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Delayed from 2020 because of the pandemic, finally delivered our Waterways walk as part of the Festival in Summer 2021. The leaflets, funded by RDS, were printed and and we held a total of 4 walks. Uncertainty due to Covid prevailed right up until the week of the Festival. We had between 11 and 15 participants on 3 of the walks. The other walk only had 2 bookings, but we decided to go ahead anyway, and it made for a different and more informal event. The walks were led by Richard Pratt and Ian Tripp who did two each.
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The walk started from the town centre and went via the Railway station to the canal path. We followed this until the path crossing Fishlake Meadows at Belbins Bridge, then across to the World of Water site. From here we followed the Fishlake stream down via the industrial estate, taking in the aqueduct. At Duttons Road there was an opportunity for those who were tiring to take a short cut back into the centre of Romsey. We then carried on via Lansdowne Close and Priestlands to find the Test Mill Stream behind Romsey School and follow this to Test Mill, where we took a brief detour into the John Busby Memorial Garden. We finished with a brief loop along Abbey Water back to our starting point.
Surplus leaflets were given to the VIC to give to members of the public to do a self-guided walk, but we also kept some for future use by our committee, and in early October we did a repeat of the walk for RDS members. This was led by Ian Tripp, David Thelwell and Jennifer Adams; meanwhile Richard and I led another walk on the same day for members of the Rotary Club of Romsey. It was another day of beautiful weather.
It was interesting to find how many people were unfamiliar with the routes we took. Some local people had never visited Fishlake Meadows before; others had lived in Romsey all their lives and had never followed the path along the Test Mill stream, while none knew about the John Busby garden. It makes it very rewarding to enable people to learn more about their local environment and see waterways that they have never seen before.
If you want to try the walk for yourself, do pick up a free leaflet from the Visitor Information Centre in Romsey. The leaflet includes full directions, notes on what you will see, and a map.
Elizabeth Pratt
Surplus leaflets were given to the VIC to give to members of the public to do a self-guided walk, but we also kept some for future use by our committee, and in early October we did a repeat of the walk for RDS members. This was led by Ian Tripp, David Thelwell and Jennifer Adams; meanwhile Richard and I led another walk on the same day for members of the Rotary Club of Romsey. It was another day of beautiful weather.
It was interesting to find how many people were unfamiliar with the routes we took. Some local people had never visited Fishlake Meadows before; others had lived in Romsey all their lives and had never followed the path along the Test Mill stream, while none knew about the John Busby garden. It makes it very rewarding to enable people to learn more about their local environment and see waterways that they have never seen before.
If you want to try the walk for yourself, do pick up a free leaflet from the Visitor Information Centre in Romsey. The leaflet includes full directions, notes on what you will see, and a map.
Elizabeth Pratt