30/08/25 - The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Emsworth, Hampshire

The Messiah on a Hang Glider

July 2004 when I started to seriously engage in walking as a hobby. Since then, I have amassed a library of rambling books, subscribed to Country Walking Magazine and plotted all the routes into a computer resource that would take several lifetimes to complete.

Yet, after all this effort, there is not a single walk available on where we are dog sitting this week. Hayling Island is a black hole for the on-foot explorer.

Today's walk is as close at it gets, starting at the mainland side of the bridge at Langstone. There is a Fullers Pub, the Ship, with a car park whose boundaries are unlcear. Several signs offering fines for staying and the one sign that say how to pay is for moored boats. Fortunately, it is a 10am opener and with the staff turning up, I can confirm that we are good to go.

This is an easy walk, using the coast path into Elmsworth, with an inland diversion to see Warblington Castle. The tide is out and in the main, the seaweed is not a rotting, stinking mess of mud.

Today's Vista

At the beginning of the walk, we pass what I incorrectly assume to be a lighthouse. This is Langstone Mill, built in 1730 and running for 200 years until converted into residential accommodation in the 1930s. Of course, it was an artist who first lived there. The wonderfully named Flora Twort.

A perfectly positioned Royal Oak available for thirsty Flora

Emsworth, historically a centre for shipbuilding, oyster fishing, and milling, does have something to interest us. There are three Good Beer Guide Ticks available. We manage the two that are adjacent in the main road. Even if the Eeyore that is Mrs M insists that they won't be open at 10:30am in the morning.

I have completed my research. The Blue Bell, opens at 9.

And would you believe that there is no room? Every table taken and a constant stream of cars coming into the car park. We manage to get a seat outside, until the rain starts and then reposition to high stools at the bar. Two adults and two dogs being the worst of pub citizens, the bar blockers.

Blue Bell, Emsworth - unnaturally busy pre-midday

Hop Back Fugglestone enjoyed, even if I couldn't answer my fellow drinkers' question as to whether it is a "bitter". It is, I am just not from these parts.

No problems getting a seat at our next port of call, the beautifully tiled Coal Exchange.

A Surprising Gastro

Not that it wasn't going to get busy. Most tables were reserved for diners from midday and I can see this is a rather unusual Gastro pub - at least at Lunchtime. Never have I seen a more wet-led looking food pub.

Fullers, all I had to do was enjoy my pint, engage in good conversation with the friendly bar staff and wonder if ESB has permanently turned into HSB. The Ship, where we parked, also had no sign of my favourite special bitter. Not that there is anything wrong with HSB.

The rain came again, but we were able to shorten the route slightly by walking inland on what is marked on the OS Map as "The Church Path". Took us too close to Warblington Castle for decent photos, but what remains is on private land only. A sliver of a tower left behind after the first English Civil War.

I have spent too much time in the evenings on Twitter and Elon is convincing me there is about to be a second.

Warblington Castle from afar

Back to a more modern reference for the castle - I have Tommy, the Musical on my sky planner. During the song "Sensation", a topless Daltry launches a hang glider from the castle top, whilst mental biker gangs first fight with guns and chains and then do that stupid Mud dance, of thumb in belt loops and hip pivoting.

I am either going to have to source some drugs in Hampshire or delete the film. 

There can be no in-between. 

Walk Details

Distance - 5 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, August 2024, Walk 6

05/09/15 - The South Downs Way Summary

Start - Eastbourne (09/04/15)
End - Winchester (04/09/15)
Distance - 99.7
Geocaches Found - 82

Follow the Signs

2015 has been the year of the South Downs Way.  Chosen as an easy Long Distance Path with good rail links, I completed it in six days, over two trips.

I followed the guidebook and walked East to West.  It would appear from that most people I met in accommodation were going in the opposite direction - which I would recommend.  The walking gets better the further you get away from Winchester.  It starts off merely beautiful and ends up jaw dropping.

Other advice / notes;

1. Surprisingly wild.  A couple of days, no civilisation is passed.  Which means no supplies are available to purchase.  
2. If there is a Tower Mast on a hill, you are probably walking up it. 
3. There are a high number of geocaches
4. You cross hemispheres.
5. Accommodation is available at the end of each day.  Ranging from posh Gastropubs to a YHA.  None are prohibitively expensive. 

This is how I did it, with a link to a blog entry for each day.

Day 1 - Eastbourne to Southease Station - 15 Miles, staying in Lewes
Day 2 - Southease Station to Truleigh YHA, 20 Miles, staying in the YHA
Day 3 - Truleigh YHA to Amberley, 15 Miles, train home.
Day 4 - Amberley to Cocking, 12 Miles, staying at the Bluebell Inn, Cocking
Day 5 - Cocking to East Meon, 20 Miles, staying at Ye Olde George, East Meon
Day 6 - East Meon to Winchester, 19 Miles, train home

Many walking highlights along the way - Alfriston, Ditchling Beacon, Devil's Dyke, Chanctonbury Hill Fort, Harting Downs and Old Winchester Hill amongst them.

Lowlights - Day 5 had nowhere at all to stop for refreshments.  Couldn't even find a visitor centre at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park.  But worse was to follow on Day 6.  I was so looking forward to a pint at Milbury's Pub after 12 miles.  I was served a pint.  Of the most atrocious bilge water.  Made up for it, celebrating in Winchester!

A great starter Long Distance Path, especially when blessed with good weather - as I was.

My flickr photo album below.

04/09/15 - Completing the South Downs Way

Distance - 19 Miles
Geocaches - 5
Start - East Meon
End - Winchester
Highlights - Old Winchester Hill

Last Night
Finally allowed into the Ye Olde George Inn at 6pm.  It was Ok - it gave me an hour to regain my strength after yesterday's 20 miles and someone had kindly left the Times in the Beer Garden.

The pub is lovely and unusually stocks Badger Beer.  I've previously only seen this on cans of shandy (made with real Badger Beer) and at the St Stephens Tavern in London - one of my favourite pubs.  I try the First Call, which is even better than Tanglefoot.

I continue to read Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods".  In a moment of serendipity, Country Walking magazine put on facebook the chance of winning tickets to the UK premier of the film - to be released next week.  I upload a photo of my pint and my book, exclaiming "What are the chances?".

I then blog till my battery dies (really, the charger wouldn't have added that much weight) and then read some more.  Get to the chapter where Bill rips into people taking technology onto the trail and says that "Exactly no-one is interested in reading your daily updates".

Sheepishly put the dead laptop back in my rucksack and check out the second pub in the Village, the Izaak Walton.  More down to earth than the George, it as a thriving darts team (I had to move) and a decent pint of Ringwood Best Bitter.

The Walk


Day 6 and the last day on the South Downs Way.  I catch myself in the full length mirror whilst dressing.  Not only are my Sub anti-chaffing pants ridiculously tight but I also have welt marks on my shoulders from my rucksack.  Maybe I was right not to get too loaded with the laptop charger.

Legs need a bit of encouragement to get going and I stock up on snacks and mints at the village stores before getting going.  I have a treat in store today, as there is civilisation on route.  Exton may be too soon to stop for a drink but at 12 miles, there is a wonderful big blue cup of joy on the OS map at Milbury's.

I am so looking forward to that.

Pleasant walking through Whitewoold fisheries, watching proper fly fishermen do their stuff and then the first climb of the day up Old Winchester Hill.  17 miles from Winchester.

The views are outstanding and I also like the car park.

Easy Going if you drive up it

Southern Views from the Hill Fort

Northern Views

Downhill all the way to Exton, an exceedingly pretty little village.  I meet another SDW'er going in the opposite direction and he is spending the night here, having set off from Winchester at 9am.  He is lucky, but it's not even lunch time.  Surely, he could have got some more miles in?  Still, its not a race.

Cattle at Exton

Exton Church

From my fellow walker, I know that I have about 3.5 hours of walking to go.  My legs are grateful for that news, especially as I have Beacon Hill to summit.

Surely, this is the last of the hills?

Beacon Hill

1pm and I arrive at Milbury's.  I am delighted to break up the walk with a pint.  The pub is a hotbed of South Down Way activity, with several other walkers making use of the facilities.  One even has a shell on the back of her rucksack.  Is this for the SDW or a remnant of the El Camino de Santiago?  Either way, my rucksack looks bereft in comparison.

Licking my lips, I enter the pub and see there are three real ales on.  I go for the "Ale of Wight".

And I know things are going bad when the barman does a three glass pouring trick, trying to get a pint out of all the froth.  "Don't worry, he tells me, it'll be fine when it settles".

I am and it isn't.

What a let down.  Cloudy bilgewater with bits floating in it.

Still, I have paid for it

I chuck the last third away in the flowerbeds and try a Kronenbourg.  No-one can get kegged lager wrong can they?  Milbury's can.

Any future SDW'ers reading this blog - see if they do bottles.

Gutted, I rucksack up and head off for Winchester.  I'll be able to get a decent pint there, as I know the City.

The last couple of miles of the SDW are not massively inspiring.  I appear to be using my hands to help my legs move, so I am grateful when Winchester comes into view to provide the motivation needed to get me over the line.

Winchester Ahead

I think long and hard about taking another break but I keep on plodding.  Over the M3 and into the town.

There doesn't appear to be a natural end to the SDW.  The guidebook indicates it is the Youth Hostel, other people I have spoken with suggest either the last marker or King Alfred.

For me, its my pint at the wonderfully located Bishop on the Bridge.

Not the End

Not the End

The Wonderful Bishop on the Bridge - River Itchin

Toasting the SDW with an ESB

Winchester is a fitting end to 100 miles of walking over 6 days.

The South Downs Way is over and I'll look for next year's challenge.

03/09/15 - Twenty Miles to East Meon

Day 5 on the South Downs Way
Start - Cocking
End - East Meon
Highlights - Harting Downs, Butser Hill
Geocaches - 13

Last Night
I left you yesterday, having made new rambling friends.  Like everyone I meet on the South Downs Way, they are walking West to East.  I am going in the opposite direction.  Always a man alone.

After getting into complicated rounds with them, I left them to eat early whilst I blogged.  I came down at 8pm for a decent meal, although paying £8.95 for cheese really ought to get you a wheel.

Beer-wise, the Bluebell is a conundrum.  They had one real ale on - in itself, a bit of a disappointment.  It was a new brew to me, Ballard's Brewery Best Bitter.  It was poured straight out of a barrel on a little shelf behind the bar.  Looked perfect and tasted fine, but the head quickly disappeared as a result of a lack of "Pump Action".  I was forced to move onto San Miguel.  Which wasn't served in its ceremonial glass, which for me, is a critical part of the £4.50 experience.

The pub started to empty at 9:15pm, so I retired to my room and had a fantastic night sleep.

At breakfast, I got talking to a chap who came in at 9:30 last night.  He had walked from Winchester.  38 Miles - the sum total of my next two days walking.  That is seriously good going.

Today's Walk
Out the pub and off to the South Downs Way.  An octogenarian cutting his bush tells me how steep the hills are and how I would be better off helping him with his gardening.  Not being green fingered, I ask where in Sussex I can hire Sherpas.

And then get on with the first climb of the day,

After the First Climb

I have the SDW to myself again.  After walking three hours, the only other person I see is a lady mountain biker who screams "Bike" at the top of her voice.  I tell her not  to put herself down so much.

There are some better views today.  Harting Downs is classic South Downs way, offering great views.  This takes my mind off the big problem with this leg.  There are no refreshment stops along the entire 20 miles length.  I have only the goods that I am carrying, namely 1 pork pie, 2l of water and a packet of polos.

I will save the polos until I am desperate.

South Harting - From Harting Downs

I do think of going off piste.  Buriton would add 1 mile onto the route and appears to have a pub but there is too much walking today to take the risk that it may have closed down.

At 13 miles and 4 hours walking.  I stop for the pork pie.  And a bit of a lie down on a bench.  No one knows me on the SDW.  Not that there is anyone here.

After a 20 minute rest, I head into the Queen Elizabeth Country Park.  Fine woodland walking.  I hope for a visitor centre.  I find a car park.

Queen Elizabeth Country Park

Plod on.  Today, I have walked the entire width of a 25K explorer map.  Another climb is just what I need, this time Butser Hill.

Butser Hill.  Thankfully, the last of the day

I am that glad when a sign for East Meon comes into view that I open the polos.

Looks like I have also made it into Hampshire

Water runs out on the approach into the town.  No problem, this is a two pub town.

Its 5pm.  I pop into the shop to ask directions.  Get told that neither pub opens till 6pm.  Think about drinking some Stella on the village green.

The shop's fridge is broke.

Nothing for it, I sit outside and wait for a pub to open for the first time in my life.

I sit and wait

11/06/13 - Mappiman in Mapledurwell

Distance - 3.5 Miles
Geocaches - 2
Walk From


I find myself leaving Hampshire at 17:45 and needing to get to Hatfield for an 8am start tomorrow.  I know the M25 is going to be a nightmare at this time of day, so I have come prepared with a small walk to break up the journey and to give me a clear nocturnal run at my favourite motorway.

The walk is looking good.  Parking is at a pub, and I will check it out for post walk refreshment.

Not a bad place to start

Mapledurwell is tiny.  I'll try to tell you something interesting about it - it means Maple Tree Spring in old English.  And I needed to use Wikipedia to find that out.

Maple Tree Spring

Out the pub car park and down the roads.  The church is the only architectural thing of interest, with an interesting wooden roof.

Building of Interest

From the Churchyard

The footpath takes me past it and a bit of limbo dancing under a fence and I am out on the Tunworth Road.  Not much to report.

Then I am into fields.  Even less to report, although it does set my hayfever off.



Nice Views - No photos of Mappimn, he is snot bound

The two geocaches appear on the footpath to Five Lanes End.  This breaks up the walking and sneezing a little.  They are part of a massive series - but only two are on my route.

Five Lanes End is where five lanes all meet up.  I need to pick up the right lane to take me back to the village.

Having used the Game Keepers arms car park, I think its only fair that I should go in an use the facilities.  I was all up for eating here but on entering and seeing all the tablecloths and wine glasses, I can tell its too posh for a weary traveller that wants a real ale and a packet of scratchings.

I find alternative refreshments more suited for a man in mud splattered walking shoes.  The chef and brewer up the road.

And the M25 at 8pm?  I sailed around.