Eashed one

Verified Slow Way

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I echo the general comments in the previous 2 reviews.

I walked the route from Eastleigh to Hedge End. I live in Hedge End and caught the bus to Eastleigh (Xelabus X4 or Bluestar 3- both take you to the centre of Eastleigh) and walked home.

I didn't encounter any trees blocking the route as described in the previous reviews so I presume these have now been cleared. The route is a mixture of road and field walking and the latter was wet and boggy in places. Some of the fields had livestock (sheep, horses) in them.

Near Moorgreen Farm I was approached by the farmer in a pick-up truck as he'd seen his sheep running and wanted to know what was going on. After a polite conversation it transpired someone had been letting their dog run in his fields causing the death of some of his sheep and he was trying to catch the dog owner. He was ok with me but did point out that the footpath went diagonally across the field (indistinct) whereas I'd followed an obvious track around the edge of the field. (see photo of the field)

I felt the route is safe, however Allington Lane was busy with traffic and I had to take care when walking along the verges. I found the most dangerous part of the route is where the road goes over the railway on Allington Lane, it narrows to a single track with no path for pedestrians. (see photo).

I don't feel the route is suitable for people with mobility issues. Whilst the waymark route (.gpx) is reasonably accurate I did find navigating tricky in places as the exact route isn't always obvious. I found a collapsed footpath sign near the railway bridge (see photo). The route does provide a way to walk between Hedge End and Eastleigh however I wouldn't rush to repeat it; I feel this route is means to an end rather than a pleasant relaxing walk.

My opinion pretty much mirrors John's review. Generally well plotted, Allington Lane is not especially pleasant (I walked on the awkward grass verge) and some of the ground can be squidgy and boggy.

On my walk, there were 2 trees across the path at different points close to Eastleigh (my starting point). The first one I could have walked around but someone coming the other way said they'd trampled a way through, so I felt rude ignoring that. The second one had a detour marked but it appeared quite overgrown and I decided it was less effort to just climb through the tree. See attached photos.

There are a few points along the route where it's possible to come across livestock in the fields. On my walk, there were horses in one field, but there was evidence of cows in others, so there's a chance they may be there at other times.

I wouldn't refuse to walk this route again, but it wouldn't be top of my list.

The route is accurately plotted - there is just one point (Moorgreen Farm) where the footpath markers and the official path could cause some confusion.
There is a 1 km stretch along an unpaved minor road (Allington Lane) which has recently become very busy and consequently it is not particularly pleasant to walk.
There are quite a few stretches, especially across the fields between Hedge End & Allington Lane, where it is particularly wet underfoot and quite boggy in places.
There are a few stiles & kissing gates and a large fallen tree across the path in Moorgreen Meadows, however there is very short detour to avoid this.
The train station for Hedge End is a 2.9 km walk from the centre of the village, however there is a bus service (X9) that runs from/to the station every hour during week days, less frequently on Saturdays and not at all on Sundays.

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