BOAT: Polhampton Lane

• Overall Rating: 2
• Location: Quidhampton, Hampshire.
• OS Explorer Map 144, 'Basingstoke, Alton and Whitchurch, Odiham, Overton and Hook'.
• Starting OS Grid Reference: SU526512
• Starting GPS Co-ordinates: N51 25' 70" W001 24' 80"
• Finishing OS Grid Reference: SU527507  
• Finishing GPS Co-ordinates:  N51 25' 70" W001 24' 80"
• To see: source of the River Test.
• ALWAYS follow the Greenlane Code!

For want of a better name (I've not been able to find one for this greenlane, otherwise called 'Byway 25' on the definitive map) I've named this lane Polhampton Lane. This short byway starts out southwards from another unnamed country lane on a surface of compacted earth and gravel which is slightly rutted in places. The lane is for the most part well maintained and encroaching foliage is never a threat.

Rolling ever downhill towards the Test Valley, the hill passes under the London-Salisbury mainline just east of Quidhampton station and continues on a grassy surface between well-groomed hedgerows that delineate the field boundary until you reach a cottage called Polhampton House, where the lane ends all too soon. Not the longest of lanes, and therefore not much in its favour compared to others in this area.

For those interested in such things, today we were pretty stoked out to claim our third river source since this project began: that of the River Test (at SU532498, see marker on map below). It can only be reached on foot, but a quick stroll down the footpath to the south of this lane will get you there. During the drought conditions of March 2012 the source was worryingly drier than the proverbial bone (see picture below), yet the river still flowed with full force further downstream.

This is Hampshire County Council Byway 25.

River Test: where's all the water gone?!

View Polhampton Lane in a larger map