New Forest walk

After breakfast. Deb has a map of walks near Brockenhurst. She plans a walk.

We start from The Huntsman. Walk to the village centre. Luckily Deb knows the way, I don't.

Our first stop is The buttery, the cafe.

We have tea, coffee and the very English Bakewell tart. Now strengthened, we walk on.

Past two donkeys... New Forest donkeys of course... just standing there, on the footpath. There are occasional hoofprints and lots of droppings to show where they roam.

Apparently donkeys and ponies regularly wander in and out of the Forest. That explains the garden fences. And the cattle grids on roads and driveways. And the signs saying, this is a donkey proof bin, please take your rubbish home with you.

During the day, we see several groups of donkeys on the streets of the village.

We are soon out of the village, onto common land, open grassland.

On the commons we see lots of ponies. The famous New Forest ponies :-) and a few cattle. None are worried by our passing.

Our walk takes us past an allotment. Quite a large area. Not looking well cared for, though that may be due, somehow, to the time of year. Garden seasons are a mystery to me.

There are some campgrounds. Deb chats with a couple from Brighton who are camping, with their two dogs. I say hello to one of the dogs.

We follow a path into the Forest itself. Lots of trees but, here, quite open. A group of a dozen ponies. Several cyclists, some walkers.

There's a bridge with a sign, unsafe for horses, use the ford. Water at the ford is deep but not deep for a horse, i guess.

As usual, Deb follows the map and i follow Deb.

Not that I would ever say anything against Deb but, when she is lost, she walks faster and faster, and gets very snappy.

Deb walks faster and faster and gets very snappy. I keep very quiet. Except for commenting that I'm sure Deb will find the way. I refrain from saying, Well at least we're lost together.

Of course Deb does lead us back to the village. She's a good navigator.

It's lunchtime, we have grilled salmon in The Terrace cafe. Essentially it's the first lunch place that we find. We're hungry!

We stop at a bakery to buy salad rolls for tonight's dinner. I look longingly at eclairs stuffed with real cream, Deb won't buy one:-(

and that's our day. We walk back to the Inn and do nothing much for the evening. We walked almost 8km. Nice and flat. With animals to entertain us.

Despite a forecast of 70% chance of some rain, it's fine.

In fact the backs of myhands, where i have no melanin, are noticeably sunburnt.

As I tell Deb, it's always fine weather on our holidays :-)

Except, she reminds me, when it rains.

So far, this is yet another fine holiday :-)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
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If everyone is thinking the same way, then someone is not thinking.