Great Western Coffee Shop

Checked departures from Pershore at 07:30 and the 08:27 Paddington was shown as on time.

I walked to Pershore station in time to buy my ticket from the machine and catch the 08:27.
My Ticket was an Anytime day return psh-lyt at £43.95 with senior railcard.

On arriving at the station the 08:27 was shown as delayed until 08:41 it actually departed at 08:34.
This was good as my schedule was as follows.

Pershore dep 08:27 actual 08:34
Reading arr 09:55 actual 09:54
Reading dep 10:07
Basingstoke arr 10:35
Basingstoke dep 10:48
Brockenhurst arr 11:37 actual 11:42
Brockenhurst dep 11:42 missed connection so left on the next train at 12:12
Lymington town arr 12:19

The 08:27 from Pershore made up time and arrived at Oxford on time. I had time to grab a coffee and sausage bap at Basingstoke. However the 10:48 from Basingstoke was delayed by congestion and a late running Cardiff-Portsmouth at St Denys. There was a West Coast Railway Light engine in front of my train as well.

(https://i.ibb.co/KXJD1D1/47813.jpg)
WCR 47813 passing Basingstoke on a Southall to Westbury via Weymouth working.

Spent the half hour having a quick walk at Brockenhurst. I had forgotten just how many pubs there are near the station.
(https://i.ibb.co/Bwdv1Gx/Foresters-Arms.jpg)

On arrival at Lymington I set off on my walk.

(https://i.ibb.co/DQxtgPx/Lymington-Map.jpg)
There is a nice map outside Lymington Town.

The outward route was along the Solent way keeping close to the shore all the way to Keyhaven. I stopped and sat on a bench looking over to Yarmouth and ate the packed lunch I had taken with me.

This route takes you past the old salt lagoons that provided the main industry in the Lymington area up to the early 19th century. They now form a bird sanctuary. https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/finder/lymingtonkeyhaven (https://www.hants.gov.uk/thingstodo/countryside/finder/lymingtonkeyhaven)

(https://i.ibb.co/XDSnS4M/Saltworkings.jpg)
Information board about the salt workings.

(https://i.ibb.co/r5cBxzt/Pennington-Map.jpg)
Map of the walks around the nature reserve.

Keyhaven is a very nice spot with a number of boats, a boatyard, a yacht club and a pub.

(https://i.ibb.co/K9fh5P0/yacht-keyhaven.jpg)
Keyhaven

There is a public toilet and a small shop at the boatyard. I purchased a coffee and cake then found a bench on the sea wall. There is a ferry to Hurst castle from here.

(https://i.ibb.co/WGTVnws/IOW-view.jpg)
The view to Hurst castle and the Isle of Wight.


My route back followed the inland cycle track back to Lymington a shorter route. I was back in Lymington just before 16:00 having spent most of the time walking with about 40 minutes stopped for refreshments. The weather was sunny intervals and a light westerly wind.


My return journey was as follows
Lymington Town dep 16:29
Brockenhurst arr 16:38
Brockenhurst dep 16:44
Southampton Central arr 16:58
Southampton Central dep 17:17
Oxford arr 18:39
Oxford dep 18:48
Pershore arr 19:48

I made a reservation on the 17:17 Cross Country service using the 10 minute reservation text message system provided by Cross Country.
Everything ran on time and I was able to buy a cup of tea on the 17:17. I had purchased a salad meal from Tesco in Lymington for my return journey.
None of the trains where crowded.

Nice trip. Better than weekends when there is now one train an hour on the Reading - Basingstoke service, which normally means about 50 minute wait at Basingstoke. Caught the CC the other weekend and changed at Winchester which stopped at Brockenhurst. The Lymington street market has been back to full service since may. And the chip shop is still excellent.

The Lymington - Keyhaven route is also officially cyclable. I normally cheat with the Brompton and catch the bus back from Milford to Lymington.

Do you know if Hurst Castle is open again. It was closed after the foundations were partly undermined in a winter storm.

Partley


From https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hurst-castle/ (https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/hurst-castle/)

There where passengers queing for the ferry when I walked past.