Course
The Avon begins as two separate rivers. The western Avon rises to the east of Devizes, draining the Vale of Pewsey, and the eastern Avon rises just east of Pewsey. These two merge at Upavon, flowing southwards across Salisbury Plain through Durrington, Amesbury and Salisbury. To the south of Salisbury it enters the Hampshire Basin, flowing along the western edge of the New Forest through Fordingbridge and Ringwood, meeting up with the river Stour at Christchurch, to flow into Christchurch Harbour and the English Channel at Mudeford.
All the significant direct and indirect tributaries of the Avon, including the Nadder, Wylye, Bourne and Ebble, converge within a short distance around Salisbury.
About half of the length of the river is within Wiltshire, and only relatively short proportions are entirely within the current boundaries of Hampshire or Dorset. However for part of its path the river forms the border between Dorset and Hampshire, and prior to the 1974 reorganization of local government the whole of the section now in or bordering Dorset was wholly within Hampshire. As there are two rivers with the name Avon in Wiltshire, this led to the river being popularly known as the Hampshire Avon or the Salisbury Avon.
The Avon Valley Path parallels the river from Salisbury to Christchurch.
Read more about this topic: River Avon (Hampshire)