For the fourth of his rides around the national parks*, former Arriva regional managing director BOB HIND takes himself to the south of England, issued with a poncho to view the ponies in the New Forest from three open-top double-deckers, and goes on to ride three operators’ routes along the South Downs
BRITAIN’S BREATHING SPACES — NATIONAL PARKS BY BUS
The New Forest was surely one of the more obvious candidates to be designated as a national park, but its status was not confirmed until 2005.
The 140,000acres to the west of Southampton has been an area of importance since William the Conqueror designated it a royal forest and, even today, the unique home to over 5,000 ponies, 3,500 cattle and numerous donkeys and pigs makes it special. While some serious roads cross the forest and traffic is a problem, the residents who roam and graze freely are fully aware of their priority and exercise their freedoms without constraint. There are bus services around the periphery, accessing the area from Bournemouth, Salisbury and Southampton, but surprisingly there is only one all-year service that actually crosses the New Forest, Go South Coast’s hourly Bluestar service 6 between Southampton and Lymington on the south coast.
