Weather: Blustery & sunny .
Distance: 23 km (14.3
miles) Total Distance: miles
I was up early again and caught the 7.30am train to Christchurch
- a much more crowded train than on Sunday and full of commuters. To get to my start point I walked through
Christchurch town centre which was surprisingly active given the early hour.
This was a walk with an interesting beginning and end
but a dreary middle. To start with I
went around the marshes. The first path
was impassable and I got wet shoes as a result of trying. The second attempt after I had traveled a
bit further east past a golf course was more successful. The marshes were full of bird-life and there
were a number of people out walking their dogs etc.
The next section was less interesting through the suburb
of . I got down to the coast at just one point
after I checked with an elderly man that there was a right of way. Eventually I got to the point where I
rejoined the coast and on the opposite bank of land to Hengisbury Head. This was a fishing port and the tackle was
out drying in the sun and a group of three fishermen were setting up a net across the
mouth of the harbour. The poor fish did not stand a chance.
Turning east I walked across Avon Beach where I had been
the previous day with the family. From there to Milford however was disappointing. Not only was it not sandy as I had envisaged but much of it was
taken up with civil engineering work, bulldozers strengthening the sea defenses. The paths were dusty and
gravely and the cliffs in a very poor condition indeed. The positive point was that I managed to keep
to the beach for the whole distance and did not have to take to the cliff tops.
It was touch and go at one stage. Along one beach I had to climb over boulders
to get on at one end and over a discharge pipe to get off at the other. There was little sign of life anywhere along
except a couple of sea anglers. I thought some of the towns like Barton on Sea
were coastal and I would have seen them but they must have been hiding on the cliff tops.
Milford on sea was a major disappointment. It looked
very shabby and run down along the coast but the village centre which I saw later was
much better. I was reassured wheb I ascertained it was Milford. I had been concerned since I
had lost my bearings on the walk because of the lack of landmarks.
Since I was
early I headed off to tackle Hurst Castle out on a mile-long peninsular (I felt
this was in the rules of my walk as it was a place of interest and not a boring
T-junction to nowhere). It was a fair trek along a recently reinforced gravel bank. The recent work had made the gravel slightly more compact and an
easier walk. Each end where more visitors had ventured was in a worse condition
and softer.
I walked around the outside of this fortification whose
history spanned many centuries up to the present but had never been used in
anger. Around the lighthouse and
outbuildings and then the landing stage and a quick chat to the English
Heritage doorman who gave me a plotted history and explained that the rubble
laden barges just leaving the dock were as a result of some renovation work on
the second world war fortifications. Most
of the visitors to the castle came and went by boat. The trek back along the bank was laborious.
I arrived back in the car park about the same time as
Margaret and family. We took it in turns
to take Sean down to the pebbles on the beach before going to Lymington. We all spent time on the harbour watching the
boats before going for our only afternoon tea of the holiday in tea rooms owned
by the speed record Campbell daughter whose father and grandfather were also
famous for their speed records in the Bluebirds.
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