The Winchester Winter Wanderland, 10.8 miles, moderate

Today's circular walk takes us around Winchester and Shawford via St Catherine's Hill and the River Itchen. Starting at Winchester station, we'll head towards the High Street, which we follow to the River Itchen before turning right onto it to leave Winchester. Shortly after passing Palmerfield, we'll climb up St Catherine's Hill, which on a clear day offers some fantastic view of Winchester as well as the local area. After this, we'll head back down to follow the Pilgrim's Trail and Monarch's Way through Twyford and into Shawford, the latter which is where we'll stop for lunch as well as have an optional pub stop at The Bridge Inn.

After lunch, we'll turn right onto the River Itchen, where we follow the Kingfisher Trail and St James' Way back into Winchester via the Cathedral. To get back to Winchester station, we'll follow the High Street towards the castle before walking along the same road we walked along earlier to finish the walk. Once we're back in Winchester, the walk leader plans to visit the Winchester Christmas Market if you want to join them when visiting: https://www.visitwinchester.co.uk/events/event-winchester-cathedral-christmas-market-24

Distance: 17.4km / 10.8mi
Ascent: 187m / 614ft
Type: circular

TRAINS:
The recommended train to get from Reading is the 09:52 CrossCountry service that arrives in Winchester at 10:26.

PARKING:
Winchester station has a good size car park, where parking fees apply. Please note, that with the Christmas market, this is likely to be busy, so please leave enough time to park and get to the start point of the walk.

DOGS:
Dogs are allowed on this walk as long as they're well behaved. Please refer to our dogs policy for more information.