#Hurstspit & Keyhaven

All days should be good days but some days come together especially well.

Yesterday I  crossed on the Yarmouth Lymington ferry with my pushbike to meet Jo at Lymington. Our plan - to get out to Hurst Castle/Lighthouse at the end of Hurst Spit.

As usual I did my early bike ride this morning and spent most of my time reflecting about the day before. As I have just said it was an especially good day so I thought I would try and describe the modest elements.

First of all, I live at the extreme eastern end of the IOW. The Yarmouth ferry runs from the western end - so the first job on a bright, calm but very cold morning was to drive from one end of the Island to the other. Believe it or not despite the fact it is only about 25 miles it is not something I do regularly in the way mainlanders do not drive from Southampton to Inverness regularly - ha ha! The West Wight is rural where much of East Wight is more urbanised. It is an enjoyable drive going through the relatively depopulated - demotorised West Wight.

I park up and within a few minutes I am cycling to the Wightlink Ferry. A tip - Grace's Bakery on the Quay. A meal deal - a decent coffee, a hot pasty and a lovely cake - £5-25. Well I will be cycling and  doing a decent walk - ha!

The Yarmouth ferry has more charm - more personality than its big brother on the Ryde route. The boat is older - feels dated in its style and furnishings but it does the job. For some reason even the passengers seem more quirky ! Whenever possible I sit outside. On this morning I was the only one up there because it was bracing - but all the better for that. What was great was from mid Solent I could photo our route for the day - the whole length of the Hurst spit with the Fort and Lighthouse at the end - the Needles Channel - and the Needles. It was such a sparkly sea in the bright sunlight. Gorgeous - a wide expanse of natural environment.

The ferry run into Lymington is also lovely. The windey narrow channel means the ferry has to go slowly through the exposed mud flats and marshes. Sea birds and boats everywhere. There must be millions of pounds worth of boats moored at Lymington. My guess - as in most Marinas - many of the boats do not get the use intended or deserved - ha! Undertaking to self. Make full use of my boat this season !

As usual Jo is a bit late - blames it on the ferry being early - ha ha! Within no time we are heading into Lymington town and through - then skirt the coast to Keyhaven Marshes. It is a truly special area - a twitchers paradise especially at this time of year. There is no rush - it is a totally flat ride - and it is not too long before we emerge at quaint Keyhaven Harbour - a boaters paradise - especially if your draft is not too needy ! I will be back there in the summer I hope.

A bit further on we arrive at a little footbridge that takes us up onto the shingle bank. (we chain out bikes to the fence.) Wow it is bracing - that easterly is still blowing - but it is a beautiful bright sunny clear day as a result. We decide to walk on the western side of the spit rather than the top in order to be in the lee. However the shingle is fine and ankle deep and it is a wade. It is hard going. So a scramble on to the top and maybe a mile walk to the spit end on compacted shingle. With the breeze and cold and maybe the shingle the numbers of people making the walk reduce to less than a handful. I cannot describe it adequately but you are more at less at sea level - you have 360 degree flat panoramic views - seascape and landscape - the Fort and the Lighthouse - the pristine almost tactile shingle bank - sparkling sea east and west as far as you can see - the Isle of Wight closer than the mainland - picturesque little Keyhaven Harbour tucked in behind the spit and the marshes beyond. Beyond that is the New Forest and everything north that is England. A pretty special place. We had our packed lunch sat on a gun emplacement in the lee on the edge of the Hurst Fort and right by the lighthouse. Only a few hours before I was photographing this place from the cross Solent ferry and several miles away. Big smiles ! 

Eventually we retrace our route and cycle back into Lymington to have a beer. Our fav is The Kings Head on Quay Hill - a proper pub. What to do - the ferry is 4pm or 6pm ? I could just make the 4 if I gulp my pint. So I caught the 6pm - ha!

Just a bit on the Hurst Spit. Why is it there. What is the geology ? Usually spits are formed at estuary mouths where sediment being brought down by the river is checked by the tide and dumped as the flow reduces or is reversed. It builds up to form a bank.

Hurst Spit is a bit different I think. The stones - the shingle are gathered by the strong tide and pushed into the Solent entrance from the west - prevailing south westerlies. However when it gets to the narrower entrance it encounters the out flowing Lymington river which has created the Keythaven Marshes and the strong westerly flowing tides out of the Solent. Same thing. The water speed is checked - the stones are dropped - and the bank is gradually built. This is my understanding. It might not be right - ha! 

Here are some mob photos :

Hurst Fort - bigger than you might think.

From the ferry - the IOW - left - Hurst Lighthouse and Fort - middle and the spit running to the right to Keyhaven and Milford on the edge of the New Forest.

The return IOW ferry coming out of Lymington.

Keyhaven Marshes

The shingle bank - the Needles in the distance.

A lovely pint of real ale - not to be rushed xx

To provide some more facts/information I have downloaded this from Wikipedia  : 

Hurst Spit is a one-mile-long (1.6 km) shingle bank near the village of Keyhaven, at the western end of the Solent, on the south coast of England. The spit shelters an area of saltmarsh and mudflats known as Keyhaven and Pennington marshes. At the end of the spit is Hurst Castle, an artillery fortress originally built on the orders of King Henry VIII, and much enlarged in the 19th century. Hurst Point Lighthouse was built on the end of Hurst Spit in the 1860s.

Geography

Hurst Spit is a hook-shaped shingle spit which extends for 1.4 miles (2.25 km) from the Hampshire shore into the Solent towards the Isle of Wight. The spit forms a barrier which shelters a Site of Special Scientific Interest known as Hurst Castle And Lymington River Estuary. To reach the end of the spit one can either catch the seasonal ferry from Keyhaven, or follow the footpath (part of the Solent Way) along the top of the spit.

The sea route past Hurst Spit can be hazardous to boats because the constriction to the tidal flow caused by the spit creates strong tidal streams, as well as spiky waves mixed with circular areas of flat sea caused by the upwelling water. In addition a sand bar, known as The Trap, sticks out 60 m (200 ft) into the Solent just east of the round tower of Hurst Castle.

Geology

The spit formed from loose flint pebbles which had been eroded from the cliffs further west.^[Although originally formed by natural processes, Hurst Spit has been declining in volume, probably since the 1940s when coast protection works in Christchurch Bay first began to interrupt the flow of the shingle towards the spit. In 1989 the spit was so weakened that it was danger of being permanently breached. A stabilisation scheme took place in 1996-7. This scheme rebuilt the shingle bank using dredged shingle, and saw the building of a new rock revetment utilising larvikite rocks shipped from Norway at the western end of the spit and near the castle. The spit has to be replenished from time to time, most notably in the aftermath of the 2013-14 UK winter storms when New Forest District Council had to rebuild and reinforce parts of the spit.The spit no longer has its original natural appearance and looks "more like a railway embankment."

Hurst Castle

Hurst Castle was built between 1541 and 1544 by Henry VIII as part of his network of coastal defences to protect England against French and Spanish invasion. Hurst Castle was established to defend the western entrance of the Solent. During the English Civil War the castle was occupied by parliamentary forces and at the end of 1648 Charles I was held prisoner in the castle. The castle was enlarged in the 1860s, and two large wing batteries were built to house heavy guns. Soldiers were stationed at Hurst Castle as recently as World War II.

Lighthouses

The first lighthouse at Hurst was the Hurst Tower, sited to the south west of Hurst Castle, and lit for the first time on 29 September 1786. An additional and higher light - the High Lighthouse - was constructed in 1812.

These lighthouses were dismantled and replaced by two new lighthouses built in the 1860s. The first was the "Low Light" built into the rear wall of the west wing of the castle, which was superseded by the adjacent iron lighthouse in 1911. The second lighthouse was the "High Light" – the free standing Hurst Point Lighthouse built on the end of Hurst Spit between 1865 and 1867.