East Meon and Izaak Walton

Walk Date - July 4th 2015
Walk Time - 2 hours 19 mins
Distance - 6.59 miles
Ascent - 463 feet

"Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter" Izaak Walton (author 1593-1683)



This was a walk we had planned the week before, Liz's brother was down for the day and it seemed like a plan, our youngest daughter was joining us as well, so in the words of Izaak Walton good company indeed, however after a mile the weather closed in and rain started, although not heavy and we did have water proofs, we walk for fun and this wasn't fun, so we returned to the car and aborted the walk

A week later and the weather was sunny and warm, an ideal start of the English summer, we parked in the pub car park of the Izaak Walton in East Meon, at around 10.30, I saw the landlord and asked if it was okay and we would be back in a few hours for lunch, I have found during these walks landlords are very accommodating to walkers (as long as you partake at some point) and if I can see someone I always let them know we'll be back




We walked out of the pub car park and turned left onto High Street, which we followed for just over a mile, a finger post at South Farm showed us the path to follow, through the farm itself (past some friendly lama's) we crossed a small bridge over the river Meon and followed a short track with a very lush wooded area to our right, in here is the source of the Meon.



The path was a gravel farm track with a slight incline as we headed up towards the South Downs Way, the tracked ended and we took a path through a field and the incline did get very steep at this point, although only a short walk, you can see from the altitude chart between mile 1.5 and 2.5.

Turning right picking up the well signed South Downs Way, which was now going to be our route for the next 3.5 miles, although after about a mile we came to the Droxford road and walked past the Sustainability Centre which had a cafe, we didn't stop so I can't comment on its services, shortly after this we crossed the road and picked up a very good track for the South Downs Way.

Turning right off the main track just before Hen Wood we headed onto a field path, some of these paths are better than others, this one was wide and well cut through the crops, remember though in this part of Hampshire there can be some quite large lumps of rock and chalk through these field paths, we followed the path round a collection of barns and picked up the farm road back to Coombe Road which we walked along back into East Meon village and the Izaak Walton for lunch.



The Izaak Walton is a friendly 'local's pub although they do cater for walkers and large groups, we ordered two Ploughmans and two pints plus the obligatory side of fries (for me) again all in at just over £20, as usual we headed into the garden because we were in our walking gear



The Ploughman's was served on a piece of lumber rather than a plate, but I let that slide as the food was excellent and plentiful, three large pieces of cheese, pickle and a pickled onion, warm bread, apple and salad complete the meal, the garden was very nice with ample seats.

Trip Advisor - The Izaak Walton

This was a good walk although the climb near the start was a sturdy one and it was very rewarding to have taken in a few miles of the South Downs Way, some wonderful views of the chalk downs of Hampshire with a filling ploughmans to finish off