Diary of a Newbie Hiker - Woodland/Coastal Circular (Hampshire Hiking)

My personal blog of my 10k Titchfield Canal and Meon Shore Hike in Hampshire.

Today is the May Day bank holiday and after stressing about not being able to get out for a good hike over the normal weekend, I laced up the boots, threw on some gear and headed to a fairly local trail that I found on AllTrails.

I packed a few things for the trek. The usual. Water, snack, a jacket, my camera, tripod and other accessories.

I had been lucky in the week to be kindly sent a 50l pack from the guys at FastFitness - Go and give these guys a follow on Instagram. It is ideal for newbie hikers (a full review blog will be posted shortly - I will link it here once it is live). Today was a great excuse to try it out.

Although there were a few clouds in the sky, the weather was perfect and skies blue. I took the 20 minute drive to a small free car park (bonus), grabbed my pack and started on the trail. Within 30 seconds, out of nowhere, there was a downpour!!!! Fortunately, this lasted no more than 10 minutes and the optimal weather returned,

The first 3 km of the trail was through light wooded area and ran alongside a small canal.

There's something about water on a hike that makes it that much more calming. There were various mini viewpoints dotted along the trail and some quaint little bridges and crossings also to tackle.

Small parts of the trail were a little busy at , but overall, it was a well-needed isolated hike. I am fortunate enough that when I am out on a ramble, I can switch off and zone out completely to others (helped today as always with the latest podcast episode from Jits Into The Sunset )

Reaching the end of the canal, the trail opens up onto the Meon shoreline. Its generally a small quiet stretch of coastline, with small but steep cliffs acting as a picturesque barrier on one side. I took the opportunity to take a couple of further promotional shots for the Fast Fitness Shop crew and took 5 minutes to take a breath, soak in the sea air and grab my water bottle for some rehydration.

After my little pitstop and nearing the halfway point of the trail, I took a turn at the break in the cliffs and rejoined the public footpath to complete the second half of the circular route.

In all honesty, the first half of the route had it all. Canal-side, woodland, coast, cliffs and bridges. Sadly, the second stage of the trail was a little different. The first kilometre was wooded as before but then continued through much more vast open spaces which appeared to be farmers fields. A lot of this section was also more of a concrete road, which was now kind of removing the adventure element from the walk.

The home straight (last 2 km), was actually on a normal village road footpath and offered nothing by way of a "kodak moment"

It put a slight anticlimax feel to the walk and I was unusually glad to have finished and back at my car.

All in all, it was a trail of 2 halves and I think, should I return again, I would possibly do the first half and then just turn back and return the same way.

It was definitely good to get some more time and mileage in the legs, as well as testing the new pack.

I do now need to up the mileage in the coming weeks as I look to train in readiness for my 2 day hike and wild camp in the Brecon Beacons at the end of June.

Where did you hike this weekend?

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Have a great week