Apologies for the sudden influx of posts, I really did have a “publishing blockage!”, I am now upto date. This is the last day of the Hampshire Coast Path, I finished a few weeks ago. Hampshire has been the longest county so far, taking seven days and 200 km (123 miles). As a comparison East Sussex four days in 100km (63 miles), and West Sussex five days in 130 km (81 miles). I have a plan to tackle Dorset a bit later in the summer, but have a couple of things before then. Walking the Wye Valley Walk (136 miles) with some friends, and – back to my roots – cycling the Hebridean Way and then onto Orkney and Shetland. Watch this space.

I must admit to it becoming a bit of a weekly trudge, travelling by train to get to each starting point. Today should be my last day travelling westwards as I should reach the Hampshire county boundary (with Dorset). After weeks of walking in the dry, in fact I’ve only had one slightly rainy day in Bognor many legs ago, rain was threatened today. I couldn’t decide whether this was a good thing, or a bad thing, but I did,  at the very last minute as I walked out the door put a jacket in my pack to supplement my “hiking poncho”. This would prove to be a good decision. My first stop, as usual, was a cafe near Hove Station while I waited for the Southampton train.

The Southampton train initally showed as “delayed”, but actually turned up on time. This was a relief as this was only my first change on a four train journey. When I reached Southampton (on time), it was clear something was going on, with a number of delayed trains and overhearing the radio of the station staff about tickets acceptance on other routes. It turned out there was a “precarious tree” causing delay near Brockenhurst, which is where I needed to catch my last train. By the time my next train reached Brockenhurst, my comfortable 10 minute changing time had turned into missing the train by 5 minutes (my classic 5 minute tardiness). Today was always going to be a late start, but with this delay, I wouldn’t start walking until after 1pm. Whilst waiting the rain was starting, and it was getting chilly, I was glad of a jacket rather than looking a twit in my huge poncho on the station. On the train to Lymington, I overheard the guard saying it was going to be nice and sunny by 3:00 – I hope he is right. I had a moral dilema at Lymington, should I stay in the train until Lymington Pier, the station I finished at, of get of at Lymington Town on the west side of the river. It wasn’t raining too much, so I decided on being true to my quest to walk the coast and add the 20 minutes to todays walk. I had considered that the train crossing the river was no different to catching a ferry, which would be compliant with my personal rules. More worryingly, I had considered staying on the train at Lymington Pier, and returning to Lymington Town but just switching my watch on – so the line would be on Strava (and Strava never lies!!).

It wasn’t an unpleasant walk back into town, and didn’t seem as far or as boring, as I thought it would be. This was based on a few times I’ve cycled to the IOW ferry here, and it always seemed a bit of an ordeal. Lymington is a lovely little town, with lots of tourists and even large groups of german school children being guided around the streets. I had identified a Tesco Express for my lunch supplies, but I passed a shop called “Mine’s a Pasty” and my lunch choice was fixed. I also bought a sauage roll as it was 1:30 and actually lunchtime, while my proper pasty lunch wouldn’t be consumed until I’d walked at least 10km.

As I left town towards the harbour the weather changed with really wet rain squalls (I categorise rain on how wet it makes you. I think this comes from many years of motorcycling). My peaked cap went on, and my jacket hood jammed down to keep it from blowing away. At this moment, I spotted a water tap, so I glugged down a lot of water (I had only drunk 2 black coffees so far today) and refilled it. I must have looked a bit odd in the middle of a rain storm. My next stop was the public toilets, which offered enough shelter for me to decide to lose any mid layers and just go with a tee shirt and jacket. I was pretty certain It was going to be warm when I got walking. Eventually, I started walking properly and passed the Lymington Salt Water Swimming Baths. It was open, but was very unattractive given the weather conditions. It looks like good fun as it is a massive pool and largely filled with inflatable obstacles.

From here, the path got onto a completely exposed bund, with the sea on one side and extensive wetlands on the other. Normally it would have been lovely, with lots of bird life  and a very quiet route. The strong wind and continual rain took the edge of it a bit. There were a few birdwatchers out and about, who strangley didn’t seem to be as wet as me (they assuredme they were, but i remain unconvinced). I can only it down to the difference between walking and standing still.

These wetlands stretched for miles, and I was getting great views of the Isle of Wight, and in particular, the Needles – the  rocks and lighthouse looked good. In between these views was a strange island and lighthouse. It turns out this isn’t an island but is Hurst Point and Castle. This really narrows down the entry into the Solent and must have been a really important defensive position in history. As I got closer, I could see the causeway linking it to the mainland. I remember hearing on the local news about the causeway being eroded, and a battle between English Heritage, who own the castle and the Environment Agency and local Council, who are responsible for sea defences. The gist was that keeping the cause way open for maintenance of the castle was very expensive, and many more people could be protected for the same amount of money spent elsewhere. I don’t know what the outcome was.

Before I got to Hurst Castle I walked through the tiny village of Keyhaven. It was mainly a yacht harbour but did have a pub, and more importantly, relatively dry benches to eat my cornish Pasty for “lunch”. The rain had stopped, and the sun was trying to come out.

I was going to walk to Hurst Castle (and back) and despite the late start and rain, I was still going to walk. Until I saw it was a shingle beach the whole way, and there was no way I was going to walk 3 or 4 unnecessary kilometres on shingle! I had thought there would have been a road, or at the very least a path based on the maintenance issue, (which is clearly the EA responsibility as there is no path for council residents). I think I may have to come back here and do further analysis!

It was really nice seeing the “proper” sea for the first time since, maybe around Selsey Bill. Seeing the crashing waves and the noise of the shingle being thrown up and then dragged back down the beach was great. There was a really good onshore wind, just blowing into my face, which was refreshing, but would prove to be a real energy sapper later in the day.

While I had shunned walking on shingle towards the castle, the shingle was unavoidable as I walked westwards. The first town was Milford-on-sea, where I happen across a dangerous waste incident. There were a number of people in HazMat suit’s, that appeared to be handling coconut sized pieces of hazardous waste…

or it might have been the local bowls team fully dressed up for the conditions on the cliff top.

The path carried on along the cliffs. There was plenty of evidence of cliff erosion  along  this stretch. There is signage explaining that efforts are being to secure the “King Charles III Coast Path” into the future by putting the footpath further away from the cliff edge.

The views of Poole Harbour (the shiney bit) and the Purbeck Hills came into view. This was my first glimpse of Dorset. The west side of the entrance to Poole Harbour, across the Sandbanks Ferry and is the start of the 630 mile South West Coast Path, stretching to Minehead. I have all this to look forward to.

The path had followed the coast relatively closely (compared to many of the previous legs). However, I had one last diversion around holiday park. I had reviewed to see whether I could get around the front of the park and strava seemed to show some tracks on their “heat map” maps. This shows  popular routes for running, however the fencing overhanging a precarious cliff seemed pretty clear. The strava runs were clearly done by holiday park residents (or inmates). The diversion was down narrow alleyways, new estates and busy roads – at least I had tried to avoid it.

The route turned off the busy road into a really nice ghyll called Chewton Bunny. This followed a stream back down towards the sea. I started to plan where to finish walking today, so I stayed on the roads heading into Highcliffe. There are plenty of fancy houses around here.

It was a fair walk inland to the Hinton Admiral station (quite an interesting name) which is the closest to the Hampshire border. I made it to the station five minutes before the hourly train to Southampton which shows that my timekeeping had improved considerably during the day.

The Hampshire Coast had been quite a challenge. It is definitely the most “wigglely”  parts of the coast path so far. Some days despite walking all day only a few kilometres (or metres in the case of Portsmouth – Gosport) were gained in a westwards direction.  The coast does look a bit straighter for the next few legs.

I’m up to date – this feels like a weight off my shoulders!