DAYS LIKE THIS GALLERY
Early Morning on the Castleman Trail at the River Avon Bridges Dorset England
The River Avon is a river in the south of England. The river rises in the county of Wiltshire and flows through the city of Salisbury and the county of Hampshire before reaching the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour in the county of Dorset.It is sometimes known as the Salisbury Avon or the Hampshire Avon in order to distinguish it from the various other River Avons in England. It is one of the rivers in Britain in which the phenomenon of anchor ice has been observed.[1] The Avon is thought to contain more species of fish than any other river in Britain
The Avon begins as two separate rivers. The western Avon rises to the east of Devizes, draining the Vale of Pewsey, and the eastern Avon rises just east of Pewsey adjacent to the Kennet and Avon Canal. These two merge at Upavon, flowing southwards across Salisbury Plain through Durrington, Amesbury and Salisbury. To the south of Salisbury it enters the Hampshire Basin, flowing along the western edge of the New Forest through Fordingbridge and Ringwood, meeting up with the river Stour at Christchurch, to flow intoChristchurch Harbour and the English Channel at Mudeford.All the significant direct and indirect tributaries of the Avon, including the Nadder, Wylye, Bourne and Ebble, converge within a short distance around Salisbury.About half of the length of the river is within Wiltshire, and only relatively short proportions are entirely within the current boundaries of Hampshire or Dorset. However for part of its path the river forms the border between Dorset and Hampshire, and prior to the 1974 reorganization of local government the whole of the section now in or bordering Dorset was wholly within Hampshire. As there are two rivers with the name Avon in Wiltshire, this led to the river being popularly known as the Hampshire Avon or the Salisbury Avon.The Avon Valley Path runs parallel with the river from Salisbury to Christchurch.
The Castleman Trailway is a footpath in Southern England. Portions of the trailway are also a cyclepath but the middle section from West Moors to Wimborne is not cyclable.One trailhead is on Bickerley Road in Ringwood and the other trailhead is the car park at Upton Country Park. The entire path is waymarked.The path passes through the villages of Ashley Heath, West Moors, Oakley, Broadstone and Upton, as well as Upton Heath and Upton Country Park.[1]The trailway is part of the former Southampton and Dorchester Railway line which ran from Brockenhurst to Hamworthy Junction via Ringwood. This circuitous route was promoted in the 19th century by the Wimborne solicitor Charles Castleman, and was chosen because of the need to run through populated areas at a time when Bournemouth was a small village.