GUIDE TO THE RIVER LYMINGTON
(Brockenhurst to Lymington)
NAME: Lymington River.
WHERE IS IT?:It runs out of the New Forest (Hants) via Brockenhurst to Lymington.
PUT-INS/ TAKEOUTS: You can put it at Brockenhurst by the Balmer Lawn Hotel. (big carpark opposite hotel) It is also possible to get in at Rhinefield but I believe that this section is very 'woody'. The road crosses just outside Brockenhust - launching here should be no problem.
Get outs are at Bolder bridge or at the causeway at Lymington. Parking tight.
APPROX LENGTH: 7 Miles from Brockenhurst to Lymington.
TIME NEEDED: 4 Hours.
ACCESS HASSLES: Not Known - there is trout fishing on this stretch - we avoided the season. Home owners did not seem to mind us at the bottom of their gardens. Small quiet groups needed!
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: We paddled it when the gravel bank at the get in was about 3-4 m wide. This resulted in a couple of scrapey sections but not bad in general. The water usually stays up for a few days after rain.
GRADING: 1 with weirs.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: One double weir about an hour after the get in. Easily protaged river left. Probably shootable but the line out of the lower weir was blocked by a tree in 2001 when I last did the river.
There are tree dams at regular intervals on the first 3-4 miles of the trip.
Some fences trail into the water - could be nasty at higher levels.
At the causeway there is a tidal gated weir. At low springs the drop is 5-6 foot into a closed stopper. There is a lot of structure around the gates. Inspection from above is impossible as there is a slope down to the main drop. You can only really inspect from a boat below the weir - this means carring over the embankmant and road. We ran it blind when it had a 2-3 ft drop and it was OK. This is not a place to swim! The gates only open 2/3 of the way back and there is plenty of water piling up onto them when the river is flowing well.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: To section (to Bolder) is a beautiful small woodland stream. There are a lot of tree dams. We sneaked over 4 or 5 and walked round another 4 or 5. Some of the time you are moving behind peoples gardens.
Once past Bolder you are into open fields and then large reed beds. All very beautiful - otters are reported to be in this section.
OTHER NOTES: A nice, if odd trip. Not worth traveling far for but if you are local might be worth a go.
CONTRIBUTED BY: Richard Seaby and Ken Spurway.
