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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday, 1 June 2025

Sunday Walk - Through the New Forest to the Sea: Brockenhurst to Lymington

Stargazer is away 
 
Length: 20.2 km (12.6 mi) [longer and shorter walks possible, from 16.5 km to 25.0 km] 
Ascent/Descent: 132/152m  
Net Walking Time: ca. 4 ¼ hours  
Toughness: 2 out of 10
 
Take the 09.35 Weymouth train from Waterloo (Clapham J 09.45), arrives Brockenhurst 11.16. 
Return trains from Lymington Pier (2 mins later from Town Station): xx.14 and xx.44 (change Brockenhurst, total journey time from 125 minutes). Buy a Lymington Pier return.
 
Although a good part of this walk is within the New Forest National Park, there are only occasional encounters with the remote heathland or dense woodland which you might expect. Some of the walk's first section is in fact through the landscaped parkland of a now-demolished country house, Brockenhurst Park, and it continues along pleasant broad tracks through Roydon Woods. Shortly after leaving this nature reserve you come to a possible early refreshment stop on the main road between Setley and Battramsley.
 
The next section includes the walk's one stretch across wide open heathland at Shirley Holms, with fine views across the gorse and heather. The walk then becomes less distinctive for a while as it leaves the National Park to continue past farms and stables with occasional glimpses of the Isle of Wight. After crossing the A337 at Efford Bridge the Main Walk heads south-east to the suggested lunch pub in Chequers Green.
 
The final section to the attractive sailing resort of Lymington is quite different in character. You walk along embankments past the extensive saltmarsh and mudflats of Lymington–Keyhaven Marshes, with magnificent views of the Isle of Wight across the Solent. This nature reserve is now a haven for wildlife but in the 18thC it was the site of the Lymington Saltworks, the country's leading supplier of sea salt. This profitable industry only ceased (in 1865) when salt could be obtained more cheaply from mines in Cheshire.
 
There are no opportunities for swimming in the sea but the route goes past Lymington's open-air Sea Water Baths which are open daily in summer to 6pm (but last entry 4 pm); admission (2024) is £4.50. At the end of the walk a lucky few might be allowed to sip pink gins at one of the town's exclusive yacht clubs, but there are plenty of other places willing to serve hoi polloi before the longish journey home.
 
Walk Options are aplenty: short, long, combined, optionally extended, with minor in-option shortcuts, you name it, it’s there! Check the webpage or the pdf for details.
 
Lunch: Several pubs are passed on the various walk options, see the webpage of the pdf for all details, but the main ones at convenient points are The Chequers Inn (food 12.00-18.00) in Lower Pennington and The Gun Inn (food served 12.00-17.00) in Keyhaven. 
Tea: Pubs in Lymington. See the webpage or the walk directions pdf for details.
 
For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here . T=swc.226

5 comments:

Karan said...

#1 took an earlier train. A pleasant day weather wise with a fresh breeze and bursts of sunshine. The walk was lovely (thanks to the walk poster) with it being a chance to escape the big smoke. For the walk author I highlight corrections as this walker still uses text notes:

1: Bullet point 8

“past a conifer plantation and out through a wooden side gate”

!! Caution must be taken to ignore the immediate side gate (also wooden) as this led to an unfortunate detour before retracing his steps.

2: Bullet point 35

A typo needs correction - Waldhurst is in fact Yaldhurst farm house

A late lunch was taken at the Chequers Green (pleasantly surprised to find many non roast options for a Sunday). For this walker, the post pub walk into Lymington via the marshes is the highlight. In town and with time before his train the extension to see the unique station that is Lymington Pier over the Ship Inn in the town itself. 19:09 train out from Brockenhurst back to the big smoke where planned tube engineering works impacted many signalling the realities of the big smoke.

Sean said...

@Karan: thanks for the feedback; directions updated. I'd intended to check the outward route from Brockenhurst on a couple of trips last year but got sidetracked into exploring new routes through Buckland and Keyhaven.

I'm pleased that at least one person made the long journey out to Hampshire for this walk. As you say, the final stretch along the coastal marshes is the highlight.

Karan said...

@Sean some locals I met enroute also mentioned a brewery (Brewhouse). I didn’t come across it but they did say it was not far from one of the mentioned places in the text (New Wheel Inn) and before the long, narrow fenced path which was again overgrown. Apparently not many walking groups venture down that path. I also suspect it would not be doing any food.

Sean said...

@Karan: the nearest place shown on Google Maps is the Old Mill, 1km beyond the New Wheel Inn, but that looks more like an up-market inn than a brewhouse.

After the pub / restaurant in Battramsley closed I was tempted to drop the Brockenhurst start (hence last year's recce and the Shorter / Alternative Walk options), but the riverside footpath near the start of that route can get waterlogged. I might give the walk another tweak but it's a long way from London and gets few postings, so it's difficult to justify spending a lot of time on it.

Karan said...

@Sean it looks to be the Brew Forest based on the opening hours they mentioned to me. I would certainly walk again in the area but as you said also consider dropping the Brockenhurst start.