Lymington Distance: 6 miles Map: Outdoor leisure 22, The New Forest Start: In main car park in the centre of Lymington. Well signposted on the approach roads. For a scaleable map showing the start point, click here. Notes: Not exactly within the New Forest boundary, you practically cannot fail to go through the New Forest at some point to get to Lymington, hence its inclusion in the New Forest walks section. The Walk: Walk out of Lymington's main car park by way of the entrance you drove in and turn left uphill into New Street. Continue uphill to reach the end of the street just after passing the Community Centre. Turn left and follow the road until you reach the High Street. Cross this wide road carefully and continue down Ashley Lane which is practically opposite you. Just after passing a nice restaurant on the right, pass through a bicycle restriction barrier to go gently downhill, passing a small area of parkland on the left hand side.   At the bottom of the pathway, just after the park, bear right along Grove Road. At the end of the road, turn left into Church Lane until you reach a road junction next to an old pillar box. At this point bear left into Waterford Lane. You walk the whole length of this road, passing nice guesthouses on the way, until you reach its end, where you cross a road to walk down King's Saltern Road directly opposite you. A couple of hundred yards along the road, just before reaching the entrance to a boat yard, turn right onto a signposted footpath which leads you across a section of marshland.   At the end of the footpath, turn left onto a lane which we found to be very quiet and free of vehicles. Continue for some way along this lane until you eventually come to a lane junction, in the middle of which there is a triangle of grass and a bench to rest on if you wish. Turn left here onto Platoff Road. Staying on this lane leads you to another lane where you bear left with the Chequers Inn in sight. Pass the inn, and remain on the lane to pass a farm, just after which you look out for a footpath sign pointing you up a driveway.   Turn left onto the gravelled driveway and remain on it to pass a house as the path then narrows to pass between marshland to the right and pasture to the left. The footpath then passes Eight Acre Pond on the right. After passing a small sailing clubhouse, turn right immediately after a cottage to take a path through a kissing gate along the left shore of Eight Acres Pond. The path leads you to the sea edge and turns left to follow the coastline on top of a sea wall.   Remaining on the wall, you eventually reach a large yacht marina which your footpath, signed as the Solent Way, skirts round the marina edge. Rounding the marina, the footpath passes by a large outdoor swimming pool, which may or may not seem quite inviting depending on the weather. You are more than likely to spot the Lymington to Isle of Wight ferry as you continue pass slipways and the entrance to the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Aim for the public park you can see ahead of you and bear left by the pond to pass through the park to reach the road. Turn right and head towards the centre of Lymington passing sailmakers and chandleries on the way to reach a street called The Quay. Bearing slightly left ahead, continue along Quay Hill, which is a cobbled street with gift shops, restaurants and bakeries selling tempting hot pies (extremely tempting during our walk on New Years Eve 2000!).   Quay Hill leads you to Lymington High Street which you slowly ascend, looking out for Early Court on the right. Pass through Early Court as your route leads you back into the main central car park and your start point.   Useful Links: Lymington Harbour / Chequers Inn / Lymington Community Centre / Royal Lymington Yacht Club /