please empty your brain below
The ferries cease at 5pm . . .
A fine example of what’s wrong with our leisure businesses.
Wake up and find out what your customers want, you idiots.
Words fail me, and your businesses will fail, too.

Frustrated holidaymaker | 28.05.26 - 7:36 a.m. | #

that's a decent walk on such a warm day, wonderful photos too.

Peter T | 28.05.26 - 8:36 a.m. | #

Frustrated Holidaymaker, there may be good reason for this. I think it's very likely that the licence to operate stops at this time, to enable the area to quieten down for wildlife to enjoy some peace.

Wendy C | 28.05.26 - 9:39 a.m. | #

The first comment is a classic case of someone getting pointlessly angry about something they’ve never experienced and don’t fully understand.

fenterman | 28.05.26 - 9:48 a.m. | #

The eye-watering sale prices for the beach huts at Mudeford Spit may well make them the most expensive beach huts in the world.

Hengistbury Head really is quite special. Great views inland over Christchurch Harbour, along the coastline past Bournemouth to the Isle of Purbeck (although that might have been shrouded in haze on Monday), and across to the Isle of Wight.

One feature which is about half a mile off the route you walked is the beach cafe at Southbourne - an eclectic mix of shipping containers, a VW Beetle perched on the roof of one of them, and a 1980s double deck bus which had spent much of its working life in North London.

Malc M | 28.05.26 - 11:15 a.m. | #

So fenterman, do explain to us little people… because it’s entirely reasonable to question why it stops at 5pm. Early closes and unmet needs are one of the things holding back the economy. Coffee shops that close at 3pm, buses that stop at 6, erratic schedules that prevent people going out, all add up. There’s a reason London (and increasingly Manchester) are growing while other places shrink.

Nick | 28.05.26 - 11:32 a.m. | #

It’s perfectly reasonable to question why a business stops at 5pm. The first commenter instead assumed a rationale.

fenterman | 28.05.26 - 11:52 a.m. | #

I do wonder what business the ferry does when it isn't a blistering Bank Holiday Monday. Unless there are tidal reasons, extending beyond 1700 might also require extra staff 'because modern rules'; perhaps back in the day the same couple of blokes, powered by tea, cigarettes and extra cash could have operated the service unofficially beyond 1700 on a hot sunny day 'until it got quiet'.

Still Anon | 28.05.26 - 12:04 p.m. | #

A prime example of one of your lyrical landscape posts. Looking from here across the Solent, mainland locals have coined the term "Isle of Wight bear" for the distant shape of the chalk cliffs of Scratchell's Bay arching their back beyond the Needles. Few on the "South Island" are aware of this term - the "bear" is just discernible in one of your photos.

I'd never heard of the Mudeford Ferry, which will be useful, as this makes a day-trip viable for me with bike.

As for the operating hours, it exemplifies the free-market principle that businesses can do as much as little as is convenient for them; any public benefit being purely incidental.

cau1khead | 28.05.26 - 3:44 p.m. | #

There is even a bar in Southbourne called the Wight Bear. The polar bear shape becomes clearer as you head east along the coastline past Boscombe and Southbourne. It is more pronounced in the afternoon and evening due to the angle of the sun.

Malc M | 28.05.26 - 6:14 p.m. | #

Absolutely glorious.
You really did strike gold with the weather.

Cornish Cockney | 28.05.26 - 7:17 p.m. | #

I had a holiday there once back in the mid 70s. That narrow strip was where those with chronic chest conditions were given the chance for a week or two by the sea, which was about 50 feet away at high tide. My best mate’s mum and dad were granted a fortnight there, and asked me if I’d like to go with them. Like now, the only way to get out and about was the land train to Christchurch or ferry over to the pub and cafe, the only difference being that the ferry was a rowboat manned by two local girls who would happily row us back across after hours for the cost of 2 or 3 halves of Watneys Red Barrel. Good two weeks that.

Kevin Hennessy | 29.05.26 - 3:32 p.m. | #

I had family that lived in Southbourne many years ago, so we holidayed every year several times and we used to climb Hengistbury head for fun 😀

Rachel | 29.05.26 - 7:28 p.m. | #











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