This is the first leg of the Pilgrims’ Way from Winchester to Canterbury. They issue passports at Winchester cathedral and each church on the way provides a stamp to mark your journey. The intention is to do the whole route (15 stages) and finish in Canterbury in 4 years having visited about 50 churches on the way!

The start did not look auspicious, with storm Austen and a lot of rain predicted, so I was pleasantly surprised to realise just how seriously the Polys take their walking – a turn out of 10. It seems the only limitation is when we get wiped out by public transport – which trumps the weather.

We started out at Winchester station and made our way through the old town to the Cathedral Shop to arm ourselves with Passports. There is an option to get blessed in St Swithuns shrine in the crypt (interestingly there is an Anthony Gormley statue there and the crypt can get flooded when the river is high) but sadly there was not time to check it out as the service had just started.

The weather was holding out and we set out across the town to the remains of Hyde Abbey One doorway!. We then followed St Swithun’s way along the river Itchen. This was a pleasant walk along the meadows except for the path being closed for repairs ( 2 weeks ago there were no obstacles). As we saw a runner going past the barrier we trusted our luck that it would be ok.

After going under the M3 we arrived at out first church. St Mary’s in Kingsworthy where the group found the stamp and filled in their passports. There was a 1490 tiny stained glass window – a challenge to find it.

On to St Swithuns but we had to negotiate a field of frisky bullocks (another change to the walkover), thankfully only curious. This proved to be a good place for lunch and another stamp went into the book.

The next church was St Johns at Itchen Abbas which is unusual for being carpeted! One more stamp and over the road for warm refreshments in the Plough.

So far our luck had held out weather wise but it finally caught up with us with wind and rain for our final leg. We crossed the river Itchen where the view had inspired the Charles Kingsley’s book The water babies. After a wet walk we arrived in St Peter’s Ovington for our final stamp of the day.

The walk to The bus stop in New Alresford took us through water cress beds (very peppery). This is a renowned area for water cress and a steam train runs from here to Alton named appropriately – The Water Cress line.

A short wait and the bus arrived to take us back to Winchester – an enjoyable albeit wet day.

I would like to thank Jane for excellent back marking and assisting in the planning of the walk.

Stephen.  Photos by Ida, Jane and Stephen