Hampshire
Hampshire isn't a county we know well, though we're getting to know it better. My sister Chris lived in the county, first in Lymington and later in Hythe, and our daughter works in Southampton and lives a short distance over the county boundary in Wiltshire, in the village of Downton. The coast overlooks the Solent, with the Isle of Wight beyond, and the county includes the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, so the shipping lanes are busy.
At the time of writing (September 2023), I'd distinguish four separate sections of the coast path in Hampshire. Heading from west to east, from the boundary with Dorset at Chewton Bunny to the town of Lymington, there is a path very close to the coast, though it is not designated part of the official route of the England Coast Path. We walked the first part of this on 2nd September 2023. From Lymington to Calshot, there isn't a coast path at all, though the Solent Way makes a valiant effort on a path a mile or so from the coast. Rumour has it that getting approval for these two sections of England Coast Path is being stymied by New Forest landowners , but that's only a rumour of course.
Much more positively, the section from Calshot to Portsmouth is now open, and we walked from Calshot Beach to Hythe (from where the route continues by way of the Hythe to Southampton Ferry) on 3rd September 2023. That leaves a good stretch for us to walk, most likely when visiting my niece, currently living in my sister's house. Of the opening of the rest of the route to the county boundary, which will include a circumnavigation of Hayling Island, I know very little, though in the unlikely event that we want to proceed before the England Coast Path is open, it looks as if it should be possible to walk some of this route using either the Solent Way or the Shipwrights Way.
