35mm: Takumar Trek Pt4

We last left the Castleman Trail, as it was crossed by Holmsley Passage, and a building that I suspected was once maybe a railway crossing house? It was also the location of the first little fragment of actual track seen so far. The image above is a typical view of the New Forest – my experience is that there is much more heath than forest!

The Pentax Spotmatic has now become a familiar walking companion, and I find that I’m getting much more use from the 35mm f3.5 Takumar than I am the 50mm. I’m also still surprised by the results that I’m getting from the old “out-of-date” (1998!) Ilford FP4+.

In short time, I come across what was certainly once a small bridge over the railway. It looks to me like it was deliberately destroyed, maybe war damage? and then made safe. Before long the track bed goes over a small bridge, that carries a small wooden water channel under it.

The track continues on, this section is an easy walk as it’s a marked path, and is open to cyclists too! Being an old railway line it’s also pretty flat. A couple more indications still survive, the odd post that was obviously once railway property, most likely another crossing gate.

Just before I got to the Burbush Car Park on Pound Lane, the little country road that runs out of the south of Burley, I find remains of another little bridge, almost covered by growth. It looked almost like a made still life, so of course I photographed it. I can never resist a good fern!

From here the route of the old track, heading west, is visible and easily made out on google maps as it crosses the Kingston Great Common Nature Reserve, but there is no actual path close to it. Then as the nature reserve ends, the right to walk does too, as the line of trees carries on into private farmers fields. All this so far though, although once part of the Castleman Railway, and indeed is official path across the New Forest, strangely, is not actually part of the official Castleman Trail. That starts very abruptly between two bungalows in the middle of nowhere! It is where I’ll begin part 5!