Day 174 – Gosport (Stokes Bay) to Southampton: 17.6m: 6.2h

Because of the mileage to be covered – along with one or two uncertainties about our route into Southampton – today’s first objective is to get under way before 11 o’clock. Out of, perhaps, an abundance of caution, Ben and Gary arrive in Fareham at 8:50, and they have to sit outside the Harvester for several minutes until it opens for breakfast at 9 o’clock. Once inside, they’ve almost finished their eggs benedict and “classic breakfast” respectively when Mike arrives (from Taplow) just before 9:30 and tucks into a sausage bacon and egg sandwich. John walks in 20 minutes later and is slightly more restrained with his order of a bacon and egg sandwich. A taxi picks us up at 10:15 and takes us back to Stokes Bay from where, having precisely identified our June finishing point courtesy of Mike’s phone, we set off at 10:30. First objective duly achieved and our earliest start since leaving Pitsea at 10:20 in March 2022. The forecast over the last week has been for unsettled weather, but the meteorological gods seem to have settled on warm and dry – at least for today. So it’s a pleasant if unremarkable first couple of hours walking alongside the Solent, through Lee-on-the-Solent and Hill Head, and on towards Brownwich Beach at the entrance to Southampton Water. Shortly after this, the team divides. John and Ben decide to follow the shoreline despite shingle and the slightly increased proximity of the sea. Mike and Gary take a more conservative inland route, which proves to be a mistake. Not only do they get caught up in a maze of roads in the Solent Breezes Holiday Park, but it takes them a good half hour to regain the coast at a point not much further on from where they left it. They assume (correctly as it turns out) that by now John and Ben are some way ahead of them, so Mike decides that best efforts should be made to recover lost ground before Warsash and the ferry over the River Hamble. This develops into a full blown yomp during the course of which, again according to Mike’s phone, speeds of over 4 mph are achieved. As a result most, if not all, of the lost ground might have been recovered were it not for another navigational glitch. By sticking on this occasion to the shoreline shingle, Mike and Gary miss the turn off to a path which leads to Warsash and the ferry, and walk around a small promontory at the mouth of the River Hamble which, apparently, is also part of a nature reserve. When they get back to the path, John and Ben have almost reached the ferry and have ensconced themselves in the Rising Sun pub where Mike and Gary – the latter somewhat breathlessly – arrive around 10 minutes later having walked an extra mile (not included in the day’s official mileage). Their attempts to maintain that, under strict REW precedent (e.g. the case of the Pagham Harbour “Pier” at day 169) Mike and Ben should have walked round the promontory are met with a Bill Oddie type response about protecting the birdlife on the nature reserve. This had been drawn to their attention by a group of people at the turn off to the path and is now known, somewhat belatedly for precedent purposes, as the Nesting Plovers Exemption. After a swift beer, we get to the on demand ferry which has already been summoned from Hamble by some people at the landing stage. The crossing takes 5 minutes and brings us to the very smart Port Hamble Marina and Royal Southern Yacht Club. We then walk across Hamble Common before getting back to the east side of Southampton Water on the approach to Netley. From here, we’re able to stay close to the shore line all the way to the mouth of the River Itchen and then continue to the Itchen Bridge. This spans some 800 metres and reaches almost 30 metres at its highest point. Despite this, we manage to cross it without excessive concern although Ben keeps away from the edge and focuses very much to the front, and John feels that the absence of any barrier between the pavement and the road makes it slightly more difficult than the Humber Bridge. On reaching the Southampton side, we’re not too far from Roost, our overnight accommodation. However, we need to walk around the harbour and, because we’re not 100% sure of the route and distance, we decide to find out this evening rather than wait until tomorrow morning when we’ll have to time our departure to catch the first ferry to Hythe. The loop round the harbour takes about 20 minutes to complete and we finish at the aptly named Terminus Terrace, only half a mile from the ferry. It’s a short walk to Roost and en route we call in at The London pub. Having remained there for a second pint, we go round to the Oxford Brasserie to change our reservation for supper from 7:00 to 7:30, and then check in at Roost. Being a set of self-service rooms, this consists of keying in codes at the entrance and individual room doors. The only problem encountered is Gary’s room door which necessitates John obtaining a new code. This doesn’t delay unduly our departure for supper which is, however, preceded by wistful glances at the bar/restaurant on the ground floor. This looks as though it would be very welcoming were it not for the fact that it’s closed on Mondays. Service at the Oxford is friendly (but not particularly efficient) and the food is pretty good. It’s accompanied by just the two bottles of wine, but stickies are available afterwards at the Grapes pub on the other side of the road. John, Mike and Gary take advantage of the opportunity and return to Roost 15 minutes after Ben.