Last year I did a YouTube video on a walk I undertook for the Ramblers as part of their #FeelMore campaign. This campaign was designed to encourage people to continue the walking following a rise in walking during the first lockdown. I was so taken with this route that I decided to walk it again and do a walk report by way of encouraging people to get out and walk more now that the restrictions are easing (slowly).
Many people have this misunderstanding that the Ramblers are a collective of elderly walkers that meet up in groups and go for rambles. Well, you could not be so far from the truth! Yes, they do organise group walks on a regular basis but it is, most certainly, not the preserve of the elderly, there are many young people and families involved with the Ramblers.
The route is from the Ramblers App which contains over 3000 walks from all over the country. This one was a leisurely 4.5 mile walk set in the beautiful South Downs National Park. As usual, for me, I was walking alone though this would a great one for families, but it does have a few ‘Kissing Gates’ so is not totally accessible,
Start: Northchapel Village Hall Car Park SU 9552 2950
Finish: Northchapel Village Hall Car Park SU 9552 2950
Distance: 4.5 miles
Ascent: 268 feet
Duration: 1hr 40min
OS Map Required: OL33 Haslemere & Petersfield
Public Transport: None available
Take the signed bridleway, behind the village hall. The bridleway heads uphill along the left-hand side of two fields before entering the wood. Enter Frith Wood and soon turn right along a footpath. Follow this path until a T junction where you turn right to a road. Turn left along the road until you reach a gate across a driveway. Go through a gate and walk along the drive of Frith Hill Lodge. At the end of the drive turn left and follow the path between two hedges turning right at the end. Follow this path keeping right at the fork and continue beside a wooden fence until you come to a gate leading to a lake.
Go through then open gate (if closed, there is a style on the right) and proceed to the lake edge. Great spot for a quick break and some photographs. Return back through the gate and keeping the new farm building on your left, proceed to the footpath on the edge of the woods. Follow this path over a style and on reaching the T junction, turn right for a 100m to a signposted footpath to the left, which has a gate, but you can go through a gap next to it.
Head southerly along the edge of fields, until joining a farm track through Mitchell Park Farm. Proceed through the yard and onto the grassed area at the top of the rise. Descend to the left-hand end of the pond and follow the footpath up some steps to the road. Across the road to the right, follow the signposted path along the edge of the field. Proceed through three fields to a fence line, turn right. By-pass the stile on the left and go a little bit further to a gap in the hedge continue downhill to the next field.
Head diagonally left up the field towards the hedge, follow the hedge to the right until you reach a stile and gate into a field. Cross the field to the next stile, or go through the gate if it is open, into a farmyard. Follow the drive of the farm until just before woods, where you cross a stile on the right.
Keep to the edge of the field and turn right after going through a gate. At a stream/ditch turn left to follow the hedge and ditch. Turn right through a gap at the end then left to enter Wet Wood. At a footpath sign in the wood turn right. At a crossroads of paths keep ahead through a field and enter a wood with lots of holly trees. Go through this and turn right on to a track, which eventually reaches the road.
So, if you want to find some new local walks then there are two brilliant ways to achieve this. Firstly, why not become a member of the Ramblers, Great Britain’s leading walking charity. Membership give you access to thousands of routes all over the Country and access to the Ramblers App with over 300 routes downloadable to your smart phone.
Secondly, sign-up for the award winning OS Map App from the Ordnance Survey. This App gives you unlimited use of all 607 OS Explorer and OS Landranger maps for the whole of Great Britain. You can plan routes on a PC or Table then view, print, or download to your phone. This App will give you access to hundreds of thousands of routes.
Hill-Walking For The Over 60's 