Micnew one

Slow Way not verified yet. Verify Micnew here.

I walked this route from Micheldever on a clear spring day and in general it was a good route with plenty of lovely footpaths and scenery. It is rather long because of swinging so far east before turning south, presumably because of the lack of suitable footpaths, and needing to cross the M3. There are a few problems with the marked route, however, in the northern half, as mentioned by the previous reviewer.
First there are a couple of sections on fairly busy minor roads, where there is no verge so you have to watch for traffic. Fortunately there are good sight lines and so it never felt too unsafe. The first is the mile coming out of Micheldever station; the second is on the Basingstoke Road between Totford and The Grange (at the middle of the route).
Secondly, and more seriously, there are two points where the route enters private land marked as no right of way. The first is at the turn off the road after the first mile from Micheldever, at Larkwhistle Farm. Fortunately there is a better alternative, by continuing along the road to take the next turn into Blackwood Forest, where there are numerous beautiful forest paths that reunite you with the marked route.
After crossing the noisy M3 and a second good forest path through Rownest Wood, the way into College Wood is also blocked and so I took the road round into Woodmancott village. Here there is a convenient church bench for a picnic. Then it is a scenic bridleway south to the road at Brown Candover, joining the marked Wayfarer's Walk trail. The southern section of the route is a good footpath bringing you into Old, then New Alresford past the watercress beds.
The paths and roads are in good enough condition that this route (as adjusted for the lack of access above) could conceivably be done on two wheels, but not four, as hardly any of it is very narrow or overgrown or muddy (in this season at least), with only a couple of kissing gates.
With an adjustment to the northern section to reflect the reality of rights of way, this would be an acceptable route, which I would give 4 stars (one deducted because of the amount of road walking).

My wife and I walked this route but some sections of it go through private land and the route needs to be re-plotted. The section through college wood in woodmancote should be cut out as no right of way is provided. Luckily we have the OS map for this area and were able to avoid. Large sections of the route ‘Basingstoke Road’ are on busy b roads so not the best for dogs. The section from northfield plantation into new alresford is accurate and clear.

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