Highcliffe to Christchurch Harbour and Chewton Bunny

Walking had taken something of a back seat following my sister Chris's final illness and untimely death in October. Our last serious walk, into Buxton on the Midshires Way in August, felt a lifetime away.  We had booked a few nights at the "Christchurch Highcliffe" Premier Inn to enable us to help with the clearing of Chris's house in Hythe (that's the Hampshire Hythe not the one in Kent, and just to add to the confusion Christchurch and Highcliffe are in Dorset). In all sorts of ways, the weekend didn't go to plan; we ended up doing rather less house clearing than planned, and our daughter Helen and her family (who live on the other side of the New Forest - in Wiltshire!) were at a conference in London, so we couldn't see them. In theory, that left more time for walking, but that was before taking the weather into account... 

The preceding week had been bitterly cold, with snow in Milton Keynes and lots of other places though, surprisingly, not in Norfolk. All week, the weather forecast had said that it would get warmer today (before turning very wet for the rest of the weekend) and as we drove south, the lying snow diminished and the temperature showing on the car thermometer did indeed increase. It wasn't exactly warm when we got out of the car after parking at Highcliffe Castle, but it was warm enough for a few hours of walking, which was all that daylight and the maximum of 4 hours of parking would allow in any case. Highcliffe Castle is up above the beach that is Helen and Tom's favoured  relatively local seaside location, and so they use this car park regularly. We've been with them a couple of times, going  inside the Castle (think stately home rather than "proper castle") on one occasion; it's free to us as members of the Historic Houses Association. Sadly the café, which we have also visited previously,  is not currently open, and that's not just because it is winter;  it went bust during the Pandemic and, after trying to run it themselves for a while, the Council are considering their options. There is nothing to complain about with regard to the the parking though; 80p for up to 4 hours in winter (summer is quite a lot more) and there is even a toilet block. The entrance to the car park is at SZ203933; it's well signposted, though be aware that you do indeed go through the archway right in front of the Castle, as if you were Kaiser William, Dame Nellie Belba, Nancy Mitford or William Gladstone, all of whom apparently visited.

It was a lovely bright sunny day, so we stopped to walk around the castle taking photographs before heading to the wooded clifftop. We turned right and walked to the west, with occasional views through the trees to the beach and sea below us. For most of the walk there were also views to the Needles at the western end of the Isle of Wight, though unfortunately, the direction of the Sun made photography difficult.  We soon reached the attractive Steamer Point Nature Reserve where there are several routes through the woods; the one we took was undoubtedly closer to the cliff than the route of the Coast Path shown on the OS Map. Much to our delight, we soon reached a group of picnic tables; very convenient for lunch, if a little cold! As we left the wood behind, a sign told us that Steamer Point takes its name from the steamer boat that was pulled up into a gap in the cliff and wedged between two holly trees, arranged and paid for by Lord Stuart de Rothesay, the owner of Highcliffe Castle.  I didn't fully understand the sign when we passed it, and I am afraid I'm not much the wiser after reading the same information on the internet.

Between Steamer Point and  Friars Cliff Beach there was a rather slippery section of path (although the weather was much warmer than it had been, there was still some ice) but when we took the ramp right down to the beach at Friars Cliff, at the start of a long row of beach huts, we saw that a couple of brave souls were swimming - brrrr! Rather more people were, like us, walking along the promenade or on the beach. Friars Cliff Beach led to Avon Beach and soon enough we were approaching the entrance to Christchurch Harbour, now with the water and boats of Little Haven clearly visible closeby to our right while, across the entrance to the harbour (apparently called "The Run") to our left were the dunes of Mudeford Sandbank (also known as Mudeford Spit). The name is confusing because the Mudeford area of Christchurch is to the east of the harbour i.e. where we were. Indeed, we soon reached Mudeford Quay, very definitely without crossing the water. 

You can, in principle, cross from Mudeford Quay to the sandbank by way of the Mudeford Ferry, but it wasn't operational today. We'd reached the western extremity of our planned walk for today in any case, but you'd need the ferry to continue along the coast to Hengistbury Head and Bournemouth. For today,  we explored the Mudeford Quay area a little, walking to the harbour entrance,  then turning the corner and walking alongside the "inside" of the harbour as far as Mudeford Lifeboat Station.  There were good views to Christchurch Priory in the distance. Then we retraced our steps along the coast towards Highcliffe Castle. We walked along the beach for part of the way, and would have stopped for coffee at one of the cafes and kiosks we passed, were they not getting rather busy. 

We continued past the Highcliffe Castle car park,  passing  the flights of steps that lead directly to the beach below, but from our reading of the map it seemed we should stay up on the cliff for a little while, so we did. We eventually descended to the beach by way of a long winding slope, presumably intended for disabled access.  Our route continued along the back of the beach; the walking on beaches can be difficult, because of soft sand or shingle, but here there was a well-walked path of hard sand.  It wasn't as busy as the beaches closer to the harbour entrance had been, but there were a fair few people about - and we had at least two dogs less than most of them!  We were gradually getting closer to the Isle of Wight, and the characteristic shape of the Needles (the row of three distinctive chalk stacks with the Needles Lighthouse at the end) was clear across the water.

We could see from the map that the route of the E9 gradually climbed back up the cliff, but it was difficult to be certain of the detail, so we took a promising path which did  rise above the beach and then continued on the level for a while before climbing to the top of the cliff close to the main Highcliffe Cliff Top car park (SZ216933).  There is a café here, which may or may not have been open, but there was also a kiosk with no queue. It would have been a bit chilly to sit outside to drink our tea and coffee, but there was a convenient shelter on the cliff just before the descent to Chewton Bunny. I just happened to glance out the side of the shelter and saw a glorious view back to Christchurch Harbour, so I duly photographed it.

I'm not the first to comment on the delightful name "Chewton Bunny".  A "bunny" is apparently the local name for what would be a "chine" on the Isle of Wight or in Dorset,  ravine created by a stream. The stream here is the Walkford Brook,  and we gradually descended to it and followed an undulating path through the delightful wooded nature reserve by the babbling brook. We were heading inland (still on the route of the E9/Bournemouth Coast Path) - you have to, in order to get to the other side of the Bunny. Just before the bridge, which carries the A337 and the onward route of the coast path, there is an attractive man-made waterfall. We climbed up to the road and, on principle, I crossed over the bridge and back in order to be sure that I had reached the Dorset/Hampshire border.  Rather than retracing our steps, we returned to the car by following the road through Highcliffe, which enabled us to spy out suitable take-away venues for this evening. I can report that Highcliffe is well provisioned in this regard; we saw three Chinese take-aways and one fish and chip shop,- very useful! I can also report that we were well pleased with our stay at the Christchurch Highcliffe Premier Inn, though the least said the better about the weather for the next two days.