There is no coastal route on the Hythe / Fawley side of the water as it is a very busy port with industrial areas north and south, as well as the huge oil refinery at Fawley. If I was to walk down inland, I would be forced back up by the Dark Water, down and back up again later by the Beaulieu River. So instead, when I crossed Southhampton Water, I cut inland from Hythe, up to just below Dibden Purlieu and then down to the village of Beaulieu where I had booked into the Embers campsite.
The long distance path, The Solent Way, continues on the other bank but, for no apparent reason, it swings very wide of the town of Hythe, only to come back in again to intersect with the main road out of the town at its junction with the by-pass just below Dibden Purlieu. If I cannot walk the coastal route, I might as well walk as the crow flies. My intention, therefore, was to walk straight up through the town to the large roundabout on the Hythe By-pass and cross over from there to the B3054 for a walk through the edges of the New Forest to Beaulieu. Estimated at sixteen miles, I suspected that on the ground it might be a tad longer but was happy to be proved wrong.
The Common is a nature reserve and a Scheduled Ancient Monument, containing the location of an Iron Age settlement and a castle, St Andrews, built for Henry VIII in 1543. Little remains of either of the monuments apart from the ditch and bank of the Iron Age settlement and the foundations of the castle. Across the ages the site has performed defensive duties and, as well as the castle, there are the remains of a 19th C gun battery and during World War II, there was a gun battery placed here and there is still a Bofors gun of the type used, still on the Point. From the Point I stuck rigidly to the coast, including squeezing along the front of the oil terminal. It was a very nice section of the walk with lots of interest both on the water and on the land.
Just after the abbey, I dropped back down on to Southhampton Water for a short walk along its length before turning right on to the River Itchen, which I crossed on, you guessed it, the Itchen Bridge. The views from the top of the bridge back down to Southampton Water were lovely, all blues and steely-grey. Once over the bridge I followed a cycle route to the Town Quay, where I caught the ferry over the River Test to Hythe. This was a more modern ferry and had none of the character of the wee pink ferry on the Hamble. Embarking on the other side on to Hythe Pier, I had a choice of taking the small train or walking. As there was no justification for taking the train, I walked and for days afterwards regretted that I had not taken the chance to ride on the train. Sometimes, principles just get in the way!
Eventually, using my phone, I found a farm shop with the same name as the campsite and decided to walk up there to see if it was the right place. This entailed walking up the very busy and very blocked B3054, which was choc-a-block with vehicles nose to tail and no pavement! It seemed the sun had brought everyone to Beaulieau for the day. Eventually, I found the farm shop, relieved to find out the campsite was located in fields at the back of the shop, but not visible from the road or marked on the map. Speaking to the manager of the site he informed me there was a shortcut coming up from the town and when he described it, I realised that had I gone a couple of hundred yards further beyond where the vintage cars were, things would have been a lot easier. Too late, too late!