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Gosport Walks

9.20 miles (14.8 km)

Ordnance Survey Map Open Streetmap This Hampshire based coastal town sits on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite the city of Portsmouth. It's a fine place for a walk with old coastal forts, lakes, lovely sea views and an interesting naval history.
This walk follows the Solent Way across the sea front to Alver Valley Country Park.
The walk starts in Falkland Gardens next to the Gosport Ferry Terminal where there are great views over Portsmouth Harbour and the boats of the Royal Naval Dockyard. From here you can pick up the Solent Way and follow the waymarked footpath west across Haslar Lake to Clayhall. You continue to the coast where you'll come to Fort Gilkicker, a historic Palmerston fort built during the mid 19th century.
The route then turns north west to head along Stokes Bay where there is a shingle beach and nice sea views. You will then pass Browndown before entering the Alver Valley Country Park. There's some pleasant boardwalk trails along the River Alver with lots of wildlife to see in the nature reserve area of the park.
If you would like to extend the walk then you could continue west along the coast path to visit neigbouring Lee on Solent and the wildlife rich Titchfield Haven in Fareham.

Postcode

PO12 1AH - Please note: Postcode may be approximate for some rural locations

Gosport OS Map Ordnance survey map - Mobile GPS OS Map with Location tracking

Gosport Open Street Map Open Streetmap - Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking

Pubs/Cafes

Lakeside Cafe And Bar is located in a lovely spot overlooking the model yacht club lake. Here you can sit on the balcony and enjoy a delicious range of meals with a great view of the model boats and the swans on the lake. You can find them at Walpole Pk, South St, PO12 1FA.

Dog Walking

The Gosport beaches are a nice place to bring your dog for a walk. Dogs can use Gilker end of beach all year round main part of beach dogs only October to May. Alver Valley Park is also dog friendly.

Further Information and Other Local Ideas

Catch the ferry across the harbour and you can try the Portsmouth and Southsea Coastal Walk. You'll visit Southsea Common and Southsea Castle with great views of the famous Spinnaker Tower. You can also learn about the area's maritime history on the walk.

Photos

Falklands Gardens, Gosport - geograph.org.uk - 389628

Falklands Gardens, Gosport. Looking east across the Portsmouth Harbour from the Gosport side,towards HMS Victory in the Royal Naval Dockyard on the left, and HMS Warrior 1860 on the right.

Looking towards Haslar Lake - geograph.org.uk - 1038436

Looking towards Haslar Lake

Lake near Fort Gilkicker (1) - geograph.org.uk - 2543806

Lake near Fort Gilkicker

Fort Gilkicker - geograph.org.uk - 878416

Fort Gilkicker

Sea front at Stokes Bay - geograph.org.uk - 1145016

Sea front at Stokes Bay

View of the beach from Fort Gilkicker - geograph.org.uk - 431345

View of the beach from Fort Gilkicker

Looking westwards at Stokes Bay - geograph.org.uk - 1425515

Looking westwards at Stokes Bay

Boardwalk on Alver Valley trail - geograph.org.uk - 268472

Boardwalk on Alver Valley trail in Alver Valley Country Park.

Video

GPS Files

GPX File

Gosport.gpx (On Desktop:Right Click>Save As. On Ipad/Iphone:Click and hold>Download Linked File)