Walk 65. Lepe to Beaulieu

 Today’s walk starts at Lepe Country Park, where it is a lot sunnier and hotter than last time!

I’m heading this way, toward the Beaulieu River…

So I set off and after a few minutes pass this rather exposed looking house! Called the Watch House, it is now used as a holiday let.

The beach is quite narrow along here, but it’s another hour and a half before high tide so I should be all right!

Helpful warning sign - it’ll be fine!

Starting to look a bit dodgy…

Fortunately the log palisade is only a couple of hundred yards long, and the beach opens up again once I get past it. My boots get a bit wet but my feet stay dry!

Just a few minutes later I come to the end of the beach. This is where the Beaulieu River flows into the sea  and the coast becomes impassable mudflats and salt marsh. Like much of the New Forest coastline, it seems, this is also private land with no public access.

To cross the river I have to walk upstream to the village of Beaulieu itself, where the nearest bridge is located. Sadly, because of the private land thing, there is no pleasant riverside walk available so I have to take the road.

Luckily there is not much traffic!

After about half an hour I reach the village of Exbury, where there is a very picturesque church…

…and Exbury Gardens visitor attraction…

Nearly a mile and a half past Exbury Gardens I walk over a cattle grid. The grid is there to control possibly the most famous thing about the New Forest - yep, ponies!

Everybody go aahhhh…

Just another mile down a busier road later I arrive in Beaulieu. This is famous for being the location of the National Motor Museum which houses a very interesting collection of vehicles. I can’t see it from anywhere along my route, but there is a definite increase in the number of classic cars passing me by!

My finish point today is the bridge over the river - and a very lovely spot it is too…

Walk 64. Fawley to Lepe

 Today’s walk starts in a damp Fawley…

I head down the road to Ashlett…

Ashlett is just a short ten minute walk, and seems to consist of a marina, a pub, and an impressive old tide mill…

There is a footpath sign here showing two different routes - one high tide, one low tide. As I am checking the tide times on my phone, a local old seadog tells me the low tide route is only impassable about once every five years! Local government arse-covering knows no limits!

So I take the low tide route past the mudflats…

A few minutes later I come to the site of the now-disused Fawley power station. Part of it has been demolished, but some buildings remain and appear to be still used in some sort of industrial capacity.

The path passes this lot on the seaward side and includes a high-security bridge…

Once past the old power station site, I have a short walk beside some more mudflats before arriving at the beach at Calshot…

Although the way ahead lies to the right, I want to explore Calshot Spit first so I turn left. 

The spit is closely connected with the early days of aviation. It was a flying boat base for many years and was also the venue for the Schneider Trophy air races in the 1920s and 30s. Today, three of the old hangers still survive - one of which is now an activity centre.

Also perched on the end of the spit is a lifeboat station and coastguard lookout tower…

…and Calshot Castle - yet another coastal defence fort built by Henry VIII. Busy boy, old Henry…

I walk back down the spit and head onto the beach toward the village of Calshot, past about a million brightly coloured beach huts…!

Now, at this point I could continue along the beach for a way. But research suggests that a chunk of the beach ahead is private and blocked by a very effective fence. As all of the coastal land is also private with no public access, the only option is the road!

So I turn away from the coast (on my coastal walk) and head up the hill into Calshot village…

In the village there is a footpath through a wood that ‘cuts a corner’ of the road walk, but a few hundred yards later I am back on the road. It looks like this…

And it continues to look like that for nearly two-and-a-half miles!

Eventually I arrive at the beach at Lepe Country Park, just in time to be caught in a sudden downpour! Fortunately this is my finish point for today so I can now go and find some shelter!

Walk 63. Eling to Fawley

 Today I’m back at the toll bridge over the creek in Eling.

On the south side of the creek I head toward the church. On the map a public footpath is shown running from the church down to the shore, then along the shoreline for a short distance. My research suggests that it is actually possible to continue along the shore all the way to Marchwood. As the alternative is walking along the road a short way inland, I decide to give it a go - readers of my last walk will probably be thinking I’m an idiot who doesn’t learn from his mistakes!

The path crosses a meadow to the bank of the River Test opposite Southampton docks…

I follow the path towards the woods. It gets boggier and muddier, and less ‘beachy’ the closer I get…

Just as I’m wondering how do-able this route is, the path heads into the woods. It’s a bit overgrown, but passable!

I have occasional views of the water through the bushes, featuring plenty of boat action…

Mostly however, its woodland all the way…

After about half an hour in the woods, I emerge onto a bit of beach (still opposite the docks!)…

I am now at Marchwood, and have a nice bit of seawall to walk on past some expensive-looking riverside flats built on an old Royal Navy base…

My way is now blocked by a large area of industry, so I have to head inland through the residential streets of Marchwood - nice enough but a bit dull!

Leaving Marchwood, just as the buildings stop so does the pavement. Not dodgy at all…

Fortunately I only have to walk down here for less than ten minutes, then I turn left down a small lane towards Veal’s Farm.

At the bottom of the lane is a public footpath that runs for nearly two miles all the way to Hythe. It is well-surfaced, east to walk on, and I don’t see a single other person all the way!

So I arrive in Hythe, which has a nice little town centre beside the sea - the Rivers Test and Itchen have now joined together, forming Southampton Water!

The town has a long pier…

Up until very recently there was a ferry service across to Southampton, but it has now gone into administration and closed down. There is an old narrow gauge railway built to take ferry passengers down the pier, and this is still running - presumably hanging on as a tourist attraction!

For anyone walking the official King Charles III England Coast Path this all presents a bit of a problem. The ferry was part of it! But fear not - the train driver (above - in red) told me that the King has been informed…

Leaving Hythe, I walk past a small industrial area then past a marshland nature reserve.

After a few minutes the road turns inland. This is the point where the coast becomes impassable due to the vast Fawley oil refinery. So I continue along the road, over an apparently little-used level crossing…

…and turn left along a small lane. This soon becomes a track through the woods…

A pleasant twenty minutes later the path comes out on the A326, which is quite busy but it does at least have a pavement!

This road runs past the oil refinery on the left and the small town of Holbury on the right. Despite the huge size of the pipes and tanks and stuff, you can’t actually see much of the refinery from the road thanks to all the greenery!

About a mile down the road is a junction where I fork left towards the village of Fawley. There are no visible pavements so I’m steeling myself for another, longer, walk down a fast road when I discover a footpath hidden behind a hedge! This opens out onto a large park area…

Handily this takes me the rest of the way to the village of Fawley, my finish point for today!