RINGWOOD & FORDINGBRIDGE FOOTPATH SOCIETY
For Health, Friends,
Volunteering ...
Keep Walking
What we do
We walk.
We encourage everyone, including visitors, to use the paths, particularly the Rights of Way.
We enjoy free guided walks each week. Guests are welcome to 3 free trial walks, then join as a member - see the application form.
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We work
We cover the 13 Avon Valley parishes from Breamore, Martin and Whitsbury in the north down to Ringwood including Bisterne
Our volunteer work groups, in co-operation with Hampshire County Council and local parish councils, help with path clearance and special projects
We survey the Rights of Way in "our" parishes on a rolling annual rota, checking the paths for obstructions and access problems, including signposts and waymarks
We talk to local councils and authorities, and landowners about co-operation on developers plans, improvements, and maintenance
We meet friends
Social events for walking and non-walking members incude:
Monthly evening meetings at Greyfriars in Ringwood (from October to March)
The Christmas Party
The Mid-Summer picnic
The Trig Point summer evening party
The Society "adopted" the Trig Point near the Whitefield Plantation on Ibsley Common and celebrates that with a backpack picnic every July.
We keep in touch
Our quarterly members' magazine, “Waymark”, is published on-line in March, June, September and December; download the latest issue now
This website keeps you up to date with Society news and events:-
The email Alert system lets you know about any urgent news
Our Facebook page is updated daily with the walks for the week ahead and great photos.
Please feel free to post photos or comments on our FACEBOOK PAGE.
It is good to stay connected and exchange news about how much exercise and good fun we all have. Facebook is, after all, a way of keeping in touch with one another.
Summer Solstice Dawn Walk from Abbots Well
Good News for the Avon Valley Path on the Ringwood Water Meadows
Led by Jake and Kate from Hampshire Countryside Service, Trevor, Steve, Mike and Bill helped to install a new kissing gate on the Castleman Trailway crossing.
The AVP across the water meadows south of the Bickerley in Ringwood has had a sad history for several years. However, improvements started with the work by Hampshire Countryside Service on the bridges at Hampshire Hatches, followed by the replacement of the boardwalk nearest the Bickerley and the new bridge by the sluice gate.
The stile where the Path crosses the Castleman Trailway has long been a challenge (see the photo - top right) as the existing iron support posts have been assessed as heritage relics from the 1850s. Lengths of railway track were folded, bolted together and set in concrete, all along the Castleman Corkscrew. Taller posts were used for single level-crossing gates on lanes or tracks and shorter versions for hanging pedestrian gates.
Jake and Kate at Hampshire Countryside Sevice solved the problem by finding a metal kissing-gate which could be installed on the other side of the field entrance, leaving a barrier for the ponies and cattle on the old railway track posts (photo lower right).
Once again the circular walk is possible from the Bickerley, across the water meadows to the ford at Hampshire Hatches and up the lane to the reopened path back to Christchurch Road near the David Lloyd Club.
Our path clearance team works hard to keep the vegetation cut back. If you would like to help with that work Bill Morley will be glad to hear from you - 07709 180329
© 2026 www.rffs.org.uk
