31st August & 1st September. New Forest & Cornwall

 31st August – Disused Railways in the New Forest

After the last few weeks where I’ve been heading further afield, I decided this week I would do something more local, walking the former Southampton & Dorchester Railway route from Ringwood towards Brockenhurst, something which had been on my list for a while.  It also gave me an excuse to walk another short disused railway line path (the Salisbury and Dorset Junction Railway) around the former Breamore station.

The day began with the 07:54 service from Grateley to Salisbury with 159010, a short delay at Salisbury where it ran into the back of a 158 unit before, I exited the station having a look at the car park works before heading towards the city centre via Sainsburys for something to eat before heading to Blue Bore Row to board the Morebus X3 service for Bournemouth.  A large crowd was waiting for said bus (and at one stage I was toying with ditching that idea and instead heading towards Devizes) but I managed to board bus 1790, one of the newer 24 plate Enviro 400 buses (which did have much better seating compared to the older buses used on this route).  A bit slow heading out of Salisbury but soon I was exiting the bus near the tidy settlement of South Charford, the northern edge of the Breamore Railway Path.

The first section of this path was reasonable but soon it turned evil, barely (and I mean barely) passable at times due to the overgrowth, I carried on (as I knew the only way out was back the same way) with the path opening out at times before returning to awful.  Certainly, an old railway line path best done during the winter months (with the risk of mud) or spring before the thorns & nettles grow.  The only highlight of the 2 mile walk towards Burgate Cross was the former station at Breamore itself, the station building now a holiday let.

Breamore Station

Anyhow I reached the ending point near Burgate Cross, a couple of miles north of Fordingbridge alongside the A338 with a handy bus stop located alongside a lay-by.  Google Maps was suggesting a 10-minute wait before the next Bournemouth bus, but when I fired up Bus Times, I found that bus caught up in issues within Salisbury city centre, where it took over an hour to get out of the city centre (I suspect an accident closing the road with the bus unable to escape via a side street).  Standing alongside the busy A338 wasn’t much fun before bus 1784 rolled in on the following service (which looked like it diverted via the Ring Road) with the original bus being close behind.  It was very busy but I got a seat for the trip to Ringwood via Fordingbridge, where a large crowd was waiting (I can only presume the original bus which overtook this one bypassed both Fordingbridge & Ringwood town centre).

The second of today’s walks began in Ringwood, after swinging via the town centre Sainsburys for lunch items, I soon reached the Castleman Trailway path along the route of the former Southampton & Dorchester Railway route which closed in the 1960s.  I crossed over the Bicklerley Millstream and onto a short section where the route of the railway has been lost for a modern road.  The route of the railway was joined near an industrial park and I took this path towards its end at Barrack Lane to the south of the town.  The railway continues but isn't accessible so I swapped over to a couple of footpaths (and one muddy byway) leading towards Sandford where I was a bit worried considering the OS Map suggested a Ford on one of the paths.  Thankfully there was a bridge for walkers to bypass the water crossing as I headed into the Kingston Great Common National Nature Reserve in the New Forest.

A ford on a footpath

Some beautiful views (and very peaceful) as I followed a path, eventually the path ending at Pound Lane near the Burbush Forestry Car Park where the former railway line route began once more.  The path quality was decent for this section and it was reasonably busy with other users and soon I reached the former Holmsley station where the mixed used path came suddenly to an end for a section of walking along a road.  I had previously assumed it would be a little country road with hardly any traffic.  I was wrong, it was a busy road with no pavement (and a very soft verge).  I was glad when I reached the point where the road headed north and the former railway line path resumed.

The next section was along the mixed used path, going near some camping sites with the final section of line lost forcing a detour via an access road going underneath the main railway to join the B3055 going underneath the branch line for Lymington and going onto Sway Road.  The first section didn't have any pavements and was a bit narrow in places, especially the section crossing over the railway.  I was glad again when the pavement popped up as I headed towards the railway station in Brockenhurst arriving just as 444043 & 444027 rolled in on a London train from Weymouth, which I took to Winchester, stepping back to the service from Portsmouth (450036 & 450046) for the section to Basingstoke where I popped out of the station to grab some supplies from the shop before boarding 158882 & 159010 on the next Salisbury stopper to take me to Grateley

View from the former railway path

Once at home, I relaxed for the remainder of the Saturday evening.  Overall, a decent walk with the negative sections being the road walks with no pavements, I’m hoping to finish the last section of the railway line walk (branded as the Castleman Trailway) between Ringwood & Wimborne Minster at some-point (I was hoping to do it this coming Sunday but the weather looks quite wet), one of those walks I wouldn’t mind trying to do before the £2 bus scheme ends, talking of which leads me onto…

1st September – Buses in Devon & Cornwall

This is an idea which had been on my list to do since May-time, but either was ruled out with engineering works or having something else planned, a random trip to the South West for a couple of interesting looking bus routes.  The day began with an early morning drive to Salisbury where I ended up having to park in the station car park due to my usual parking places close to the station either being full or not available due to road works.  If I was on my own, I might have headed further afield to avoid the £5 parking fee but I was with mum so it wasn’t fair for her to walk too far.

Anyhow it was onto the 06:54 service for Exeter St Davids formed of 159010, 159107 & 159016 (with 016 being locked out of use and getting dropped off at Yeovil Junction).  A quiet service throughout and soon we had arrived at Exeter Central, where we exited the station via the side gate for the walk to the bus station, via Sainsburys for both breakfast & supplies for lunch (just to save the hassle of trying to find something in Bude).   The first bus of the day was the Stagecoach route 6A service to Okehampton (with the bus driver selling me a ticket all the way to Bude) with bus 15893 in heritage Devon General colours.

Devon Bus

I did this route back in May when heading to Okehampton for the old railway line walk towards Lydford so it was nice to come back to a scenic run over the hills via the settlements of Tedbuurn St Mary, Cheriton Cross, Whiddon Down & Sticklepath to terminate outside Okehampton station.  Some weeks it seems this service continues to Bude, other week it requires a bus swap, this week it involved swapping to the route 6 service (with bus 15885).  This headed back down the hill into Okehampton town centre where it picked up a good number of passengers before heading out into the hills getting caught behind some cyclists on a riding event (and considering how steep some of those hills were, fair play to those ladies for giving it a go).

This service was another scenic route, quite rural in terms of settlements the first big settlement being Holsworthy (with a lovely old railway viaduct) before crossing into Cornwall with the run to Bude via Stratton, where we had around 30 minutes on a connection which only works on a Sunday.  After visiting the toilets, we returned to the bus stop to catch the "Transport for Cornwall" route 95 service for Wadebridge with bus 2216 (An Enviro 200) on this long route. Heading out of Bude via the scenic Widemouth Bay & Crackington Haven which did see a few passengers leaving the bus as it made its way via some narrow country lanes to reach Boscastle & Tintagel before heading to Camelford for a timekeeping pause (as it was running early).

Beach at Crackington Haven

After Camelford the bus double backed on the route to serve the pretty village of Port Isaac, where sadly we didn't bump into Doctor Martin during another extended dwell stop of around 7 minutes (gave the chance for some fresh air and for a gentle walk around the bus).  The bus continued on the journey towards Wadebridge via the seaside at Polzeath before a final extended dwell at St Minver (I guess the timetable has a lot of recovery time built in to cope with delays caused by heavy traffic).  After St Minver the bus continued into Wadebridge bus station, 2 and three quarters hours after departing Bude.  With 20 minutes to play with until the next Bodmin bus we headed to the nearby Co-Op (passing the old railway station, one of these days I will walk the old railway from Bodmin towards Padstow) before boarding the bus 2417 on the next route 11 for Bodmin Parkway.

This service (having started from Padstow) headed towards Bodmin itself before the long road to Bodmin Parkway station where it terminated.  During the week & on Saturdays some services run all the way to Plymouth which is something on my list to do at some-point, as well as the route 12 from Plymouth to Bude.  So many Cornish bus routes which looks interesting.  Anyhow for us the day on the buses was over and it was to the station where the first Exeter train was cancelled giving us 45 minutes to waste (being interrupted with the arrival of a steam train from Bodmin).

Steamy McSteam running round at Bodmin Parkway

Eventually 800316 rolled in from Penzance on a London train where surprisingly we managed to grab a couple of decent seats (as I was worried that it might have been busy due to being the end of the summer holidays).  The train lost around 15 minutes in the Plymouth area due to signalling issues which meant the connection at Exeter St Davids to a Waterloo train went up in smoke (the sprinters were pulling out just as we rolled in)

We remained on the platform at Exeter St Davids for the 55 minutes, relaxing before 159104 & 159105 returned from the sidings to take us the long route to Salisbury, losing time in the Tisbury area due to a late running Exeter train (at least ensuring the delay was pushed over the hour mark rather than being 59 minutes and 30 seconds).  At Salisbury we headed back to the car to drive home, the early start catching up with both of us and soon after getting home we headed to bed.  An enjoyable day trip to Cornwall (and Devon), some beautiful views from the buses, shame about the extra hour in Exeter but I guess these things can't be helped.  Anyhow thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr as I move into September, a month where the only overnight stay is near the end of the month for the 323 farewell tour in Birmingham, the other weekends are going to be day trips.