Eight of us arrive at The Rapids car park all ready for a walk around Romsey.  A quarter mile walk into the town centre and we were soon strolling along The Hundred passing the Corn Exchange swinging right onto Church street where we saw St John’s House which has been temporarily blocked off to visitors due to a very recent fire in its basement.    It’s likely to be closed for the rest of this year for extensive repairs. 

Continuing to Mill lane we walked to a bridge over the R. Test ( time for a quick go at Poohsticks - but only me!) and made our way to the end where we looped back to reach the bridge again and took a back lane alongside the water.  There were plenty of expensive-looking houses to admire with gardens running down the river bank. 

Upon reaching The Meads we turned toward and entered the Memorial Park which we circuited anti-clockwise before exiting on to the road again and continued it past an old mill beside the river where it narrowed to a lane which eventually led us to the bypass via a track called “Causeway”.

Turning left we diverted along Middlebridge street for a couple of hundred yards then we proceeded to the right through some modern flats and back to the A27.    To reach the car park took us past the entrance to Broadlands to traffic lights which allowed us to cross safely and reach our destination.   

I found it to be a most interesting route seeing parts of old and new Romsey I had not ventured to before so a big ‘thank you’ to Ingrid and Brian for organising it for us. 

Ken.