Bournemouth to Barton-on-Sea via Hengistbury Head walk

OS Explorer : 22 (New Forest). Most of this walk is quite simple, just following the coast, but a map would be helpful at the start (especially for option 74c).

This is a flat coastal walk, and swimming is possible for the entire route.

It starts by going through central Bournemouth, a large seaside resort to its pier, and then follows its wide sandy beach, either on the promenade, or the cliff-top path on low cliffs above (a mix of the 2 is best). This is the least interesting part of the walk - see options below to skip some or all of it.

The highlight of this walk is Hengistbury Head, a nature reserve with sand dunes, and a headland (small hill) with a nice view over Christchurch harbour and the surrounding coastline. Below the headland is a nice quiet hidden beach. At the end of the headland is a narrow spit with a beach hut 'village' with a cafe, and a frequent ferry service across the narrow harbour entrance to Mudeford Quay

Lunch is at Mudeford Quay's pub or fish and chip shop. After a short family beach, climb up to Steamer Point nature reserve, and follow the cliff top path to the impressive Highcliffe Castle (entrance £ 2.60) and its tea room

Pass another hidden beach, and follow the coast along a good path to the entrance of Chewton Bunny (great name - its a steep sided valley)

The cliff top at this point is blocked by a private holiday park, so either

• detour inland around it, return to the coast, and follow Barton-on-Sea's cliff top road (recommended as of 2015)
• walk along the shingle beach below (as of 2015) is considered no longer safe due to continued landslips and crumbling cliffs. It may still be possible at low tide. Once past the danger zone, there is a good path up to the cliff top at Barton-on-Sea

The 2 routes meet up just before a pretty cliff-side cafe. There's a short bus ride (or 30 min walk) to New Milton station

You need the ferry to do this walk

(2015) This runs every 12 mins during British Summer Time (Easter to late October), winter weekends, and school holidays, and costs £1.50

The section along the prom at the start is quite long, and tiring on the feet after a while, so some suggestions.

Walk 74a) Bournemouth to Barton-on-Sea (via shortcut)

Start at Bournemouth, but walk directly to the sea front, missing out the town centre and pier. Left out of the station, cross the road, first left, then right due south to the sea. This saves 2 km for a total of 10 miles ( 16 km )

Walk 74b) Boscombe Pier to Barton-on-Sea

Start at Bournemouth, but catch a bus to Boscombe Pier, save 4 km for a total of about 8 miles ( 14 km )

Walk 74c) Pokesdown to Barton-on-Sea

Start at Pokesdown Station (1 stop before Bournemouth), head south about 1.2 km to the sea, saving about 4.5 km

Walk 74d) Starting at Christchurch

You can start this walk at Christchurch station, giving you rapid access to the lovely wild scenery of Christchurch Harbour and Hengistbury Head. Full details are given in the PDF link at the top of the page. Using these directions you can:

• Do a circular walk from Christchurch to Hengistbury Head and Mudeford Spit - 7.7km (4.8 miles).
• Walk from Christchurch to Barton-on-Sea - 10.8km (6.7 miles)
• Walk from Christchurch to Bournemouth - 12.4km (7.7 miles)

Walk 74e) Barton-on-Sea to Christchurch or Bournemouth

You can reverse the walk by taking the train to New Milton, and then the X1 bus (go up station approach to the road: turn right and then right again into Westfield Road and the bus stop is on the left: you want the bus going to Bournemouth). This passes the Beachcomber Cafe in 6 minutes, but better (to avoid the landslip) is to stay on the bus until it gets to the Naish Holiday Village stop in another 7 minutes. Getting off the bus here and carry on down the hill on the road for a short distance, then take the wooded path to the left after the bridge over the river. This is Chewton Bunny (the name of the valley) and takes you in 1km down to the seafront.

You then simply turn right and follow the seafront path. In just over 1km it is possible to take a path up the cliff to Highcliffe Castle (tea room accessible without paying for the site). Returning to (or staying on) the coast, there are convenient lunch options just before the mouth of Christchurch Harbour, 4km (2.5 miles) after the start of the walk. Afterwards cross the harbour mouth on the ferry and on the far side walk along Mudeford Spit and climb onto Hengistbury Head. Another lunch option is the Hiker's Cafe, 300 metres inland from the coast after Hengistbury Head, 7.4km (4.6 miles) into the walk.

To finish the walk in Christchurch refer to the Christchurch to Hengistbury Head pdf (see the button menu at the top of the page) and follow option #3 or #4. Option #3 makes a total walk from Chewton Bunny of 12.4km (7.7 miles).

To finish the walk in Bournemouth carry on along the seafront from Hengistbury Head. After a couple of miles it is possible to vary the walk by taking paths up onto the clifftop. A pleasant route to Bournemouth station is as follows: Passing Boscombe Pier (the first pier you come to, 5.8km (3.6 miles) after Hengistbury Head - good tea options here), ignore a zigzag path up the cliff immediately ahead of you, but carry on along the seafront for another 700 metres. Here turn right up another zigzag path up the cliffs. At the top cross the coast road and carry on up a path. This emerges at a roundabout: go straight on down the leafy Derby Road. In 150 metres cross a main road (Christchurch Road) and keep on up the road beyond (still Derby Road, later Gardens View) for 400 metres more until it ends at a T-junction. Here turn left - Southcote Road, though not named here - and in 300 metres, at the end of the road, turn right into St Swithun's Road, which brings you in 70 metres out opposite the entrance to Bournemouth station (with ASDA and a multi-story car park to its left). From Chewton Bunny this makes a route of 16km (9.9 miles).

• Highcliffe Castle
• Hengistbury Head and Steamer Point
• Poole Harbour

• Mudeford Ferry
• Wick Ferry
• Traveline (bus times) - south west, then Barton-on-Sea to New Milton
• South West Trains Bournemouth Walking Guide

This walk is best for a weekend trip given the distance, but there are occasional promotions, e.g. £15 return in 2014.

Trains from London Waterloo to Bournemouth are frequent, up to 4 an hour, and take 1hr 40 mins. Buy a return to Bournemouth.

Trains back from New Milton are hourly, and take about the same time.

See below for Barton-on-Sea to New Milton station bus times, or you can walk (1.5 miles, 30 to 45 mins)

By Car: About 2.5 hours from London. Free parking at Barton-on-Sea. Park in Barton-on-Sea (free), and catch the hourly bus west along the sea front to Bournemouth to start the walk.

The X12 bus runs along Marine Drive (Barton-on-Sea's coast road), there's a bus stop shortly after the path up to the cliff top. Catch the X12 (at the corner, going inland) at (in 2009) xx15 until 7:15 (takes 10 mins) to New Milton station. Its about 2km inland if you wish to walk.

To shorten the walk, catch the same bus from either Mudeford or Highcliffe (2 buses per hour on this part of the route)

• Boscombe : Nice Cafe at entance to Boscombe pier
• Southdown : Cafe on prommenade
• Mudeford Quay : Haven House Inn Pub, Mudeford Quay, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 4AB - a nice pub, most of the building is a cafe
• Mudeford Quay : A cafe and chipy
• Highcliffe Castle tea room : [recommended] 01425 270924, open every day

• Barton-on-Sea : [recommended] Beachcomber Cliff top cafe while waiting for your bus.
• New Milton Station. Supermarkets and pubs on the main road south of the station.

After the walk, please leave a comment, it really helps. Thanks!

You can also upload photos to the SWC Group on Flickr (upload your photos) and videos to Youtube. This walk's tags are:

National Rail: 03457 48 49 50 • Traveline (bus times): 0871 200 22 33 (12p/min) • TFL (London) : 0343 222 1234

Jan-20 Andrew Peter