Highcliffe Beach parkrun

Last parkrunday I visited Highcliffe Beach parkrun for the first time. Quite a drive from home, and not the original plan I had pencilled in in my my planner. I was planning to go to Kent to go close a hole in my Voronoi map, but then I scrolled challenges and saw that this newish event on the coast would get me a couple of coveted challenges. And it looked pretty, a scenic costal event that could still be visited with decent weather. I didn’t even notice that Highcliffe Beach parkrun was far enough to just about make it into Dorset and not be, as I thought, in Hampshire.

In a funny turn of events, I also liked the symmetry of visiting a UK costal event just one week after the trip to gorgeous Bay East Garden parkrun in Singapore, where the amazing view on Singapore Marina Bay was very much countered by the atrocious humidity and intense heat. While the view was stunning at Highcliffe Beach as well, the weather started pleasantly fresh. But it turned quite hot here too, towards the end of the event, just not as unbearably hot as in Singapore.

To expand a bit about the parkrun challenges that pulled me here, Highcliffe Beach parkrun was running their 40th event. This hit a double whammy: a new event number for my Golden Wilson Index, where I am slowly trying to cover events under 100 and a tick on the slightly more obscure ‘Decades’ event. All multiple as of 10 under 100. Good motivation for a drive that would be slightly longer than usual on the way out, but likely quite painful on the way back.

But the main motivator, as said, was getting here before weather turns gloomy. While I do enjoy a Byronesque experience on a grey cliff while the wind sweeps around me, the post event refreshments would definitely be a different experience and Highcliffe Beach parkrun offers gorgeous outside seating on the cliff top.

Anyway, enough with my rumblings. It’s time to dive into some more info about Highcliffe Beach parkrun.

Trip to Highcliffe Beach parkrun and parking

The event starts at Highcliffe Beach, near the bottom of Chewton Bunny Nature Reserve. It is a gorgeous costal area on the border of Hampshire and Dorset, offering stunning views on the Isle of Wight and the Needles. The area is within the municipality of Chirstchurch and very close to Bournemouth. If you are not local and make it all the way down here, there is more than enough to explore in the area to make a day out of it, or more… unless you are in a rush to make your way back for the afternoon.

The only public transport option mentioned by the official event site, is a local bus, that will stop 5 minutes away from Highcliffe Beach parkrun meeting point. If I try to check how I could reach the area from my base in London on Google Maps, the suggested route would take about 3 hours and it seems to be possible on parkrunday morning. It suggests a Southwest train to New Milton Station, a 10 minutes bas ride and finally a 15 minutes walk. New Milton Station is served by Southwest, with connections to London Waterloo, Poole and Weymouth.

If you prefer driving, as I did, the venue is close enough to major road networks, but the trip will still involve a 20-30 minutes final stretch on small, winding rural roads cutting through the edge of the New Forest. Beautiful views and plenty of horses on sight, but not expecting it made me slightly concerned I would be late. Also, bear in mind that the postcode above gets you to a town intersection and not the real final destination. Or at least it did for me using Waze. Just turn left towards the sea when you get there and driven a couple of minutes to the seafront. When I did that, I arrived straight at the cafe and the massive car park.

The car park is free in winter months, but it does carry a charge April to November. It can be paid using the RingGo app and it cost me about £8 for 3 hours. Not cheap, but worth it for the gorgeous location.

Highcliffe Beach parkrun: start and briefings

The car park acting as gateway to Highcliffe Beach parkrun is very large, but you will barely notice it. It sits by the cafe and with very open views over a stunning bay, overlooking the Isle of Wight and the Needles on the left. When can force yourself off the cliff top, head towards the restaurant/cafe. Walk past the toilets and turn onto the path behind the cafe. From here, you will see Highcliffe Beach parkrun meeting point 50m walk downhill. It’s on a green clearing still on top of the cliffs.

People who designed the course here were strangely compassionate and elected to have start and finish in different places, to avoid a painful climb up the cliff again at the end. This means that anything you want to leave at a bag drop needs to be moved. The team use trolleys, so you can leave your belongings on one of the them, note its number and then they will carry them to the finish line and you will find them there at the end. I never use bag drops at parkrun, but kind of them to do that for people needed it.

When time came, the First TIme Briefing was called slightly uphill from where the volunteers were coming together, but still on the main green clearing. It was very buzzy and friendly and started with a bold statement: welcome to the most beautiful parkrun in the UK. While that title is one with many events going for it, Highcliffe Beach parkrun can definitely claim to be among a selected few at the very top. Among the costal events I have visited so far, I think only Hadleigh parkrun in Kent could compete with it.

Closer to 9am, everybody walks down a little bit more and start bunching up facing the seafront. It is on a smaller but still decent clearing, but the path you will be facing is not very wide. This is where the Main Briefing took place. The team did use a loudspeaker, but it was pretty bad quality, so I could not hear anything that was said, while I could hear the First Timers briefing very well, even if it did not use one.

At the end of the briefing, everyone is already where they should be to get going.

Here it was. 3, 2, 1.

Time to go!

Highcliffe Beach parkrun parkrun course review – star ratings

Highcliffe Beach parkrun course review – route highlights

There were 200 parkrunners on the day of my first visit to Highcliffe Beach parkrun. This is a good showing, but a significant drop from recent average attendance levels. End of summer may, with holiday makers not around anymore? If this is the reason, I suppose this event will be subject to meaningful seasonality, as you would expect from many costal venues. Over the last few weeks, this venue has been seeing fields in the 300s, with a few parkrundays shooting over 400. Ignoring the few crazy launch weeks, the most recent peak was 422 in early August 2026. I think the lower end of these ranges is where this event will be most enjoyable, with major peaks in summer being feasible, but with some significant compromises. Hopefully this does not become a very busy event because it will affect the experience.

The only real bottleneck here is at the start. The path gets immediately fairly narrow, so there will be some congestion. And I did experience it starting at the middle of the pack as you can see in my video below. It is not terrible though, since after a few seconds everything clears out… with a field of 200. Bigger fields might be concerning. As you turn right and onto the main beachside path, things get easier. The path is comfortable and wide enough, with the exception of a short segment 2/3 of the way in, where people will try to stay away from sand. Finally, there are 2 180-degree turning points: you will have to slow down a bit, but they are comfortable enough.

Surface is mostly shingles, with a short segment on sand, but you might be able to avoid most of it. It does take a bit more out of you than smooth tarmac or hard paths, but it is fairly well compressed, so you will not suffer it too much. It is a fairly comfortable surface to run on and I ran it in road shoes with very little problems. Beach side routes tend to be ‘easier’ in winter, when the ground is frozen and compacted: the summer test here shows how Highcliffe Beach parkrun will be ok to run in road shoes throughout the year.

Elevation-wise, at 18m elevation gain over two laps, I should be calling Highcliffe Beach parkrun flat. I don’t, however, because of the meaningful downhill you start on and then because each of the two laps you will have to climb to the higher path for a short segment on the way back. Elevation is also slightly inconsistent on the main lower path, but down there you will never encounter gradients that make a major difference to your effort.

In terms of scenic value, you will be in for a treat. The most breathtaking views are from the clifftop, before you start or while you are having your parkbreakfast. However, also on the beachside, you will be running along a beautiful coastline that gifts city dwellers a great experience throughout.

The course is very simple. Run down to beach level, the follow the cost all the way to the Highcliffe Castle and turn around. On the way back, roughly half way, turn left and go up to a higher path. Stay there for a bit, go down again and reach keep going back for a short while. Then turn around and do it again.

A quick Relive route plot is on my YouTube Channel, with longer video highlights embedded below.

As the Briefing winds down, everyone is already in position and when it’s time to start, a relatively chaotic blob of parkrunners start moving towards the path in front of them. It is downhill, pointing towards the sea and it gets narrower fairly quickly. I would say 4 people car run next to each other, but if you end up behind someone starting slowly, you will find overtaking difficult. It won’t be long before you can find an opening though, so things are not dramatic.

Very quickly, the path opens up on your left, as you get closer to the first turn. The view here is beautiful, you are still slightly elevated, with a sandy beach on your left and the Isle of Wight in front, to the left. Fight the urge to stop and take a picture, it is still early and this point won’t be far from the finish line! Keep going a few seconds and then turn right. You will still be going downhill for a short while before reaching the beachside path where you will settle for most of your run.

Once you are there, a long straight starts. Terrain is mostly shingles, harder to run on that smoother paths, but not too bad after all. You will keep going all the way to the bottom of the Highcliffe Castle zig-zag, with a beautiful open view on the sea on your left and the grass cliffs on your right. I particularly enjoyed the distinct sea smell in my nostrils, which made the higher than usual humidity worth enduring.

About half way through the straight, you will find the first marshal, at the bottom of a downhill hill descent from the higher path. Some fast parkrunners might already be coming down from there. Keep going. Pass the point where people will turn to go up to the higher path and soon reach a point where sand starts being underfoot. Sand is a pain to run on, you sink in it, so most people swerve towards the centre of the path to avoid it. However, faster runner will be coming back and if you want to avoid sand, you can only run one person each direction of travel. So some sand is often inevitable. I guess the ratio of sand on the path might also depend on season and wind intensity.

You will be out of this segment pretty soon though. Keep going straight, with a mild undulation until your reach the turning point. Turn around a cone near a couple of volunteers and keep going back the same way you came. Soon after the sand bottleneck you will reach the point where you have to turn left. Do that and climb the short but steep segment getting you on the higher path. Then turn right again and keep going on that path for a few 100m, roughly flat. Not long before you lean right again and go downhill, to merge into the lower path again.

At the bottom, it is not time to turn around yet. Keep going back East, until you reach the point where you had come down from the cliff at the start. Over there, there will be another 180-degrees turnaround point. Go around the cones on the ground and start your second out and back. Nearly completely the same.

The difference will be at the end of the higher path segment. This time, instead of leaning right to descent, keep going straight. After about 200m, you will see the finish funnel.

Congratulations on completing Highcliffe Bridge parkrun!

Facilities at Highcliffe Beach parkrun

The cliff-top Cliffhanger cafe acts as focal point at Highcliffe Beach parkrun. It is just by the side of the car park and no one car reach this venue without reaching it.

At the Cliffhanger of Highcliffe Beach parkrun I went beyond my usual sweet pastry and ordered a pint of lemonade, eggs royale and a single espresso. It was delicious, but cost me about £25. Not cheap, paying for location here as well, obviously.

Highcliffe Beach parkrun: Video Highlights

As usual, I’ve taken a few video snippets during the run to give an idea of the course. If you like it, please subscribe, it’s a fun past time for me 🙂

The other parkrun videos on my YouTube channel are all linked on the course review and video highlights summary page.

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Achievements and performance

Conclusions

Highcliffe Beach parkrun is gorgeous. Immediately upon arrival, the car park sits on top of the cliffs, offering immediate breathtaking views. As you start the event, the stroll along the sea is refreshing. A treat for a city dweller like me.

The run is pleasant and relatively flat and the cafe/restaurant near the car park is a real treat after the event, especially in decent weather. I highly recommend people come, if within reach. It might not be the most beautiful parkrun in the UK, but it definitely is a notable one.

Finally, obviously, thank you, Highcliffe Beach parkrun team for your hospitality!