Day 95: English Coastal Path

D95: LYMINGTON to CHRISTCHURCH

Sunday 23rd April 2023

Today miles: 16.4 Total miles: 1591.9

The weather all week has been brilliant and even the met office seem to have been getting it right for a change. It’s forecast to change for the wetter today, later in the afternoon.

I finally parked up in Christchurch after much driving back and forth, then caught the bus to Lymington. The first bus on Sunday is 11.00am so it’s a late start by the time the bus arrived at my destination.
I’m looking forward to today because for the first time all week I’m actually going to be walking on the coastline the entire route. After working my way through the town centre I arrived at the Waterford Marina and stepped onto the embankment where I would stay for the next five miles, all the way to Keyhaven. The initially crowded route dwindled as I moved further down the coast so that after about two miles I had the entire path to myself.

After Keyhaven the embankment continued around the edge of the small hamlet, I had always intended to stop here but at the very last minute I decided to just keep going towards Hurst castle. I could see Hurst Castle in the distance and it didn’t seem that far away. The coastal spit leading towards Hurst Castle is around a mile and a half in each direction. On the approach I toyed with the idea of whether the spit was worth the effort and ultimately decided to make the trip. The walk itself was decent enough but the Castle/Fort was massively disappointing. I took my overdue break before continuing, first through Milford-on-Sea and then onto Barton-on-Sea. Once again I’m forced away from the coast by a Holiday Park, this time it’s at Hoborne Naish. After winding through the nearby housing estate I ended up on the Northern edge of the strangely named Chewton Bunny, a thin strip of dense woodland which leads me down to the beach.

I slowed down for the next two miles, not feeling tired, just really enjoying the walk along the firm sand. There was the usual row of beach huts on the way into Christchurch. I then took another longish break on the edge of Christchurch Harbour before skirting around the Northern edge of the harbour via a minor road. It was then just a simple matter of walking the half mile or so back to the car. A great half day of walking with the sixteen plus miles passing by effortlessly, a really enjoyable walk.