Exploring the Bournemouth Coast Path

There is another warning to stay away from the coast today.

The Echo has  a round up of flood and coast news.

Tomorrow, Sunday 2 February which is Candlemas and the ‘start of Spring’, should be dry and bright.

Rain and wind did not come as early as predicted on Friday morning but high tide has already caused problems.

The junction of Haven Road with Shore Road, by the start of Banks Road. Sandbanks just avoided becoming an island.

Mudeford Quay, Christchurch Quay and Lymington Quay also under water this morning.

Worse weather is about to arrive.

Updates on Echo website.

With a storm approaching from the west it’s important to say that Friday 3 January is not the day to walk all sections of the Bournemouth Coast Path.

High tide is at 10am in Poole Bay so it would be best to avoid the short promenade stretches from Poole Head to Flaghead Chine and Branksome Chine to Branksome Dene Chine.

And one should not expect the Wick Ferry, on the Southbourne-Mudeford winter route, to be operating.

Winds could be strong on the clifftop.

The promotors of the controversial Navitus Bay windfarm off Bournemouth’s coast are holding informal drop-in sessions to enable people meet the project team.

Its application for planning consent will be submitted this year.

Some of the venues are:

Tuesday 21 January, 10am – 1pm
Lymington Community Centre, New Street, Lymington SO41 9BQ

Wednesday 22 January, 10am – 1pm
The Lighthouse, 21 Kingland Road, Poole BH15 1UG

Wednesday 22 January, 3pm – 6pm
St Edward’s Church Hall, Swanage BH1 1AH

Thursday 23 January, 3pm – 6pm
Carlton Hotel, East Overcliff, Bournemouth BH1 3DN

Friday 24 January, 10am – 1pm
New Milton Community Centre, Osborne Road, New Milton BH25 6EA

Friday 24 January, 3pm – 6pm
Captain’s Club Hotel, Wick Ferry, Wick Lane, Christchurch BH23 1HU

The new Hengistbury Head Visitor Centre has opened temporarily for the holiday and will continue to be open daily until Sunday 5 January.

It will open permanently in February when the shop and other works have been completed.

There was a landslip at Southbourne on Saturday night.

The Echo has a video.

The Marine on the seafront at Milford-on-Sea has a new general manager.

Stephen Caunter from Bournemouth, who co-founded the Lord Bute restaurant at Highcliffe Castle’s gateway, is now at The Marine.

The restaurant, on the coast path at the start of Hurst Spit, has a good cafe bar with warming food open from 9.30am to at least dusk.

The new edition of the Ordnance Survey Explorer map for Bournemouth includes the Bournemouth Coast Path.

The New Forest: Southampton, Ringwood, Ferndown, Lymington, Christchurch & Bournemouth Explorer map OL22 2013 edition is published this month.

This is a major step forward for the Bournemouth Coast Path created in 1985 to link the Dorset Coast Path at Sandbanks with the Solent Way at Milford-on-Sea. Since then the Mudeford to Chewton Bunny path has been designated as the ‘Christchurch Coastal Path’.

The Bournmeouth Coast Path runs from the borough boundary with Poole at Branksome Dene Chine to the Mudeford Spit but the guide will continue to overlap on each side giving the route from Swanage to Lymington.

The latest edition of the New Forest Explorer OL22 (£7.99) will be available in shops shortly as the stocks the old edition are replaced.

Meanwhile copies are available direct from Ordnance Survey.

The new Visitor Centre at Hengistbury Head will open this year.

The summer date was missed despite some late evening work in the summer.

The first for the public to see inside is now to be Saturday 14 December.

The cliff top coastguard training centre at Steamer Point is due to close and be replaced by housing.

The site was a radar station from 1948 to 1980 when the Signals Research and Development Establishment, or SRDE, was developing radar.

The fear now is that low rise buildings associated with the sea will be replaced by more instrusive structures.

The move is a result of Marine & Coastguard Agency cuts leading to the number of coastguards being reduced and properties sold.