, we found ourselves entering a field where the sky was full of Swifts and Swallows. We were mesmerised watching them soaring around above us and sometimes so close to our heads that we could hear the air being pushed away as they flew past.

We then headed across to Itchen Stoke and back down to the Itchen for a beautiful last stretch for the day along the river, ending at the Bush Inn, Ovington just in time for a drink even though they were just closing.

• 7 locks
• 8.6 miles

Laura and I woke up with the dawn chorus and decided to go out first thing for an exploratory walk. We headed up over the tunnel mouth where we found an air vent tower, a field with rabbits and a group of bee hives. It was lovely being the only ones about, with just the wildlife awake with us. Later the morning started properly with the only rain we had the whole week away, so we waited for it to pass before walking back into Stoke Bruerne to visit the Canal Museum.

There was a lot to see in the Canal museum and it’s well worth a visit. It’s fascinating to see how the Blisworth tunnel had been constructed and how before the days of motor powered boats the leggers would have walked the boat along from the legging boards off the sides of the boat, pushing against the tunnel walls with their feet.

After a lovely morning at Stoke Bruerne, we started our journey down the lock flight to continue our journey south. The locks at Stoke Bruerne were different to the others we’d seen as they were overflowing with water over the tops of the gates - later I found out this was because these ones don’t have a mechanism to redirect the overflow around the locks.

Soon after the last lock we found ourselves a spot to stop for lunch before continuing on our journey. Along the way we saw quite a bit of wild life, including a sheep drinking from the side of the canal whilst her lambs were trying to get their milk from her and a fantastic Red Kite hovering above the fields to the side of the canal. We stopped for the night at Cosgrove, and went for a walk along the canal to the Iron Trunk aqueduct where the Grand Union canal crosses the Great Ouse River. Over the years there have been different ways of handling this crossing - this is the second attempt at an Aqueduct - built in 1811 and has lasted well unlike the previous one. In between and before they aqueducts, the approach was to have locks down to the river so the canal could meet it and then locks up again the other side - leaving a watery cross roads of a still canal and a fast flowing river in the middle which the towing horses would have had to cross. Below the aqueduct along the side of the River is the Ouse Valley Park which was a beautiful place for a riverside walk and looks like we only scratched the surface of what there is there to explore.

• No locks
• 10.1 miles

This day got off to a slow start as the engine wouldn’t start, although after phoning Calcutt Boats, Dad managed to get it going, so we arranged to meet the engineer at bridge 29, getting water on the way. Filling up the boat took so long with the water - they have huge tanks and the water seemed to take forever to fill so in the end the engineer met us at the next bridge after the water instead. The problem with the engine was the starter motor and the engineer had to go back and collect the part, so we were stuck in Weedon for most of the morning, but were able to have a nice walk along the towpath there.

Even with the delayed start to the day, we managed to cover quite a distance as there were no locks and made it all the way through the Blisworth tunnel to Stoke Bruerne.

• 13 locks
• 8 miles

• 1 lock
• 6 miles

We headed to Napton to meet my parents and collect the boat - on the way we saw a blackboard advertising a cider sale at the Napton Cidery as they were clearing out their stock ready for their new lines. We got to Calcutt Boats at just the right time and Wild Burdock was ready for us to load up. We unloaded the cars into the boats, got kitted out with life jackets and then had our introduction to the boat and how things worked on it.

We then were able to start to set off, still under instruction for the first lock at Calcutt taking us south down towards Napton junction. The instructors stayed with us for a little way, showed us how to do an emergency stop and then jumped off to let us get on our way.

On the first evening we headed along the Oxford canal to Braunston for our first nights stop. We started trying to find somewhere to stop before we got to Baunston junction and went on ahead on foot to scout out a mooring site. The cast iron bridges at the Braunston junction make for a spectacular entry into Braunston. We ended up mooring just past the Marina entrance which was the site of the original canal junction.

As I hadn’t adapted to Central time and still waking up close to UK time I headed out early and drove down to Galveston Island to try and see the local brown pelicans. In Galveston, they get both the brown pelicans, and the invasive white pelicans which have tried to take over.

There is a vast length of beach along the island, and it was so peaceful in the early morning, with just the birds (and the bird watchers) about! I first stopped at a beach side car park and saw the Laughing Gulls and the Willets. Then on the way back along I stopped at Galveston Fishing Pier to see what more I could see if I was a bit further out into the sea. There I was treated to a group of Pelicans flying across in front of me at the end of the pier.

After this I headed back up towards Houston to get to the Space Center just as it opened. On the way across the bridge back to the mainland from Galveston there were two flocks of Pelicans that flew really low across the road - so close, it felt like I was being dive bombed by them!

This Saturday we had a lovely walk along the coast at Selsey Bill with my parents. We started off heading North up towards Pagham Harbour but made it about half way there and then headed back down to the Lifeboat Inn for lunch. After lunch we headed South round the Bill. It was striking particularly on the way back how different the sea was from the calm sheltered side to the end of the point.

Here are a few of the bees that have visited our garden so far this weekend:

Bee from rickymoorhouse on Vimeo.