On the way to the garden centre a few days ago I spotted a signpost for a footpath and unusually space to pull the car off the road as well. So yesterday, returning from the council waste tip in Basingstoke I checked it out, this time armed with a compass as well as the map.
As it happened the map was useless. We parked at A and followed the path to B. It was simply an unadapted road at this point.
On reaching point B there was a gate and the path appeared to be the garden of a relatively new house. However there was a footpath heading north, following the white track on the map towards C. It led into the woods of Mariner’s Copse.
From here on there was a criss-cross network of small footpaths which bore no relationship to the paths and tracks on the map. We followed a couple of tracks through open woodland, noting landmarks, until reaching somewhere around D.
At this point holly bushes began to encroach on the path and it began to rain, so we returned to the car.
We will probably use this area for further exploration, maybe making my own map.
General Whiskers' semi-historical wanderings 