Day 23 New Alresford to Alton: Such Austenian Felicity

For an OS map of today's walk click here.

New Alresford was a beautiful town—we really liked the broad main street as we passed through, stopping for provisions on our way out of town. Just outside of town there was a vigorous waterfall flowing down in small steps, quite beautiful and refreshing to see. Further on there was the most amazing tree fort we had ever seen. It looked like something you'd would see if you were on Safari in Africa, a large platform in the trees, with a suspension bridge and what looked like a zip line. [Sadly, we decided to try to get a picture of it from an angle quite a bit further along the path, and then when we got to that spot there wasn't a good view at all, so we have no picture—Ken.]

Watercress Beds, New Alresford

Sometimes you just have to take the road...

Later there was a sign directing traffic to the "salad depot," which turned out to be more and larger watercress farms. After crossing a fairly good field we came to a path that was choked with nettles. We walked down a nearby farm road instead, hoping to find a different public footpath. We ended up talking with a friendly farmer who outlined various options other than the nettly footpath, which was indeed  the only legitimate public path. Since the other options involved climbing a gate, avoiding boggy sinkholes, or possibly encountering a gamekeeper who might ask pointed questions, we opted to avoid all pitfalls and follow the farm road in the opposite direction to a main road. The road walking was still tough on Susan though things got a little better for her as the day went on and we did more walking on softer paths.

Regency Dance at Chawton House

Lunch was eaten on a grassy bank at the side of a road near a suburban village oddly called Four Marks; a peaceful, lazy lunch, though there was a lot of traffic that went by, including a fancy Bentley. Later, we hit a forest track along the edge of Chawton Park Wood that, in the latter half, paralleled a motocross course. We walked quickly through the woods at that point because, while it looked like the bikers were having great fun, the woods were consequently fumy, dusty, and noisy.

Our pace soon brought us to Chawton in plenty of time to relax and enjoy the village, including the Jane Austen's House museum (so our frustration at not getting to Chawton yesterday didn't matter). We hadn't wanted to rush today, and had planned to go to Chawton the next morning, but we arrived much sooner than anticipated so it worked out perfectly for today. It was an open garden day in the village, so lots of people were out enjoying the sunny afternoon; that could have been a bother but actually lent a fun and festive atmosphere. I took a detour to see Chawton House, which was owned by Jane's brother after he was adopted by a wealthy family, and happened upon a Regency dance demonstration there!

At Jane Austen's House

We had tea at Cassandra's Cup, where Susan experienced a much better cream tea than our previous one.  I had tea and crumpets, which were also quite good. We all very much enjoyed the Jane Austen House museum. Ken and I had been there in 2004, and they have made several improvements since then. It's a very good literary museum, with many artifacts from Austen and her family. I loved seeing the quilt Jane sewed with her mother and sister. As we were leaving we said something to the guide about my being an English professor and taking lots of photos. She misheard, and said that when I showed my professor the photos he would be jealous. I said that I was the professor! I'm sure I look more like a backpacking student than a professor on this trip.

A Nice Late Afternoon in Chawton

After sitting for a long while on a bench watching the village go by, we started walking, a little creakily, towards our hotel in Alton about a mile away. A nice fellow who had shared the bench with us drove by and said "You look exhausted already!" We all laughed as he smiled and drove away. Our walk to Alton didn't take too long, and before we knew it we were at the Swan Inn. Susan had her own bedroom off our main bedroom / sitting room. Susan and I ate dinner at the Swan while Ken went to a nearby Kebab house and had a huge pita sandwich [when I joined Sara and Susan at the Swan for dessert I told them that the amount of meat in that sandwich would have done my kidneys in right then and there if I hadn't have had the transplant!—Ken]. After dessert we all sat on the couch in the sitting area in our room and watched a brand new Poirot mystery, which was quite good. It was a fun way to end the day.

34,515 steps, 25.886 km, 1086.2 cal
OS getamap measured distance: 12.5 mi (20.12 km)
Susan's GPS: 20.48 km, 12.72 mi