I like a good long leg stretch a couple of times a week, but until the arrival of lockdown last year, I had never walked in the countryside on my own.
As a lone woman walker, this was purely about safety, as the awful murder of Sarah Everard has tragically highlighted.
Joining Petersfield Ramblers years ago provided the perfect security blanket, and friendly company.
But with Covid putting a stop to group walking and stranding my husband overseas, my only walking companions were our two teenagers and 20 year old.
Despite my best efforts to bribe them with takeaways if they joined me, they soon began to moan, and even said they would rather cook then accept the takeaway bribe!
Whilst the latter was clearly a parenting win, it meant I’d have to ‘man-up’ and walk alone if I was to continue clocking up the miles and exploring paths.
So I needed a new strategy for overcoming the safety issue playing out in my head.
After a bit of thought and internal talking to, my solution was to share a screen shot of my route and a walk time estimate on the family WhatsApp group.
Please don’t waste time analysing this, I know it’s as holey as a sieve, but it works for me.
With it being lockdown, my first empowering, solo walk started off as just a simple five-mile loop around Petersfield, but with each ramble it grew as I explored new paths and found ways to combine them.
Here is the ‘starter kit’ walk, so you can have fun developing your own add-ons later.
If you live in Petersfield, simply walk out of your front door!
For everyone else, park in Petersfield and head towards Penns Field by the Taro Leisure Centre – you can even park there!
I should point out that this walk gets pretty muddy in winter so it is best done when the ground has dried out a bit – so soon, hopefully.
From the Taro walk towards Harrier Way and take the first road on the left.
Continue through the gate at the end and head across the field towards the river Rother.
In summer there are always families enjoying a picnic and paddle on the river banks by the footbridge, something to remember for hot, sweaty feet at the end of a walk in the opposite direction.
After climbing a short steep hill, where a stile has fortunately collapsed under the weight of extra Covid traffic, follow the track around the right-hand of the field until you reach a kissing gate.
The path on the right is one for another time, for now you’re setting your sights on a large, lone oak tree (I think) in the middle of the field to your left.
With this being such a large field it is highly productive, and the different seasonal crops make for a sensory experience.
My favourite being the tall maize in autumn that provides, funnily enough, a maze effect with the path cutting straight through it.
Next up is a raised mound on which the long gone Durford Abbey possibly once stood, with its mill pond next to the farm.
The abbey has a fairly chequered history even before Henry VIII, so was easy prey for Cromwell and his Dissolution of the Monasteries.
However, I’m reliably informed by an amateur historian among the ramblers that some of the abbey’s stone was used in some central Petersfield buildings, perhaps you live in one.
Continue across the fields, as you are heading towards the West Harting road and the track around the north and eastern sides of the sand pit, that’s mostly hidden behind the trees.
Excavation here seems to have stepped up a bit over the last year, as it’s somewhat bigger now than last March.
Do also watch out for the lorries on the approach road.
At the corner with Down Park Farm, where there are lots of old tractors to admire, you are looking for a stile and path by a field gate, towards the road to Quebec.
There are quite a few to choose from here, so be careful to select the right one.
In summers/autumns gone by there have been majestic sunflowers in one of these fields – always an uplifting sight.
Once on the Sussex Border Path-cum-road, there is a splendid view to the right of the Rother valley and Durford Woods beyond.
Whilst admiring this, be careful not to miss the path off to the right beside Manor Farm.
Over the stile you can always have a pit stop to properly admire the view and try to identify distant landmarks.
The path contours around the hill before dropping onto a very peaceful and pretty lane at Goose Green, complete with babbling brook in the dell.
At the junction with the Nursted road look for a path straight ahead.
With some careful navigation it will take you all the way back to the Heath, for, perhaps, a well-earned refreshment at the fabulous Plump Duck before finding your car.
If you are doing this walk in the next few weeks you might also be lucky to see lots of cute, frolicking lambs in some of the fields of this final section.
The good thing about this walk, from a solo rambler/safety perspective, is that you are rarely far from civilisation.
I’ve not checked, but you can probably get a mobile signal all the way around.
It is also not so far that you can’t drag the dog with you, if you have one, for a sense of security – even if you know they are probably more likely to lick someone to death than chase them off!
Thanks to the magic of smart phones there are also numerous safety apps such as BSafe and What 3 Words.
Either way, whether you live alone or just prefer solitary walks there are many options to help you feel safer.
But grateful as I am to WhatsApp for keeping me walking this past year, I can’t wait to ditch the tech and be back out walking with the Petersfield Ramblers gang!
Route starting point: Anywhere in Petersfield, and distance approx, five miles with about 10 stiles.