Walk 68. Milford-on-Sea to Highcliffe

 Today’s walk will just be a short one because I want to finish on the Hampshire/Dorset border. This is located just five miles away and runs between Barton-on-Sea and Highcliffe up the Chewton Bunny.

Up the what-now? The Chewton Bunny. Apparently a ‘bunny’ is a local dialect word for a cleft in a cliff!

So I start at the carpark admiring the view - bright sunny day, calm water, The Needles in the distance…

I set off along Milford seafront which rises almost imperceptibly until the beach is backed by a low cliff…

Along the way are a couple of access point down to the beach which seems full of very colourful beach huts…

I have a choice to make here. I can stay on the cliff top path, or I can go down onto the beach and walk along the pebbles. Surprisingly, the pebbles lost!

The cliff path is actually very nice despite swarms of the same weird flies that I encountered last time!

For anyone still puzzled by the bunny stuff - this is Beckton Bunny…

Shortly I’m approaching Barton-on-Sea. Down on the beach I can see more beach huts and what looks like a nice path! 

At Barton I am going to abandon the clifftop and continue along the beach. Between Barton and Chewton Bunny the England Coast Path turns inland along a couple of roads on account of a Holiday Village being in the way. The owners of which have decided to block members of the public from walking along the cliff. Cheers guys…

The beach route is officially closed due to unstable ground and potential landslides, but my research suggests that it is passable depending on the tide!

Down on the beach, a short way past the beach huts, I encounter this impenetrable barrier…

I step round it and continue on my way. A little way along, the beach runs out and I have to scramble over the rocks a bit!

Once over the rocky bit it’s a nice stroll along Naish beach…

About twenty minutes later I arrive at Chewton Bunny. Disappointingly, there is no county border sign but this little stream seems to be it!

So there we go, another county ticked off!

Walk 67. Lymington to Milford-on-Sea

After a bit of a break for heatwaves, wildfires, etc, I’m back with the next coast walk!

I start today back at the road bridge over the Lymington River…

Once again, there is no actual riverside path here so I walk southwards through the streets of Lymington. After about five minutes I pass through the small but picturesque ‘old town’ bit…

A few minutes further and I find a seawall to walk along…

Across the river the Isle of Wight ferry is loading up…

There are boats everywhere…

So much so that the public footpath cuts straight through a boatyard!

The other side of the boatyard is the start of the path around the Lymington and Keyhaven salt marshes. This is a large area of saltmarsh that is now a nature reserve. The footpath is a nice firm gravel job on top of a raised seawall separating the marshes from the Solent, and is a very pleasant walk in the sunshine. There are a scattering of other people about, dog-walking, cycling, etc, including one bloke on a bike dressed as a pirate!

About an hour and a half later I’m finally approaching the end of the path at the small village of Keyhaven…

In Keyhaven you can get a small ferry to Hurst Castle at the far end of Hurst Spit…

Past the village there is another stretch of marshy seawall path that is not so pleasant due to vast swarms of a strange species of fly. Fortunately it only takes ten minutes to reach the end of the path - the flies don’t seem to like the road!

Five minutes down the road I cross this little bridge…

I climb up the shingle bank beyond and am rewarded with a beautiful view across the Solent to The Needles…

This shingle bank is called Hurst Spit and juts a mile out into the Solent. At the far end is Hurst Castle and a lighthouse…

Doesn’t look too far, right? 

Oh…

Regular readers will know how much I love walking over pebbles!

Just a short twenty-five minutes later I arrive at the castle. Hurst Castle was originally yet another one of Henry VIII’s coastal forts, and was extended in the mid-19th Century. Today it is run by English Heritage and is open to the public.

This is where the ferry from Keyhaven docks. Seems a more popular method of getting here than the walk down the spit. Can’t imagine why…

I walk past the castle to have a look at the lighthouse - apparently it is still a working light and so not open to the public.

Across the water is Fort Albert on the Isle of Wight. It looks incredibly close from here being just under a mile away!

So that is Hurst Spit - time to plod back along the pebbles.

I walk back along the spit and continue the short distance to Milford-on-Sea where I finish today’s walk at a handy carpark. Next time it’s the final leg of Hampshire!

Walk 66. Beaulieu to Lymington

 So I’m back in Beaulieu on a lovely sunny day that’s not quite as hot as it has been recently! The village is full of donkeys…

From the bridge the path turns left beside the pub…

Once past a few houses the path follows, I believe, the route of an old narrow-gauge railway. Hence the straightness!

About three-quarters of a mile from Beaulieu I pass Bailey’s Hard - the reason for the railway!

The path continues through woodland, although there are occasional glimpses of the river, all the way to Bucklers Hard.

Bucklers Hard is a preserved historic shipbuilding site that today is a popular tourist attraction. 

The main ‘street’…

Some sort of archaeological dig…

The ‘Duke’s bath house’…

After a brief look round I continue on my way. From here access to the coast is, once again, very limited, so I head off down the road…

Twenty minutes later I pass St Leonards Barn that dates back to the medieval period, and is reputed to be the largest barn in England!

Along this road I get some nice views across the Solent to the Isle of Wight…

So I plod on along the road. Fortunately there is very little traffic but it does get a bit ‘samey’ after a while! And this is the rest of this walk! After a few miles there is a short cut through some woods but then it is back on the roads all the way to Lymington.

Two and a quarter hours after leaving Bucklers Hard I arrive in Lymington. Passing the car ferry to the Isle of Wight…

…I walk up to the bridge over the Lymington River where I am finishing for today. Hopefully the next section of this coastal walk should be a bit more ‘coastal’!