New Forest Walks?

Dockhead

Dockhead

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If one wanted to spend a weekend wandering around in the New Forest, where would be the best place to berth or anchor, in order to be nearby the most interesting New Forest walks?

Lymington or Beaulieu or someplace else?

Beaulieu is picturesque and I love anchoring down the first reach, but isn't it a bit of a hike to get deep into the New Forest? I recently did the walk up to Beaulieu from Buckler's Hard, and I think I'll take the dinghy next time. Maybe if I dinghied up and started from Beaulieu?

What can you do from Lymington?

All advice gratefully received.
 
Dockhead said:
If one wanted to spend a weekend wandering around in the New Forest, where would be the best place to berth or anchor, in order to be nearby the most interesting New Forest walks?

Lymington or Beaulieu or someplace else?

Beaulieu is picturesque and I love anchoring down the first reach, but isn't it a bit of a hike to get deep into the New Forest? I recently did the walk up to Beaulieu from Buckler's Hard, and I think I'll take the dinghy next time. Maybe if I dinghied up and started from Beaulieu?

What can you do from Lymington?

All advice gratefully received.
Click to expand...

Catch a bus in summer, they have a rover ticket & special service.
Lymington isn't actually in the New Forest, but you can walk around the sea wall to Keyhaven (YC + pubs) or cycle.
 
Marchwood?
Hythe?
Ashlett?

The nicest walks in the forst are quite spread out.
The bus makes a lot of sense.
You can get a train from Lymington to Brockenhurst and hire a bike from there?

Do you want an all-day hike or a 2 mile circuit and a pub?
 
If you want to walk from the boat then it pretty much has to be Beaulieu.

But better is likely to by Lymington from where you can bus or train at least to Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst both of which have good walking. My favourite parts of the Forest are a little further west but hard to get to by public transport. You could always hire bikes - that is a great way to see the Forest (probably better than walking IMHO)
 
Thanks for all the helpful suggestions!

Does anyone know whether it is possible to dinghy up the Lymington River from Lymington as far as Boldre?


Another interesting walk starts from Exbury House on the left bank of the Beaulieu. Does anyone know whether it is possible to land anywhere on that side of the river, in a dinghy? I've been waist-deep in mud on previous attempts to land for a moment :)
 
Whilst on the subject of New Forest pubs can anybody remind me of a pub very well hidden down maybe a mile of single track road in the open forest? We used to frequent it as students at Southampton Uni some 40 years ago? I tried to find it whilst in that area last year but failed and would love to find it again.
 
brainstorm said:
Whilst on the subject of New Forest pubs can anybody remind me of a pub very well hidden down maybe a mile of single track road in the open forest? We used to frequent it as students at Southampton Uni some 40 years ago? I tried to find it whilst in that area last year but failed and would love to find it again.
Click to expand...
Red Shoot, Linwood?
 
Thanks for the suggestion but I don't think that was it. I think it was very much on its own out of sight of the main road. Any other ideas.....we also used to frequent the Pizza Pan Italian in Southampton but guess that has changed now
 
Dockhead said:
Another interesting walk starts from Exbury House on the left bank of the Beaulieu. Does anyone know whether it is possible to land anywhere on that side of the river, in a dinghy? I've been waist-deep in mud on previous attempts to land for a moment :)
Click to expand...

We've been ashore at the disused slip at Gilbury hard to visit Exbury Gardens. Not sure if it is strictly allowed but there is a public footpath that ends there. We had no problem other than a bit of mud. You obviously have to time the tide properly. This was several years ago.
 
If you want to walk the New Forest then Beaulieu has better direct access than Lymington but you can easily catch a train from Lymington to Brockenhurst (especially if you're on the Quay) - it's just 15 minutes and a pleasant journey - and that puts you right in the middle of the New Forest. I'd suggest bike hire though unless you really want to walk. You'll find you tend to ride slowly so you still see pretty much everything you would when walking but you cover far more ground. You can hire bikes pretty much everywhere including Beaulieu and Lymington but especially Brockenhurst. If you're into horse riding then Brockenhurst has an excellent stables but won't be doing rides into the Forest until the ground has dried out (April usually).

http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/cycling/routes.aspx
 
alahol2 said:
We've been ashore at the disused slip at Gilbury hard to visit Exbury Gardens. Not sure if it is strictly allowed but there is a public footpath that ends there. We had no problem other than a bit of mud. You obviously have to time the tide properly. This was several years ago.
Click to expand...

For anyone going near Exbury - or generally in the New Forest - I'd suggest first reading

' The Exbury Junkers - a WWII Mystery ' by John Stanley

it's a very worthwhile read; a fascinating if slim book, a true but tragic tale out of which the RAF concerned do not come out too well - it became a cornerstone of Nevil Shute's ' Requiem For A Wren '.
 
Seajet said:
For anyone going near Exbury - or generally in the New Forest - I'd suggest first reading

' The Exbury Junkers - a WWII Mystery ' by John Stanley

it's a very worthwhile read; a fascinating if slim book, a true but tragic tale out of which the RAF concerned do not come out too well - it became a cornerstone of Nevil Shute's ' Requiem For A Wren '.
Click to expand...

Amazon want £42 for the paperback and there doesn't seem to be a kindle version.
 
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