Pipers Wait Loop

Pipers Wait Loop is a 4.7-mile (7.6-km) circuit from Pipers Wait car park, across open heath and grassland, past Eyeworth Pond, through woodland, and back over the heath. Allow about 2.5 hours. It makes a satisfying longer walk if you want both open New Forest ground and a pond stop; the only notable climb comes near the end, but the first path is faint and boggy ground interrupts the easier gravel sections.

Leave the car park by crossing the road and following the grass path above Crow’s Nest Bottom. This is not a surfaced trail, and the line can blend into the ground; keep above the wetter patches below. It reaches the B3078, which you cross before following the roadside briefly to a broad gravel track. That track descends to Eyeworth Pond, where the route trades exposed heath for water and sheltered woods.

Continue past the pond on the lane marked for private-residence access; this mapped route uses the public right of way. It passes the last property, winds through Eyeworth Wood, then opens onto heathland and heads back to the B3078. Cross again toward Franchises Wood and follow its fence before descending to a small stream. The ground there can be boggy in parts of the year. After the crossing, climb steeply to Pipers Wait, then cross open heath back to the car park. Eyeworth Pond and the woodland give this circuit its clearest change of scene.

The walk is rated moderate, with about 94 m of total ascent. Expect two B3078 crossings and a short roadside section, as well as the faint opening path, boggy stream and steep final climb. Pipers Wait car park at Nomansland has eight spaces. Dogs are allowed in the Forest; keep them close and visible, use a lead if needed, and from March through August keep them with you and on the main tracks across open heath for nesting birds.