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Home / News / Easter Rally to Lymington April 2022 (1)
Home / News / Easter Rally to Lymington April 2022 (1)
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Easter Rally to Lymington April 2022 (1)

Published 10:47 on 23 Apr 2022

Easter Rally in the Spring sunshine..............this felt more like summer!

What a great Easter cruise to Lymington Berthon Marina. The unseasonal weather spoilt us with warm sunshine and very light winds, resulting in our engines doing all the work. Our sails only went up for a brief airing!

8 boats made it in the end after the dreaded virus unfortunately hit some crew plans. However, a number of battle flags and banners let everyone know Haslar YC was in town. A total of 23 crew enjoyed not 1 but 2 drinks receptions by the marina office, and on Saturday an excellent dinner at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. It was great to see young family members Rob MacGregor (son of Ian and Sharon) and his charming wife JJ and also to welcome Gay Sutherland along who made it along on a social (no boat) basis.

As always Lymington has plenty to offer those wandering ashore. The Saturday market was the busiest Ive seen for a long time. Street traders offering the usual displays of local produce, fruit, artisan breads, cheeses, biltong meats, and crafts including wood turning , basket makers, pictures to name just a few. The quayside was crowded with visitors taking in the sunshine also.

For those venturing a bit further, Lymington borders a salt marsh nature reserve, the MacGregor family (Fruit Bat) decided to take a little wander, which turned out to be somewhat longer than planned. Due to the history of the area when salt used to be dried there, the paths go along and round these old basins which are now returned to a wild state. With the bustle of Lymington town behind us and yachts and ferries passing through the Solent on our left, we located the coastal path and set off. There are so many options, twists and turns in the path tracks that it is easy to go around in circles, with many a short cut being rather the opposite. There is a huge amount of wildlife, some new forest ponies wandering and a few startled deer you might expect but it was the birds that gave us the most pleasant surprises. We had to resort to google more than once for identification as we are no experts but this, we believe, is what we found although Ive probably missed a few: Herons, Avocets, Egrets, Peewits & a Godwit, various ducks and geese, Curlews, Sandpipers, yellow hammers, reed warblers and some finches. Whilst none of us claim to be avid bird watchers, the sheer amount and variety of birds meant frequent stops making the roughly 1.5hour walk to Keyhaven take nearly 3 hours. After a lovely light lunch at Keyhaven yacht club, we decided against taking the ferry out to Hurst Castle as we had planned and called a taxi to get back to Lymington, we were not the first people to need to do that according to our driver. Next time youre in Lymington, it's well worth a visit and most pathways were cycle friendly as well.  (See pictures in the gallery.)

Thanks here to Sharon MacGregor.

Meanwhile, The crew from Blue Moon of Haslar (Jem, Ann, Jonathon and Celeste) packed a bag of snacks and drinks and set off into Lymington to find the start of the walk to the Iron Age Hillfort. St Barbe Museum houses the Tourist information centre and exhibition space. From there we collected a few leaflets for the walks around Lymington. The main walk most people do is the one round the Nature reserve. Having done this a few times we picked the Iron Age fort to do on the Saturday morning. A reasonably easy guide to follow, having written and pictorial instructions. A short easy enough walk of 2.7 miles. A varied pathway of road, gravel and country tracks. Lots of wildlife to view on the way. On reaching the Hillfort there are plenty of information boards to read the history of the area. Also a few benches to sit and enjoy the view before heading back into town and Marina. I hope everyone has enjoyed the weekend as much as we have

Thanks here to Ann Nicholls

Another interesting venue came across by a few lost walkers included the Model Railway Exhibition, which contrary to one report was not a drinking establishment!

Saturday evening we were hosted for an excellent dinner at the Royal Lymington YC. The spacious room was located on the first floor with a great balcony and panoramic views of the river and across the Solent. The excellent food was enjoyed by all, and the evening concluded with a superb moon rising over the river (excellent photo courtesy of Paula on Dreamcatcher)

A big thank you to Jeremy our Events Organiser, for a superbly run rally, supported so well by Brian and Hilary Masters.

More pictures can be found in the gallery.

Patrick Inskip (part time ed)

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Last updated 13:22 on 25 October 2023

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