The part of the Itchen Way from King Alfred down to St Catherine’s Hill and returning on Keats Walk back to Winchester College, all by the river Itchen, is the classic one hour plus stroll from the city centre. Our walk takes you a little further across the M3 to the other side of Twyford Down and the Hockley Golf course, then returning on grassy and dirt paths the entire way from Hockley link to Winchester College.
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Length: 9.5 km / 5.9 miles
Time: 2 hours 5 minutes at a swift pace + breaks
Difficulty: Moderate – 152 m total ascent, path to St Catherine’s Hill from Garnier Rd car park is steep and can be slippery
Variation: To avoid some ascents and descents, stay on the western side of the M3 and take the stairs between St Catherines Hill and footpath by the river. You can shorten the route further by taking the footpath by the river and Garnier road and visit St Cross Hospital on a different walk.
The Winchester Tourist office publishes about on Keats Walk which forms part of this route. Walk#4 overlaps a small part of route on Keat’s walk, and has views from the viaduct to the meadows in the south-western corner of this walk.
Highlights of walk#5
The addition of Twyford Down and the Hockley Golf course make our St Catherine’s hill walk a bit more challenging and encourage you to venture a little further to explore the ‘other’ side just beyond the M3.
St Catherine’s Hill is a Nature Reserve that has 25 species of breeding butterfly and British White Cattle.
This walk is part of the 12 walks challenge.
Great walk today in beautiful surroundings. A bit hard going at the beginning, I’m not a hill walker, but well worth the effort. Would definitely recommend and plan to do again. Took just over 3 hours.