Woodgreen to Bickton and return

We hadn't expected to be walking on the Avon Valley Way today. We had planned a circuit further to the west, which would include the section of the Jubilee Trail between Ackling Dyke and Chettle, filling in a current "gap". However, that plan included parking in Chettle, and driving down the A354 to get there, rather close to the site of the "Great Dorset Steam Fair". There were signs in Salisbury warning of delays from today and Helen and Tom have been held up in the past on the A354 by this event (which I have no doubt is great). We decided to stay well away, especially since this would be the first time the Steam Fair had taken place for three years, and we didn't want to be too late getting back to Milton Keynes this evening. We settled on a short circuit which would advance us slightly on the Avon Valley Way, where we hadn't walked for four years. We had however been back to the layby on Castle Hill (SU170166) to the south of Woodreen much more recently, just this June, for a lovely walk in Godshill Wood and Godshill Enclosure with Helen and Bertie.  We hadn't expected much of today's walk, but it too was very enjoyable.  It was quite a grey morning, and there were a couple of spots of rain early in the walk, but it didn't come to anything.

Woodgreen is not far from Helen, Tom and Bertie's house, where we had been staying , so by 8.30am we'd had breakfast and wrenched ourselves away from our little grandson and driven back to the Castle Hill layby. Actually there are two laybys close together; we parked at the smaller first one then walked along the minor road to the second, where the views are better down from the hill over the Avon Valley below.  We continued along the road through the wood then, as the road turned to the left*, we descended by way of Folds Farm.  A track took us over the flatter land, crossing occasional drainage ditches. Eventually, we took a sharp left-hand turn and reached a suspension bridge over the River Avon. I never particularly like crossing bridges of this type, especially when others (even just my husband!) are crossing it too, because other people make the bridge wobble. However, I was brave enough to stop halfway across to photograph an attractive family of swans and cygnets

We turned right at a rather tatty wooden Midshires Way sign near Burgate Manor Farm and so to the A338 to the north of Fordingbridge. Here we turned right and then left onto another track at Lower Burgate. If we'd kept going on the road we'd have been back at Helen and Tom's house in less than 5 miles.  Meanwhile, our rather nondescript route headed first west and then south, on a snicket behind a school and then houses. We emerged onto a road and followed this towards the centre of Fordingbridge. We took a short diversion back to the river to see the seven-arched medieval "Great Bridge" from which the town takes its name. Nearby the bridge there is a bronze statue of the artist Augustus John, who lived in the town from 1927 until his death in 1961. We returned to the route of the Avon Valley Path,  which continued through the town to the pretty area around St Mary's Church, where people were just arriving for the Sunday morning service.

We had contemplated only walking as far as Fordingbridge, but that would have been rather short and we wanted a circuit.  We'd then wondered about going on to Ibsley, but that looked too far, given we had to drive back to Milton Keynes after the walk. So we'd settled on a loop that continued on the Avon Valley Path for about a kilometre beyond, before leaving it near the village of Bickton for our return leg to Woodgreen. Thus, we continued to the south of Fordingbridge by way of the churchyard of St Mary's Church and onto a track. We were soon on a path across the floodplain and after passing the sewage works (why do long-distance footpaths pass such a lot of sewage works?) the path wiggled and became rather overgrown with reeds etc.  

The Avon Valley Path took a sharp right-hand turn but we left it here and carried straight ahead, crossing some side-channels of the river and passing a series of rectangular ponds. This is a fish farm (part of the enormous Trafalgar Fisheries). There are signs indicating it is private, but that doesn't keep the herons away;  we'd never seen so many herons in one place. We emerged by the river by an old weir and mill; all very pretty and with a large number of swans on the mill pond.  We left the river behind us for today and walked through the village of Bickton (also pretty) to the main A339.  Conveniently, right by the junction, there is both a bus stop and somewhere we can park so on our next leg we should be able to walk from here to Ringwood and return on the bus. However, today we were halfway round a circuit and we still had some enjoyable walking ahead of us.

We crossed the main road and took the lane on the other side, then cut across fields to the village of Stuckton, stopping en route for a quick break.  In Stuckton, we were somewhat mystified by Brooklands Farm, owned by Hampshire County Council;  later googling only added to our confusion - is it a training farm or a veal farm? Then we climbed steadily back onto the New Forest proper, being passed by occasional cyclists whizzing down the hill. We had a brief section of walking on the rather busier "Roger Penny Way", one of the roads which crosses the New Forest. Thankfully, there was a pavement and we were soon at the Sandy Balls Holiday Village, through which a path passes, heading in the direction we wanted to be going. I've never found the idea of staying in a holiday village a very appealing prospect, and I'd prefer it if the lodges were further apart, but otherwise Sandy Balls looked quite nice. The setting amongst the trees was attractive, and our path through was clear.. At the far side of the holiday village the path initially continued through trees then it cut across open ground.

We were making rapid progress back towards the car and we'd decided to stop for lunch in Godshill Wood.  However, half a mile or so before Godshill Wood, we went into another area of woodland, with a well-placed tree trunk on the ground, so we stopped here. The route continued downhill through the most attractive woodland to a footbridge then climbed, on a path along which a stream had found a route. We could see occasional houses high above us amongst the trees, and we eventually reached the minor road on which the houses are located, actually the same road as we'd have reached if we'd stayed on the road from our parking place, after it turned to the left*.  Now, for our return to the parking place, we turned slightly to the right, then took a track into Godshill Wood.  We were slightly anxious, because when we were here in June we'd ended up heading through the wood in the wrong direction,  but there were no such problems today; we were soon back at the car. We passed some horses, with a young foal, and had a straightforward onward journey.

Following leg