Test Way
44-mile footpath in southern England
title: "Test Way" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["footpaths-in-berkshire", "footpaths-in-hampshire", "long-distance-footpaths-in-england"] description: "44-mile footpath in southern England" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Way" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 44-mile footpath in southern England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox hiking trail"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Test Way |
| photo | Combe_Gibbet_views_-_east.jpg |
| caption | The Test Way near Combe Gibbet, Berkshire |
| location | Hampshire, England |
| length_mi | 44 |
| trailheads | *Inkpen Hill in West Berkshire |
|
| *Eling in Hampshire
{{coord |50.912|-1.4807|region:GB|display | inline}} |
| use | Hiking |
| waymark | [[File:Test Way Waymarker.jpg|x50px]] |
| website | |
| season | All year |
| map | |
::
|name=Test Way |photo=Combe_Gibbet_views_-_east.jpg |caption=The Test Way near Combe Gibbet, Berkshire |location=Hampshire, England |designation= |length_mi=44 |trailheads=*Inkpen Hill in West Berkshire
|use=Hiking |elev_change= | waymark = [[File:Test Way Waymarker.jpg|x50px]] |highest= |lowest= | website = |difficulty= |season=All year |sights= |hazards= | map = | map_name = | map_caption = | map_size = | map_alt =
The Test Way is a 44 mi long-distance footpath in England from Walbury Hill in West Berkshire to Eling in Hampshire, which follows much of the course of the River Test.
The northern end of the footpath starts in the car park on Walbury Hill. It passes through the towns of Romsey and Totton and the villages of Linkenholt, Ibthorpe, Hurstbourne Tarrant, St Mary Bourne, Longparish, Forton, Wherwell, Chilbolton, Stockbridge, Horsebridge and Mottisfont. The southern end of the footpath is at Eling Quay.
The trail also passes alongside Horsebridge railway station. Much of the route between Kimbridge and Chilbolton follows the route of the former Andover and Redbridge Railway.
The entire route is waymarked by metal and plastic disks found attached to wooden and metal posts, trees and street furniture. There are several wooden 'finger' signs along the route that count down the number of miles along the footpath in both directions.
This route is shown as a series of green diamonds on Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 maps and as a series of red diamonds on Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Test_Way_sign.jpg" caption="The Test Way."] ::
Places of interest
The following places of interest and hills can be found along the length of the Test Way, listed from Walbury Hill:
- Combe Gibbet
- Ham Hill
- Hart Hill Down
- Wallop Hill Down
- Mottisfont Abbey
- Roke Manor
- Lower Test nature reserve
The route
These maps show the footpath in relation to nearby major roads. Maps are not on the same scale. ::data[format=table] | [[File:Test Way Map Section 1.png|thumb|right|150px|Walbury Hill to Hurstbourne Tarrant]] | [[File:Test Way Map Section 2.png|thumb|right|150px|Hurstbourne Tarrant to Longparish]] | [[File:Test Way Map Section 3.png|thumb|right|150px|Longparish to Stockbridge]] | [[File:Test Way Map Section 4.png|thumb|right|150px|Stockbridge to Kimbridge]] | [[File:Test Way Map Section 5.png|thumb|right|150px|Kimbridge to Eling]] | |---|---|---|---|---| ::
References
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::