Leg 1 Emsworth to Warblington Church
From the start head down the road left around the bend and, just after the ice cream shop (on the left) turn right onto a cobbled area which leads onto a narrow footbridge to the sea wall.
Run around the sea wall and at the end run ahead onto a narrow footpath to the right of the sailing club. This leads to the concrete coast path.
Follow this path which becomes a narrow stony or grass path when the concrete ends. When the path ends and you cross a small pebble beach area and stream the coast path turns left to follow the shoreline. We want the path straight ahead into the woods on a hard packed earth track. This heads to a kissing gate, straight ahead across a field and then through another kissing gate. At the junction of tracks keep ahead along the narrow path with the church wall on your right.
At the end of the path, by the road, this leg ends. If you are the main runner running this leg you need to carry straight on into leg 2.
Leg 2 Warblington Church to West Leigh
Go straight ahead into the cemetery with the childrens graves immediately on your left. At the end turn left and look out for an easy to miss kissing gate on the right hand side after about 60 metres. Go through this gate and head diagonally left across the field to a gate which leads back to the coastal path.
Turn right onto the path heading towards Hayling Island bridge. Ignore the 1st right turn and drop down onto the beach with wooden stakes holding the sea at bay to your right. The path goes up a small concrete incline with a seat at the top. Turn right here and follow a hard packed mud track into the woods. After a short distance you come to a white house on your right and the track becomes tarmac. Keep ahead.
A short distance further turn onto a short path going diagonally left between 2 small fields. At the end of the path cross the small bridge and turn right onto the tarmac Hayling Billy cycle trail.
Keep ahead along this trail and when the trail joins a road look out for the path continuing slightly right and under a bridge when the road curls left up the incline.
When the path ends through some simulated level crossing gates turn right onto the road and cross the railway crossing. Keep ahead along New lane passing a number of industrial buildings on the right.
At the main road turn right, cross the road and then go left into Wakefords Way
Keep ahead along this road which has houses on the left and a green area to the right.
After ½ mile on the right hand side of the road you get to a car park with a sports pavilion. This is the end of leg 2.
Leg 3 West Leigh to Rowlands Castle
From the sports pavilion head left across the field aiming for the white house in the distance. Cross a stile and then aim for a point 50 metres right of the white house across another field.
Cross two stiles close together and bear right onto a track.
At the road turn right and cross the bridge extreme care needed!
Once over the bridge turn left and follow footpath sign through gate and along grass track.
Keep following path, sometimes indistinct, ahead through fields eventually coming out to a road.
Turn left along road and under tall railway bridge.
Ahead you will see Rowlands Castle green with a distinct tree nearest to you.
Cross the road and the leg ends at the other side of the tree.
Leg 4 Rowlands Castle to Finchdean
Run back towards to bridge but turn left up Bowes Hill. Ignore right turn and continue up the hill.
After 100 metres turn right into a housing estate (Uplands Lane). After a short while the road opens out onto a green. Go left and look out for an easy to miss footpath between houses (there was a big W painted on the no cycling sign by the footpath entrance in April 2008). Run up the footpath and turn right at top.
Run past houses and look out for the Sussex Border Path footpath sign. It s easy to miss and is where the wide track carries straight ahead but the footpath goes left and then right to leave the houses behind.
Once on the footpath proper continue ahead on obvious path. At junction with road go right down hill. At road junction turn left and keep left at centre of village. Keep on this road until a footpath sign takes you into a field and you then run alongside the road but the other side of the hedge. The leg ends by a stile where the footpath turns sharp right uphill.
Leg 5 Finchdean to Chalton
From the changeover point by the stile head up the hill on the footpath. The path continues uphill for a while. At a junction of tracks by some trees turn left continuing uphill on a path that gradually curls round to the right keeping the field on your right and the trees on the left. Ignore the footpaths that appear on the left.
Eventually you will see a footpath that crosses a stile in to a field on your left just before some power lines. The path heads on uphill across this field to reach the brow of the hill at last!
Continue ahead on an obvious path through crops dropping downhill all the time. Eventually you will come to a stile that leaves the field on the left. Head on down the grass heading for the church which is about 400 metres away.
The path crosses another stile and cemetery with the church on the left to end as the path goes under a lynch gate.
This is the next changeover point.
Leg 6 Chalton to Buriton
From the Lynch gate keep to the right of the small green area, and at the road not the track immediately right go right up the hill, ignoring the path sign immediately in front.
After 400 metres bear left onto a wide track. This track continues slightly uphill for a short distance before dropping down on a if wet slippery chalk track.
At the road go left. The small country road has the main railway line down to your right before is bears left away and then drops downhill. When the trees on the right end and after a few metres of hedge turn right and cross a stile into a large field. Take care not to go into the field by the gate which is at the start of the field but go ahead a few metres to the stile is by a gap in the hedge!
The obvious path climbs steadily uphill and eventually crests the hill and drops down left to a stile into the woods.
Go ahead onto a wide forest track across a junction of tracks and up and lots more up to crest the hill and along the flat section, all the time with woods on either side of the track (part of Queen Elizabeth Country Park). Just before the main track climbs slightly and curves left, ignoring the obvious wide grass track that drops down to the right (this track is out of bounds!), but after a few more metres take the narrow path that goes into the trees and drops quickly downhill.
The path eventually curves round to the right and onto a narrow country road. Turn right here and, just after a wide track goes uphill to the right, go left onto a narrow easy to miss narrow footpath which drops down into the woods.
Follow this footpath that continually drops downhill in the woods as it curls round the hillside. Take great care as the path drops steeply downhill to a stile very slippery if wet!
Cross the stile and go ahead across a field to the stile near the church. The stile is the changeover point.
Leg 7 Buriton to Petersfield
From the stile go round by the front of the church and go right onto the road.
After a few metres turn left up Bones lane. After a large house with a protruding upstairs room go right and then onto a narrow footpath. After a few metres go left through a gate and enter a grassy valley.
Keep to the left of the hillside, resisting the urge to drop down to the valley floor. Keep ahead on a path that sometimes becomes indistinct and cross a number of stiles.
Eventually look out as the path drops to a stile over a stream. Cross the stile and go right to cross another stile. Keeping the hedgerow immediately on the right run through the field to then cross a bridge and go across a field to a caravan park. The stile is by a large sign in the field corner.
Go left into the caravan park and at the road junction turn right. Go up to the park office and then take the narrow path immediately opposite. Go along the path and then up the wider track to eventually bear left to the main road where this leg ends.
The baton will be handed to the next runner by a marshal so no runner has to run across the main road.
Leg 8 Petersfield to Steep
From the handover point run along Cranford road. This road then becomes Borough Road and makes a wide curve round to the right. After a while a go left into a grass area and then climb right up the hill. At the top of the grass turn left, cross the railway footbridge and then turn right along Bedford Road. At the road junction bear left into Frenchmans Road and continue to the main road.
At the main road turn right and then left following footpath sign between VW garage buildings. At a junction of tracks keep ahead for a short distance to come to a road and bear slightly left along this road ignoring the footpath on the right.
The Hangar Way footpath is then obviously ahead as the road goes right with a road also going slightly left. Go through the gap to the left of the gate and continue onto the footpath.
This path crosses the main A3 road and at a t junction of tracks turn right on a path that then curls left following the edge of the school field with a small wood on the right.
The leg ends where the path comes out onto the road by the church.
Leg 9 Steep to Hawkley
Go into the field opposite the church and go slightly right of the tree with the seat beneath to find a track going down through the woods - frequently wet.
At the bottom go over a stile and keep left around a very muddy field to a usually wet metal kissing gate. Turn right onto the road and, as the road goes right, go ahead up a short narrow footpath by a waterfall. At the top turn left to follow an obvious path.
Keep following the path which is joined by a track from the left to eventually come to a t junction with a road.
Ignore the Hangars Way sign to go left but instead turn right and after a short distance turn left to go up a field to some woods. As you enter the woods take the middle path that climbs steeply uphill onto some steps and then onto a steep hillside (Shoulder of Mutton Hill) that climbs up the Hanger on a good day the views south are worth the effort.
At the top go ahead into the woods around a stile, ignoring the track from the right with a red horse route sign, to the wide track t junction with a fence in front. Turn right and after a short distance go left over a stile. Cross the left hand side of the field and follow the footpath that then goes right and then come to a stile as the path starts to go steeply downhill. Go on steeply downhill through the field and cross another stile. Go round the right hand side of the field which then goes left to a stile by a house. Cross the stile and go on down the path to a road at the bottom of the hill.
The path goes over a stile slightly right of ahead. Follow this sometimes indistinct path through the narrow grass field to then go round the left of the field with trees on your left. The path curves left to end to the left of a house and goes up a narrow path to a tarmaced track. Go ahead to end the leg at the junction with the road by the village green.
Leg 10 Hawkley to Vann Farm
From the changeover point go left on the road keeping left as the road joins from the left.
Look out for a short road on the right by some houses with a footpath sign. Go right here passed the houses and then into a filed to some woods.
Enter the woods and almost immediately turn right following the Hangars Way sign. The path then stays just inside the woods with a field to the right and continues undulating around the hillside.
Where a path goes slightly left of ahead take the right hand path down and then around to the left to continue as before around the edge of the woods ignoring paths that exit the woods.
Eventually you go down and then up some steps. After this the path exits the woods into a field. Go around the left hand edge of the field to come to a stile and then comes to a road by a house.
Turn left onto the road for 100 meters to end the leg where a footpath sign goes right by a gate and stile.
Leg 11 Vann Farm to Selborne
From the stile by the gate run into the field following the Hanger Way footpath. At a stile (was broken as of 03/08) keep ahead. Cross another stile to go into a small country road and go right over a small bridge by a ford.
Cross the road and go over a stile into a field. Keep to the right of the field and where the trees end on the right cross another stile into the next field.
Aim for the tree line at the top of the field at a point approximately 30 degrees right of the left hand edge on an indistinct (nothing visible as of 03/08). Cross the stile into the woods and climb on a path that goes right for a few metres and then left. The path climbs steeply to the top of the hanger (Noar Hill).
At a junction of tracks turn right on a wide forest track. After approximately 500 metres bear left uphill on a narrow easy to miss footpath. Note that if you miss this path you will end up in the same place but it is much further and you end up running down the hill and back up again!
Continue on the narrower path that eventually widens out and skirts around the top of the Hanger a Hanger (or Hangra) is a wooded slope.
The track eventually drops down off the hill onto a hard track. Bear right on the small road to the bottom of the hill. Cross the road and over a stile into a small field. Follow the footpath around the field edge to eventually leave it in the right hand corner. DO NOT BE TEMPTED TO CUT DIAGONALLY ACROSS THE FIELD AS THE OWNER WILL NOT BE HAPPY!
Go through a v stile, keep ahead then through another v stile keeping ahead. Where the footpath comes to a choice of a narrow footpath or a wide track to its right both going the same way keep on the narrow path.
At the end of the path keep ahead as you join a stony then tarmaced country lane. At the bottom of the lane by the pub is the change over point.
Leg 12 Selborne to East Worldham
From the changeover point go down to the main road, turn left and cross over. Just before the Queen Inn turn right down Huckers Lane. As the lane drops steeply down go over a stile in the left into a field.
The footpath goes diagonally right across the field to a footbridge. Follow the Hangar Way signs as the path stays under the trees through Long Lythe. After a while the trees end and the fence goes round to the left. Keep ahead and go down to cross into next field - don't go down to the lake.
The Hangar Way path then goes left and then right into the woods. Keep through the woods along a wide track to eventually go past some houses and come to a road. Turn right and after a house on the left go left through a gate into a woods following the Hangar Way signs. Keep following the Hangar Way signs through the woods and around the right hand side of a small fishing lake.
Eventually you come out of some woods with a pilon ahead. keep right of the pilon just left of the edge of the next field to a couple of gates and a small bridge over a stream.
When you come to a lake keep left and then bear right towards the left of the barn and farm house. Go onto a tarmaced track to the main road - TAKE CARE. Cross the road and slightly right go in someone's drive and see a footpath going steeply up to a gate. Follow the path which skirts around the back of a number of houses. Go onto a track to the changeover point by the road.
Leg 13 East Worldham to Holybourne
Go across the field and then skirt around the back of a couple of houses the other side of a stream. At the tarmaced track go right and then left around a gate. Through a small wood and the as you exit it take the less distinct path diagonally right to pass the woods ahead on your left hand side. Go onto a wide track and eventually pass between some farm buildings. At the road turn left to go steeply down to an underpass. After the underpass keep slightly left onto the road under the railway until you get to the main road.
Go left and then right by the old chapel. Keep ahead ignoring the footpath to the left. At the top of the path, where a path comes in from the right, turn left. The changeover is where the footpath comes out onto a road.
Leg 14 Holybourne to Shalden
Follow the small lane along and then left. Immediately after going left go right onto a newly reconstructed path. At a junction by playing fields bear right and keep to the left hand side as the path widens with a grass area on the right. At the end of the path - where there is a gap in the hedge immediately in front of you - turn right and steadily climb uphill. After 2k of climbing the path goes left onto a hard track and the comes out at a road - CARE. Go right and after a short distance go left steeply down a recently hard packed track. At a path junction go right uphill - NOT STRAIGHT AHEAD. The path then goes left to eventually drop down steeply to a busy fast road STOP - TAKE CARE.
Cross the road onto a tarmaced drive and then a wide track steadily climbing. At the top the track drops down to the changeover by the village hall.
Leg 15 Shalden to Avenue Nurseries
From the changeover point go along the road. At the t junction turn right and go up a gentle hill - is there such a thing? Look out for a gate on the left hand side which leads into a small sports field.
Aim for the far left of the field where you meet a path coming in from the left and join it as it goes slightly right. The footpath is obvious as it leads you over stiles and around the edges of fields etc.
Eventually (not that far as it is a short leg) you come to a woods and a cross roads of paths. You want the path that is slightly right of straight ahead. If youve got the right path another couple of minutes will bring you within sight of Avenue Nurseries on the right.
Cross the main road care needed to the changeover point in the small road directly opposite.
Leg 16 Avenue Nurseries to Herriard
Keep ahead on the short road in the trees and, after a few metres, go onto a bridleway veering slightly left of the tarmaced road. This goes steadily downhill on a frequently muddy track.
Near the bottom turn left onto byway. Keep ahead on this track and after it bends left keep left to pass to the right of some farm buildings.
When you come to a quiet country road turn left towards Herriard.
You will after a short distance come to a phone box just before a pub nice food. Go right here onto a short footpath to end the leg this side of the busy A339.
Leg 17 Herriard to Ellisfield leg starts with a marshal run baton changeover
Run into the left hand field behind the bus stop and continue straight ahead on an obvious footpath.
At a junction with the road turn left along it for approx 500 metres. When you get to a telephone box turn right onto a tarmaced farm track.
After a short distance go through the stile into the field on the right. The path then bears left to skirt round the left hand side of the field. Pass a gate to farm buildings and, when the fence turns sharp left keep straight ahead to a kissing into the next field.
Go 45 degrees left across the field to another kissing gate. Go left onto a track and then immediately go right down a track on a sharp incline. After a few metres where the track splits go left and follow the footpath with the copse on your right.
When you get to a gate go through into a small paddock and aim for the small gate in the top left hand corner which leads out onto a tarmaced farm track.
Go right on the track which passes the rest of the paddock and then curls left. At a track junction keep straight ahead and continue into the woods.
After leaving the woods go 45 degrees right over an open field to come to a crossroads of tracks. TURN LEFT HERE!
At the road go right and keep ahead to the t junction. Go slightly left and then immediately right onto an easy to miss footpath.
Follow the footpath which eventually skirts around the right hand edge of a field with small woods on your right hand side. The path goes sharp right and then shortly after bears diagonally left across the field. Cross a stile to end at the change over point by Ellisfield village hall.
Leg 18 Ellisfield to Cliddesden
Run up the bridleway alongside the village hall which opens out to a wide track that climbs gradually inside a narrow copse. The path then narrows, still climbing, but carries on ahead. Eventually the path starts to fall gently and comes out of the copse. Run along the left hand edge of the field ignoring paths to the left and then the right.
The path then goes onto a wide grass area and about 3/4 way down this grass look out for an easy to miss footpath sign by a narrow path that goes diagonally right to come out on a wide track. If you miss the path keep to the end of the grass and turn right onto a wide track with a field on your left.
Keep along this track and when you pass through around a gate to a junction of tracks take the left hand fork on the track that bears left and then right up a very steep but short section of stony track. If you go under the bridge you have taken the wrong track!
At the top of the little hill turn left to run along the disused railway line last seen in the file Oh Mr Porter.
The track comes down to a tarmaced farm lane. Turn left and run to the end, climbing slightly. At the end of the tarmac turn right to ascend a steep stony track. This track undulates for about a kilometre to come out by a road junction.
Go left and then almost immediately right to run downhill heading for the village below.
The leg (and race) ends at the village hall which is reached by a very short access road a short distance down the hill.
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