Upham to Owslebury - nearly

30th May 2009

I had this walk all planned and then had to alter and cutail it due to cows and lost or stolen trail.

Park beside the duck pond and from there walk back past the church and turn right up the hill until you see a footpath sign and a stile over a fence into a paddock.

This is part of the Monarch's Way, going over another stile into a wheatfield. Follow the edge of the wheatfield and the Way is later met by Widler's Lane. The Way passes straight down through a woodland called The Rookery and then proceeds through a gate across a field to a gate at the top. Today there were young Highland Cattle in the field ...

In the The Rookery there is a footpath that goes off to the right from the Monarch's Path and eventually comes out at a cropfield. Turn left and follow the field edge round until another footpath sign pointing up through another cropfield. This passes some kind of small racetrack or horse exercise area and comes to a T-junction with Rowhay Lane, which forms part of the King's Way coming down from the north-east to join the Monarch's Way heading south east. Turn left along Rowhay Lane and where the Monarch's Way crosses at the gate to the field where the cattle were, turn right up through cropfields. The views open out at the path climbs, eventually reaching another T-junction through a large gap in high hedges beyond which Red Lane runs roughly north to south. Turn right along Red Lane until a four-way junction. Here, cross the junction to a gate through some rough woodland. This is now the Pilgrim's Trail. The woodland is mostly beech and becomes more pleasant further round, with dense woodland on the right of the path and views out over fields to the left. Eventually come down to a gate and out into a paddock with the path clearly marked through the grass up to another gate on to a drive. Turn down the drive to emerge on Lower Baybridge Lane.

From here, the Pilgrim's Trail on the map continues ahead easily through fields to Owslebury. On the ground, the Trail goes up a concrete track between pasture and is then lost. There is a gate into one of the fields - however, this field is horrendously muddy in wet weather and when dried out, is overgrown with rough stuff under which the ground is heavily pocked by cows and unpleasant to walk on. Further up the concrete path is where it seems the Trail is supposed to continue, and Owslebury Church rises tantalisingly close at the top of the hill beyond the fields. However, on the day I tried this route, the Trail was "blocked" off by orange tape right across where the path should be.

Not sure what to do, as there were no signs and I didn't know what was going on, I consulted my map and found an alternative footpath up through a field further along Lower Baybridge Lane.

I turned around, turned right along the Lane and found the footpath over an overgrown stile by a broken footpath sign (does someone want to put walkers off?). This field was no more pleasant to walk upon than the previous one, and - well, those who have been following my progress will know that I don't do cows. They are the devil's herd! And there were some large specimens quietly lolling about right where I wanted to go.

So, what to do? Consult the map.

I decided to curtail the walk as I was getting fed up with all the messing about. I went back down to Lower Baybridge Lane and turning right, continued towards Marwell House. The Lane emerges on to Thompsons Lane. Here I turned left and soon came to Marwell House where a footpath passes between the House and a cottage or farm.

I soon became glad that I'd chosen this alternative, as the footpath continues between fencing on a good path and passes between fields and over a couple of stiles into a cropfield, past a hedge (don't get tempted along the field edge inside the hedge, go past the hedge, the path continues behind it) and through pleasant woodland past more fields, coming eventually to the tarmac part of Red Lane. Left the Lane continues as a restricted byway; to the right you can walk along the Lane or follow a footpath along the field edge parallel to the road. The footpath is OK for a while but becomes overgrown in the latter stages. I found the road the easier alternative, as it is more a driveway to the Farm than an actual thoroughfare.

At its southern end, Red Lane bends round sharply to the right but there is another restricted byway off to the left which passes the end of Rowhay Lane and continues along Popes Road emerging at the main road into Upham. At this junction turn left and walk through this lovely village back past the church to the duck pond.

Lord Swan and the Invasion of the Pretenders

22nd May 2009

The flotilla begin edging their way upriver from the sea.

Lord Swan holds position on the river with his wings raised in warning until it becomes obvious that the flotilla of young pretenders are not going to take the hint. Lord Swan decides that the time for direct action has come. Head lowered and wings lifting aggressively all the way, he sails majestically at near ramming speed at the flotilla.

Overawed by the courage and majesty of Lord Swan the Pretenders drift off seaward, pretending that nothing has happened, that they had no designs upon the upriver reaches, and begin to dabble for food.

Lord Swan cruises back upriver still in battle array and undeniable ruler of the Meon.

Brockenhurst to Wilverley

22nd May 2009

I parked at Long Slade View , overlooking the disused railway and Hincheslea Bog towards Hincheslead Wood. The wind was chilly when I got out of the car but off the hill top it got rather warmer and I shed my fleece. I'd even put my waterproofs in my rucksack because the clouds looked a bit iffy over Southampton. Over the southern part of the New Forest - clear blue skies and warm sunshine. Did I take the stuff back to the car? No.

The walk was lovely, from the bridge through which you pass to Hincheslea Bog, along the olf railway through an avenue of fir trees with views over the lawns to the left and up to Set Thorn Inclosure, and out over Hincheslea to the right.

The route passes through a succession of three bridges which I passed through in the opposite direction during the Sway walk in January. The path took me past the caravan site and eventually to the road between Yewtree Bottom and Wilverley Inclosure. (The railway track is interrupted here and continues later on the far side of the A35.)

I crossed the road and went down to the river. There being deep holes in the river bed, my only recourse was either over a slippery-looking tree trunk or over Wootton Bridge along the road. I took the latter choice, then turned right through a gate into Wootton Coppice Inclosure.

This is a pleasant walk and I left the cycle track for a footpath which bent its way round back to the cycle track eventually. I followed this until striking off right on to a footpath downhill through trees to a gate which opens out to a lawned area by the river, where yellow irises were giving back the yellow of the sunlight. A group of ponies were stood sleepily around a crashed-out mare and an equally crashed-out foal.

I crossed the river over the bridge and came to a side road off the A35. From here I had to follow the road round to the right and then turned left to walk along the verge past the tea rooms and restaurant to the Lyndhurst Road.

A nice man in a red car stopped for me to cross. Beyond is a little gate on to the continuation of the railway route. I passed through this and sat on the edge of the old platform to take on water and fuel.

From here I had originally planned to walk on up to Burley but decided instead to follow the Avon Water until I found a path going up towards Anthony's Bee Bottom. (This path is not shown on the map.) I came to another path heading east back towards Wilverley Inclosure.

Coming down to Station Road, there was a small mare with a dear little black foal which was standing in the road beside its mother, in total innocence holding up and diverting traffic around it.

Across the road, there is a pleasant track past boggy ground which then goes uphill and drops down again to pass under the A35 and again climbs up towards Wilverley Inclosure.

This is a nice place to walk although it has the appearance of being possibly the most obviously managed Inclosure for the pleasure of people. The paths are all clearly marked out, the arrangement of trees in places give it the appearance of an arboretum and there are benches placed around the Inclosure which you rarely get anywhere else in the whole Park.

So on and up and out through a gate on the far side of the Inclosure out on to the Plain. There is deep heather across the Plain and you must stick to the paths to avoid disturbing ground nesting birds. Heading east across the Plain, heading for Horseshoe Earth, the heather eventually gives way to a wide lawn full of ponies.

Across the road and along the path of Horseshoe Earth which I very much enjoyed. It's a low ridge looking North towards Rhinefield over Whitefield Moor; and south over the railway route towards Set Thorns.

The path I chose goes around the edge of Hincheslead Wood and then downhill over a footbridge and under the railway. Here I turned left along the green lawn to strike the path that runs out from Hincheslea Bog again and winds up through the gorse back to the car park.

I got barked at and then investigated by a young pointer that didn't really seem to know what it was trying to achieve. I ate my sandwiches and drove back towards Emery Down and the M3.

Short walk around Upham

24th May 2009

When the sun gets up, when the clouds fly away and the wind drops, how can anyone stay indoors?

This was a short walk due to time constraints, it was somewhere other than the New Forest and it was lovely.

Upham is a little village lying within the boundary of the new South Downs National Park. All around the countryside rolls and folds like a gently swelling sea.

The best place to park is by the pond in the village, although given more time it is quite possible to walk to Upham from my front door.

On this particular Sunday there was a wedding taking place in the church. At the T-junction by the pond there's a farmyard, and in the farmyard were "parked" a large black barouche drawn by four black horses. The barouche was decorated with white roses and each horse had a white rose in the headband of its bridle. Also in the yard was a smaller chaise drawn by two white Welsh Cobs. The driver of the barouche was quite happy for me to take a picture of the assembly. The background of grain silo and barn is unfortunate but the horses and carriages are very picturesque.

The walk begins a little along the lane left of the farmyard, along Monarch's Way which is on a good path though farmland, at first between crops.

Now, there was a light breeze blowing. Only it was blowing in an unfortunate direction. A gentle breeze on a warm day is pleasant on the face. However, when it is blowing across a pig-farm the country scent can be a little - um - "sharp" in the olafactory sense.

Should anyone else care to follow this walk, it is worth bearing with the aroma of the sties for a few moments. Coming down the hill, the smell actually dies away and you can enjoy the amusement of trying to tell what is pig and what is wallow. They looked very contented lying about in the mud.

Beyond the pigs is a fence and stile and another hill, going up. Steeply. This area seems from the signs on the fence by the stile to be a conservation area maintained by the farm. The field is all long grass with the path running through it to a windbreak of trees and a further stile at the top. This is good exercise for the legs!

Over the next stile the Way continues down and up between cropfields and round through the farmyard to the road. The route now lies left along the road which has good verges for avoiding traffic.

Where the road bends, there is a waymarked path going off on the right had side of the road, through a thicket. The path is narrow and falls and rises with the contours of the land. The trees and hedgerows soon clear and there is a lovely view over Stephen's Castle Down across the countryside as in the first picture above.

A little further on there is a kissing gate on the left which gives on to Stephen's Castle Down itself, which is designated Access Land. The little path winds down the slope to another kissing gate and across what is termed on the map as a Gallop. There is a sign by the gate requesting dogs to be kept under close control through this area.

This brings you to a lane on the other side of which a farm seems to snuggle in the fold and there are one or two other cottages around the farm.

Turn left along the lane and watch out for rabbits. They were everywhere as I walked along here.

The lane comes eventually up to a road, Stakes Lane, and the route turns left along here. This isn't a terribly busy road but it is well to be aware of cars in both directions. They can generally be heard before they arrive and it is possible to keep well in to the side of the road. Fortunately it doesn't take long to reach the little lane that runs left off this road. The lane crosses another road that runs from Winchester to Bishops Waltham and then proceeds quietly along under trees and alongside fields, eventually arriving back in Upham.

However, even quiet tarmac lanes can pall and there are some other more interesting paths to tread. There is a green lane that runs through Bigpath Farm. I'd skipped the south eastern stretch of this path to go across Stephen's Castle Down. Now, opposite the Farm, I turned right and walked up past a couple of cottages and towards the top of a hill, with pleasant views either side through the line of trees. Just after the top of the hill is a footpath that goes off left past cow pasture and is fenced off from the animals. I chose to continue on, come out at the next tarmac lane, turn left past the farm houses, and left again along Woodcote Lane, which is another green lane. This winds back up the hill and across the slope near the top into woodland, emerging at last on to the road which, turning right, comes back down into Upham. The footpath mentioned before comes out just along here as well.

And thus was a couple of hours rambled away in pleasant surroundings (in spite of the few moments' reek of pigs) on a beautiful day. I shall be returning to Upham in the near future to walk the footpath over the hill by the cow pasture, and also to walk a route to Owslebury which skirts Marwell Zoological Park on the return stint.

Cuckoos in the Rain

14th May 2009


I had to fit a walk into an hour this afternoon and I was trying to keep in the spirit of the Thursday Experiment. Fortunately it rained, so I had the opportunity to try out the Tilley hat and new waterproof trousers. Only I took the wrong trousers - I took my golfing ones, which are fine and work really well; they just don't have through-pockets to my cargo pockets where I keep everything. However, the pockets on my jacket have safety zips, so I used those instead.

I chose a route from Millyford Green that I haven't trodden before which goes south out of Holmhill Inclosure into Woosons and Holiday Hill Inclosures. As I wended my way to and over the ford in Holmhill there was a cuckoo calling ... and calling ... and calling ... The atmosphere of the Forest becomes quite eerie in the rain, although not unpleasantly so, and the cuckoo's insistent calling added to that quite different atmosphere. I have to admit to not having done a lot of walking in the rain. After today, I think I'm hooked and will look forward to rainy days again!

Having left Holmhill and crossed the road into the woodland beyond, a pleasant green path runs down into a narrow valley and up again. This must be generally a quiet place as there were deer grazing amid the new bracken. As I didn't know they were there I didn't take enough care to be quiet and disturbed them and off they went up the hill and through the trees.

There is a circular route of good gravel track within Woosons Inclosure with lots of interesting-looking pathways leading off, a lot of which have been churned up by felling operations. I do wish they'd find another way of getting around other than our footways!

As I walked along the southern stretch of the track I came across the incongruous carcass of a car. It looked like it had been there some time, and had been set on fire at some point, not very efficiently. I'd resolved to contact someone about this when I got home, then fortunately was passed by a New Forest ranger in his vehicle and managed to catch him up at a gate. He took the map reference and said he'd report it. I did a good thing!

Although this was not really in the nature of a true experimental walk, trying out a different area along unknown country ways, it was a lovely walk in conditions I haven't tried for a long time in gear that needed testing. The only very tiny gripe I might have is that I got a bit too warm, but the golfing trousers are lined and I had a hoodie on under the jacket as well as a base layer, so that would explain that. And I was walking quite fast.

And so back to the car to miss the rush hour and get home for work.

I did have to stop and sidle (not easy in a car, even a Ford Fiesta) past a foal that had decided the road was a good place to stand and have a rest. It jerked its head at me as I went wide around it but as far as I know it's still standing there ...

A Ramble Round

11th May 2009

This was a spur of the moment ramble. I knew I wanted to walk but hadn't fixed on where. It was a case of finding a car park and saying "Right, this'll do", putting on my boots and going.

The sun was warm, the wind was fresh.

I stopped at a favourite spot, Whitefield Moor just outside Brockenhurst. There are a lot of visitor areas around here: there's the Ober Water Walk from Puttles Bridge, the Ornamental Drive and Blackwater Arboretum further along, a Nature Reserve at Poundhill Heath and a caravan park.

I followed the Ober Water Trail because it's pretty and I was in the mood for something sweet. There was no one else about, being right on tea-time, and I was having a lovely time while other people were sweltering in the traffic jam around Lyndhurst.

At the second bridge, my way turned north into Aldridgehill and past the cottage across Fletchers Green to Fletchers Thorns and round on to Poundhill Heath. All of this is very open with good cover for ground-nesting birds.

Leaving Poundhill Heath to join the cycle track in the north-east corner there is a large field on the left which is generally full of deer. Today, the gate was open and the mass of deer had been joined by a few mares and foals.





The track continues through a gate into Hursthill Inclosure (which is featured in this month's Country Walking magazine) which is lovely at the moment with the new fresh green bracken crowded with bluebells. Many intriguing paths lead off from the main cycle way, and eventually I was seduced by a green path with bluebell border, down to a gate.

The path turns south, running along beside the fence of an Inclosure to the left, and I have walked this before. I followed this path northward on the previous occasion, kept going north, and being rather new to it all at the time, got lost and ended up in Foxlease Park (oops!)

This time going south, I knew where I was going and soon bore left alongside Highland Water, yes, the very same that runs down from Holmhill Inclosure further north.

Returning to the eastern loop of the cycle track I followed this over Bolderford Bridge, where I met a young woman on a white pony whom I had glimpsed cantering through the woodland. After an exchange of the usual pleasantries, she rode her pony into the river to cool its feet and I crossed the bridge and set off down along the ride across Ober Heath. The young woman on her white pony soon passed me and cantered off across the Heath into the trees further down.

At the driveway to the caravan park I turned right along the lane towards Ober Water, which meets Highland Water near Bolderford Bridge, and found a vague path (unmarked) that runs alongside the water so that I didn't have to follow the long drive all the way back. 'Ware tree roots on this path!

Although there is a good path that runs up from the bridge towards where I had parked the car, I chose another little off-road path winding through the heather and later crossed the drive to walk along the lawn of Whitefield Moor back to the car park.

It was a lovely evening and a lovely walk, picked by metaphorically sticking a pin in a map. I think I might try that again.

Tales from the River Bank

8th May 2009

This entry is verbatim what I wrote on the riverbank at Busketts Lawn. By the way, it didn't rain.

I started this walk feeling that sick-sensation that I think I must attribute to anxiety. About what? I couldn't say.

I am now sat on the bank of Bartley Water and I can see my "photograph" to my right. I have just walked along it.

I can't stop for long as it's taken me about an hour to get here. Despite the wind, I'm just wearing my base-layer top and sitting on my fleece which will need a wash!

The first cycle-track was pleasant and I met a very sweet-natured golden labrador who required head stroking and sat down beside me with a sweet expression. Apparently she can be quite growly and barky with nervous dogs.

The side track to Gutter Heath was pleasant enough, a bit hoof-pocked, but a narrow path ran alongside it. A gate and a footbridge, muddy stuff and then the heath with a boggy bit. I did the Forest-thing and put down bits of branch and twig to make a crossing. I used my compass to keep on track through the trees where there isn't a path and found Plain Green where there is a broad ride which is good going and makes a nice walk along the Green. I managed to confuse myself at one point when I wasn't paying attention, thinking I was heading west when I was actually heading N/E (which was what my compass was telling me!) - the way I wanted to go.

I followed the ride round to the right, negotiated the stream which later becomes the river, and passed through the gate into the Inclosure on bridleways that are easy to walk - for bridleways - not too much mud or pocks. Where the river comes down almost to the bridleway, I left the bridleway and hopped across the ditch on to the footpath beside the water. I followed the winding way to here, with the wind rushing through the treetops, the water nattering over the stones of the ford, and occasionally a snatch of birdsong. All green with glimpses of sun and no one about.

Ah well, it's half past 3 and I must make tracks back to the car. I wanted to be heading home at 4. Maybe half past, then. Hope the traffic's not too - oh damn! it's Friday.

What I didn't write because I was walking again by then, is that coming back to the gate at Yewtree Hill I noted that I was calm, relaxed, unanxious, unworried and had a general sense of well-being. I was chilled. I knew I'd be a little later back to the car and I'd curtailed the intended path along the river to the next footbridge, but time was bothering me on an any level I was aware of. I think I might take my journal with me on all my walks. Hm, I may need to unearth my rucksack again.

The best laid cliches and positivity

7th May 2009

Mice sleep, men (and women) stare glumly out of the window, and I spend hours poring over maps until the hours dawn on me and I cast the maps away.

Yes, it's a dull day that doesn't even have any rain to make it interesting. It's a bit breezy but nothing to really make the sea pound. It's one of those dull days that makes you thankful it's spring and there's a bit of bright green to alleviate the dullness. It isn't even gloomy or brooding; nor is there a touch of brightness, except something like a weak smile of sunlight that's swiftly gone. It's like the day is sulking.

However! I have at last put away my maps and waiting for the better rain tomorrow which will make the woodlands come alive with water. I've just acquired a new Tilley hat ...

... and Peter Storm trousers (they've been in their own pocket hence the fashionable crinkled effect) ...

so I'm looking forward to trying them out!

I've also aquired a photoprinter and have come to realise the difference between what makes a picture and what qualifies as a snapshot.

I have an idea for scrapbooking my walking life using my photos, plagiarising my own blog and getting a footprint stamp so I can stamp little ramlbing footprints all through the scrapbook.

So much for Experiment Thursday, trying out new walks and expanding my comfort zone. This is not an expandable day. It's just dull. Roll on the rain tomorrow!

Ashurst Circular

5th May 2009

This was a blissful walk. All grey and windy over Southampton and many diversions around the 4pm rush hour (? - trust me!); all shiny and warm out in the New Forest. Peace, quiet, birdsong and singing streams.

I parked at Bolton's Bench, just down the road from the Lyndhurst Maserati showrooms. Boots and gaiters on, stick in hand (was I expecting mud?) and compass not far from reach I set off up alongside the drive to the cricket pavilion towards the cemetery where the walk really begins.

The underpass from this White Moor (there are several) to the golf course was muddy and puddly and the entrance full of ponies that looked like they started off knowing what they were doing and forgot half way down the track.

Round to the right of the golf course with much envy of two girls cantering along ahead on their steeds and into Rushpole Wood. Over the footbridge and following the route quite happily. Turn north west - still quite happily. Find the switchback path, heading north east - and still happy - pretty woodlands, lots of green, a bit rutted and muddy, last years fallen leaves turned brown and crunchy ... where's the path?

I found the south east one. I found the north west one. (Didn't look for the south west one, didn't want to go that way - either). Could I find the north east one? I can find north east on my compass but not on the ground. Oh well, the north west one will take me to Plain Green. Then that one dies.

Cast about. Cast about. I'm aiming for north east, so off I go. Sod it! And find the rest of the north west path (where did it go/come from?).

Arrive at Plain Green and to the right is the gate into the Inclosure. Off I go. And pass the exit to the north east path I was looking for.

Anyway ... off I go again. Happily find the footbridge and soon the gate into Busketts. A hoof-pocked track that can be avoided by a narrow path of necessity along the edge of the pine trees up to the cycle track. This wide reprieve doesn't have time to pall too much before I turn right and expect to come across the footbridge somewhere down the way. The path is pleasant, birds singing, a cuckoo calling and so descends one of those moments where you are suddenly aware of the peacefulness of your surroundings.

The river. No footbridge. A ford. And I think I've found the outskirts of Lothlorien (above photo).

The path to the ford has large cobbles in it and the ford itself looks like a broken bit of old road. The crossing is made of slightly submerged stepping stones. There are four corners of high bank all grassy and studded with speedwell, violets and other woodland spring flowers. The water sings over the stones, and here I stopped and sat on the bank to take in water and munch a bakey cakey.

As on Saturday, I discovered an unmarked path that runs alongside the river. It seems to wander away from the river at times, but only because the river is very windy. This was a digression from the route I had plotted, but I never turn down a riverbank ramble.

So out on to a cycle track again, a little way from the bridge and ford I crossed the last time I was in Busketts. I turned away from it this time, however, and along the cycle track for a little way before my way went off to the left. A left fork and to a gate and out on to Woodlands Road. Turn right here and at the end of the road left along Southampton Road over the railway and into Ashurst. Cross at the lights (buy a Mars Bar in the newsagents), turn right to go back over the bridge and soon turn left into Ashurst Caravan site.

Now, I thought kittens were cute, but the prize for cuteness must go to Shetland pony foals. They don't gangle like normal foals; they have little sturdy legs and are just ... CUTE!! There should be a law against that much cuteness.

I'm fine.

Past the Shetland mare and her foal (too cute!!) and on into the woodland alongside the railway. Two trains whizz past. I stop to take a photo of the bridge ahead through the trees - the open-worked wrought iron is painted a pale blue. Ponies were ambling along it, right in front of a cyclist, who was very good and patient; a few moments later he whizzed past me ...

Of course, the ponies took the path I was aiming for and as time was now getting on I didn't really have the option of changing course now. What made it slightly awkward was that two of the mares had very young foals with them. However, it's no problem to walk off the path to give them plenty of space and as they were keeping pace with the youngsters I soon past them. It was very touching to see the chestnut mare stop twice and touch her foal as if to reassure it.

The path goes around the edge of Ashurst Lodge and strikes out across the moor to Longwater Lawn through which bright green oasis in all the heather the Beaulieu River flows with white flowers in the rippling water. By now the light had become deep and rich and the surroundings green-golden.

Off the Lawn and across Foxhill Moor and into trees where the path remained clear ahead and soon out to White Moor again, with the sun gilding the trees and the pale ghost of the moon hanging in blue sky between lace ribbons of cloud.

I met a Springer spaniel which was keen to explain in visual terms why the breed is so called, bouncing after rabbits and bits of branch.

As the evening just got lovelier and lovelier, I came back alongside the stone wall of the cemetery and all the chaps in their whites playing cricket, just in time to see a well-taken wicket. Much polite applause, which clacks pleasantly on the air and sounds so English.

And so back to the car wrapped in a hug of blissfulness, that hasn't yet left me as I sit tapping at my keyboard and recalling the glow of the evening and the pleasure of the walk.

Highland Water Wander

2nd May 2009

One of my favourite walks with a little difference.

Many are the routes within routes (or even outside them) that can be plotted along the New Forest network of pathways. And it becomes even better when you discover a path that isn't shown on the map.

I can't actually take credit for finding this unmarked path that wanders along the river banks of Highland Water. I only discovered it after spotting a man and his dog walking among the trees close to the river on a previous walk. So today I went exploring and found this treasure that takes you off the main trails. No sound except the water trickling over stones and fallen branches, and birdsong.

Being unofficial and unmanaged, however - probably a pony or forest ranger track - the path is subject to the vagueries of the Forest and the Inclosures. About half way along the course the path becomes lost in deep ruts and channels and the scattered ruins of "forest operations". It may be passable but I prefer to be able to look about me when I'm walking along, and not staring at my feet and the ground.

At a suitable junction I turned left away from the river and up a grass slope to a pleasant path that I hadn't trodden before and, to be honest, only realised was on the map when I checked to see where I was going from this point.

The walk proceeds along a cycle track for a little way before, at a sharp left hand bend in the cycle track, going straight ahead along another grass track up to a gate and out into the dip below Mogshade Hill where there is a ford and wooden footbridge across the Water. From here up to Stonnard Wood and then into the trees again.

I stopped at the bench at Hart Hill for some water and jaffa cakes before descending on to the path and began to wend my way back along hoof-pocked grassways, through gates and over footbridges (across Bagshot Gutter this time), eventually coming back to the banks of Highland Water, studded with violets, celandine and bluebells and with a cuckoo calling in the distance.

And so to the car park and home.

Storms around Keyhaven

28th April 2009

Thursday is Experiment Day! Every Thursday I shall be trying out a new walk in Hampshire (or elsewhere) that is not in the New Forest. Should the "experiment" turn out to be unfavourable, there will be a consolation walk i.e. one I have done before and enjoyed. Given the vagueries of my work roster, Thursday may be titled "Third Day" instead; but it's the same thing

Unless you have a dental appointment that gets in the way, of course. And so this experiment took place on Tuesday instead of Thursday. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

This is another AA Walk and chosen because the weather forecast was so uncertain. Fine with showers, possibly heavy.

And this turned out to be another peach, with added cream, later washed down with buckets of water.

The environment itself is beautiful, marshland and mudflats with extensive views of the rolling Isle of Wight landscape ending in the great Tennyson Down and the Needles with their lighthouse. Sea and shingle beaches, a little marina and a Tudor Castle with World War II additions. And then the drama of the weather.

There are two free parking areas, as well as a pay and display near the waterfront. One of the free parking areas is quite small alongside the sea wall heading towards a dead end where the Solent Way starts off out on to a raised bank of gravel and grass around the marshes.

The other car park is at the landward end of the great shingle spit that supports Hurst Castle and a white lighthouse at it further end. The spit itself is still growing in length and is lined with poles that are measured from time to time to see how far the spit has shifted. The spit is also protected on the seaward side by defences constructed to resemble great boulders. I think they work; others may disagree.

Toffee crunch ice cream (with a flake) in hand, the walk along the spit to the Castle is about a mile and a half. With the waves of the Solent foaming on one side and the calm lagoon on the other, and the Isle of Wight rising up ahead, there is plenty to look at and admire and photograph.

Hurst Castle is run by English Heritage and costs £3.50 entry. To the east is Henry VIII's fortress, partially restored in the Victorian age and added to and patched with concrete during WWII. Charles I was also imprisoned here for a while. There is a display about Tudor fortresses in the Keep; the basement under the Keep is well worth a visit for sheer spookiness. The floor is black and barely visible.

If you fancy a different method of returning to the mainland, there is a little Ferry that shuttles back and forth between Hurst Castle (or the lighthouse when the tide is out) and Keyhaven every 20 minutes. The fare is £3 which you pay to the Ferryman. It is a very pleasant little journey between the mudflats and the yachts and the walk proper starts from the jetty.

Follow the seawall all the way around to a kissing gate on to the bank of the Solent Way and simply keep along it until just past the Dock Sluice at Oxey Marsh when the walk turns inland along a lane past Woodside Farm which peters out at a gate on to a byway/cycle path back to Kayhaven. As I was being closed in on by stormclouds from the east, I chose to curtail the walk by turning inland along a straight path leading directly away from an old jetty, just before Pennington Marshes. This path comes out at the gate to the byway/cycle path mentioned above. I had already chosen the lower inland path of the Solent Way as the dramatic skies, the forking lightning and thunderous rumbles from the east actually became too much for me. I think it was an irrational feeling of exposure on the higher ground with flatness stretching all around across marsh, mud and water and murderous black skies closing in.

I shall do better next time.

There are great views from the byway/cycle path across Keyhaven Marshes to Hurst Castle and the Isle of Wight. It was getting darker and darker as the clouds came ever closer overhead and all around, and the scene was changing spectacularly. For a while, hedges ran along both sides of the path bringing within their enclosure occasional clouds of midges.

At the end of the path is a gate and the end of the little road that contains the seawall-side parking area.

I still had to pass around the marina and out on to the Solent Way, another bank of shingle and grass, to get back to where I had parked my car. Just as I stepped out on to the bank, the black clouds parted and dumped water all over me, driven into my back by a sharp wind that was now blowing down from the north-east.

The scenery was no longer the warm, welcoming brightness of the sunny afternoon. It was becoming a grey, brooding early evening with the eastern reaches of the Island lost in thick mist and Tennyson Down now scowling over the Solent.

Eventually, with the novelty of the rainstorm beginning to wear off, I got back to my car and got out of wet weather jacket and boots. Wet weather trousers? Um, well, I hadn't taken the "possibly heavy" aspect of the showers as seriously as I should have and hadn't brought any. So although, yes, I got thoroughly soaked, it wasn't until I got out of the car back at home that the clamminess became all too apparent.

Next time, take wet weather trousers ...

Micheldever Bluebells

29th April 2009

I have heard the expression "a carpet of bluebells". Today I saw several.

Micheldever Wood lies along an undesignated lane off the A33 (look for a signpost off the dual carriageway pointing right to Northington). It is a Forestry Commission managed site mostly consisting of beech trees and, at this time of year, thickly carpeted with Endymion non-scriptus - our native plant. Although the woodlands are managed, the bluebells are completely naturally occurring. The combination of the shining green of the beech tree foliage and the glowing lilac-blue of the flowers is the most sublime; matched with blue skies and clear sunlight, it is a natural magic that occurs only in England. I am reliably informed that at dusk the flowers would actually glow due to the ultra-violet in their natural colouring. This I have yet to experience ...

I had the company of my mum today. We found a little path heading almost directly up from the car park through a straight avenue of trees. There were a few clumps of bluebells dotted here and there. The further in we went, the denser became the bluebell cover under the shining trees.

As much as we could we chose the narrower, windier paths which took us like welcome guests among the bluebells.

Our choices were many. Eventually, we were led back to the car park, and having already been past the large tumulus and having seen the "banjo" on a previous visit, we passed through the car park to the road. Turning right we came to a locked metal gate with a wide path beyond. Here is the choice of climbing over the wooden fence or ducking under the gate.

Having negotiated this obstacle we were soon flanked by ever denser "carpets" of bluebells. To left and right greenways ran into the distance; we continued up the main way to where the path divides, going ahead across a meadow (in summer, hopefully, to be crowded with wildflowers) and bending right to meet a bridlepath. As we looked across the field there was a taletell shimmer of blue amid the trees of the woodland on the far side.

We went round to the right with the path, alongside the meadow on the right and bluebells and beech wood to our left. Where paths met, we turned right along the meadow's edge and were soon in woodland again with the densest cover of lilac-blue yet. Here was a true "carpet".

We continued on (after yet another photoshoot) along the bridleway, past the open gates to the meadow where travellers' caravans had congregated and where the bridlepath becomes one of the many ancient Oxdroves, which comes up from the south and soon turns north.

Right alongside the M3 Winchester services and the M3 its glorious (?) self.

As soon as we could we found a greenway heading back into the woodland and then on to a narrow path heading downhill which turned at the bottom on to another greenway that led us back to the gate and the road.

Back to the car park after a surfeit of bluebells and at 4.50pm, the delights of the M3 rush hour traffic to brave.

After such a walk, however, the spirit is so uplifted that not even a midweek rush hour can quench the joy!

For those of a Tolkienian nature, these woods could well be those of Lothlorien ...

Hambledon vs the South Downs ends in a Perfect Walk

23rd April 2009

Thursday is Experiment Day! Every Thursday I shall be trying out a new walk in Hampshire (or elsewhere) that is not in the New Forest. Should the "experiment" turn out to be unfavourable, there will be a consolation walk i.e. one I have done before and enjoyed. Given the vagueries of my work roster, Thursday may be titled "Third Day" instead; but it's the same thing.

It is a magical thing about life that very often something unexpectedly wonderful can come from something that can, at the time it occurs, spoil a whole day.

My original plan for this Thursday was to follow another AA walk around Hambledon, a pretty village nestled between two Downs a little north of Portsmouth.

It was another beautiful day. I didn't know anything about the area of Hambledon (I can describe it briefly now having driven through the village on my way home), so I decided I would take advantage of the weather and head out a little further east to the South Downs between Buriton and Butser Ancient Farm.

I will go back to do this walk on another fine day. The walk starts from the Queen Elizabeth Country Park car park (£1 charge for all day parking) and follows the chalk path of the South Downs Way alongside the bridleway that runs through the Country Park and brings you out opposite Butser Ancient Farm. Here, they have constructed an Iron Age Round House and built a Roman Villa. I have not visited the Farm since the Villa was erected, so I was really looking forward to this.

I will not weary you with the ridiculous details of what went wrong. Suffice to say, it did go wrong and it was ridiculous and my choices being now limited due to a freak in my nature, I decided to suspend this particular walk until another day. It is one I would still like to do but in a temper more conducive to such a walk in such surroundings.

Well, I said I would have a consolatory walk planned to offset any experiment that did not work out and so I did, and in doing so I found my perfect walk.

Rather predictably, I suppose, it's a New Forest walk and it has a bit of everything: woodland, Forest views, through gates, paths up, paths down, excellent cycle tracks, lovely forest tracks, over water, through water, across bridges, along river banks. It isn't a very long walk, about an hour and a half, nor is it exactly local, being a 20 minute drive to get there. But it is a walk for all weathers and all seasons. I have walked in this area a lot but this particular route I plotted seemed to work - well, perfectly.

Sometimes these things turn out for the best if you give them a little time.

Hincheslea and Whitemoor

21st April 2009

The day was bright and warm as summer. The route is one I made up from the map (OL22 - New Forest) and it turned out to be another lovely walk.

The first intended landmark to hit was the disused railway that runs as a cycle track/footpath/bridleway from Burley to Brockenhurst. The route runs past the outskirts of Brockenhurst and out across the eastern reaches of Hincheslea Bog. As I passed the last cottage before heading out across the bog I met a lady with a young labrador who wanted me to play fetch - with my walking pole, if you please!

Unlike my previous encounter with a bog (Linwood) the path is excellent and takes you safely across the bog and not into it. The views are interesting across this part of the New Forest as the wetlands are being managed to encourage wildlife that prefers such an environment. The ponies were also finding good foraging here.

After meandering across the bog and down through a small copse, the path runs between two cottages and on to the disused railway. I walked part of this on my walk around Sway back in December 2008 and today I left the path where I had previously left it to walk down to the village. Today, however, my way lay in the opposite direction, passing under the old bridge and up into the western area of Hincheslea Bog. There is an information panel here with details of the path layout around the wetland and about the birds that inhabit the area.

Having met with a pleasant chap and his three soggy spaniels I followed the path across the footbridge by the water where the dogs had obviously been playing and continued up into Hincheslea Wood. On reaching the boundary fence of Farm Cottage (a mansion if ever I saw one)the path turns left and soon becomes indistinct. Keep the fence clearly to the right and trust the clearest way ahead.

I came upon a muntjac deer which looked at me, had a scratch and wandered off a short distance to start grazing. It wasn't fazed by me at all. Great photo opportunity you would think. Every shot I attempted was all tail and no head. I gave up, the deer grazed on. At the edge of the trees a good, clear path appears running south to north, with the fenced land of Farm Cottage on the right and Burley Road ahead to cross to Hincheslea Moor.

Before I got to the road I was adopted by two pony yearlings. I was worried that they might follow me out on to the road. Fortunately my ignoring them (apart from taking one photo) made them eventually give up and go back to what they were doing.

Hincheslea Moor is pleasant walking. The lower part of the path is obviously deeply muddy in winter and after heavy rain but it soon rises and becomes sandy. It slopes up to Red Hill - which is actually yellow due to the thick gorse bushes that cover it. From Red Hill, I turned west to follow another previously trodden path, this time up Holm Hill (January 2009 Whitefield Moor). However, I turned off on to a different path down to the Ober River and up into Clumber Inclosure. Fortunately, the pony grazing directly in front of the gate into the Inclosure moved off after giving me an "I suppose you want me to move" look as I approached.

I had been in Clumber Inclosure before on the walk mentioned above. On that occasion I came in from the west and turned north to pass Rhinefield House. Today I entered from the south and turned east heading for Aldrigehill Inclosure. The light through the tall pines was scintillating, and there was a lovely warm glow on the path at the crossroads. It was a lovely place to be.

The route led out of a gate, guarded by a tall Douglas fir, and across Rhinefield Drive into Aldridgehill Inclosure, another place I have walked several times. From the main path I turned down alongside a new enclosure of pine posts and wire fencing and came down to the excellent path that runs alongside Ober Water as a laid out Forest Trail. I went over the bridge and up the slope to the car park. They have a public convenience there.

From here along the path that runs between the green lawn of Whitefield Moor and the lower wetland. Small paths run down to the river but there is a gravelled path further along that runs down to another bridge and turns right along the south bank of the river to a cross path which runs up to a drive and the car park at the far end of the drive.

The water gently trickles over the stones and fallen twigs and branches, birds begin their evening chorus as the sun falls westward, and it is very peaceful and pleasant. Try to come midweek during termtime to avoid the inevitable crowds at weekends and during school holidays.

As you make your way back to the car park, Whitefield Moor opens out around you.

At 6.45pm on an April evening with the sun hanging just above the horizon, a golden light falls across the green lawns dotted with New Forest and Shetland ponies. Looking out over those lawns and the surrounding tree lined moors I couldn't think of anywhere else I would rather be at that moment.

Cheriton to Tichborne

Thursday 16th April 2009

Thursday is Experiment Day! Every Thursday I shall be trying out a new walk in Hampshire (or elsewhere) that is not in the New Forest. Should the "experiment" turn out to be unfavourable, there will be a consolation walk i.e. one I have done before and enjoyed. Given the vagueries of my work roster, Thursday may be titled "Third Day" instead; but it's the same thing.

This is a walk with directions to be found in the AA "50 Walks in Hampshire and Isle of Wight", another guide book I recently purchased. There is a good bus route to Cheriton (see below) and a few stiles.

Today was a lovely day and, after a slightly inauspicious start, this was a beautiful walk. When I do this walk again I shall probably use one or two diversions which I will add in parentheses as I go along.

Parking in Cheriton was easy enough today, on a little side road in the village near the post office just round the corner from The Flower Pots Inn as you approach the village from the south. However, there is a stagecoach bus service no. 67 that runs through Cheriton between Winchester and Petersfield every hour.

The walk goes past the post office and round to the right past the school towards some gates. The start of the Wayfarer's Walk is tucked in a corner between a cottage and the gates and climbs up out of the village and across fields. The scene is rural, all cornfields and cows.

Where the guidebook advises us to "turn left downhill and keep to the track to a lane by a barn", please be aware that today when I did this walk there were travellers' caravans parked in this lane accompanied by vociferous dogs. Fortunately these were strongly chained and the man who appeared very courteously escorted me past the dogs.

(There is an alternate route previous to this lane which follows the Itchen Way rather than Wayfarers Walk. This brings you on to Hinton Lane rather than Broad Lane later on (both greenways) which both come together later just before Prite Lane - another greenway. There is also the option to extend the walk slightly and keep along Cheriton Lane and then turn on to Alresford Lane (greenways again) to pass alongside the site of the 1644 Battlefield of Cheriton. You will need OS Map 132 Winchester New Alresford and East Meon to follow and complete these alternate routes)

The route continues past the barn and over a lane and then up alongside arable land, which is pleasant walking. In the AA book they mark a spot as a viewpoint, which is nice, but in my opinion there are better and prettier views to be had later on.

I had a bit of a directional problem across a brown field, as the waymarker points straight across, but the field had been newly ploughed and I wasn't sure of the way. So I went around the left edge of the field and came out on to a footpath between this and a cow pasture and turned right towards the next cropfield. Turn right along this field and come to a path that cuts through the crop. The farmer here is obviously sympathetic to walkers. Please respect this courtesy. Walk along this path to the gate and stile.

The path comes out of a copse into a field beside Tichborne House on the left. And here I saw a deer which cantered gracefully across the field to the fence and managed to squeeze through into the garden of the House.

There were pheasants and skylarks everywhere today!

There are now two more fields to traverse before emerging on to a bridleway. Pass Vernal House and over the River Itchen and across the road to a field and path rising steeply.

The reward for the climb is a seat placed at the top of the slope and the view to the north, over Vernal Farm and over New Alresford which can be seen to nestle in the Itchen Valley. The view is extensive and, in my opinion only, much better than the one recommended in the AA book.

After a bite to eat and a long drink, my legs were ready to tackle the next bit. More fields but with more interest to them as you pass beside a small bluebell copse and then along the right side of the next field with Tichborne Church's Norman tower positioned on a hill among a grove of trees before you, with the village cottages tucked down below it. This is Hampshire at its oldest and best. The church of St Andrews is 11th century. Tichborne House is to the left, and the manor has been the seat of the Tichborne family since 1135.

If you want a respite at the Tichborne Arms please note that the opening times are 11am to 3pm and then 6pm to 11pm.

There is a very narrow and long climbing lane from the road up to the church, with high hedges on both sides and tall trees ahead so that you can't see the church until you reach the end of the lane, which is entirely charming!

From the church come back down to the road and now walk along the road for about a mile, past cow pasture (there were new calves today) and alongside the River Itchen, past farms, and a cottage where I thought rather peevishly that it was a pity to have all that quiet countryside and then a blaring stereo. It wasn't. It was a group of, presumably, young people playing live instruments which somehow makes a big difference. On past this to Cheriton Mill and up a path past the Mill and a cottage on to what looks like someone's lawn. There were daffodils in bloom beside the river and beehives on the opposite bank.

This is the Wayfarers Walk once again and passes through large fields which were thankfully for me free of cows. There is a double stile to cross and then a single stile into a horse paddock with about half a dozen horses in it. I could have gone back. I didn't. There was a large white horse right beside the narrow zigzag walkers gate out of the field ahead, and it was blithely attempting to pull the wooden fence down with its teeth. It looked at me, but was more intent on destroying the fence that was keeping it from its tea. I had to get between it and the gate, and although it didn't move, it did let me pass.

And now I was back in Cheriton coming back down towards the little river where a drake was alternately trying to mate with a duck and fight another drake. Further on, past the post office to the village green, a mother duck was getting aggressive with another that had taken a peck at one of the former's ducklings (floating fluffballs!). I bought a Mars bar at the post office and returned to the car to finish my water and eat the Mars bar before heading for the A272 and home.

Sweet Wood and Open Plain

14th April 2009

The sun showed his smile and the air was warm, even across the breezy plains of LongCross and Fritham.

I parked at LongCross Plain. The walk was pleasant along a green lawn track across the Plain and then down through trees alongside the fenced fields of Fritham to the Royal Oak. Through the car park and out on to Fritham Plain along a good gravel track past Green Pond and with lovely views on all sides. There were skylarks singing from the sky over both Plains, and twitchers out on Fritham Plain having a great time.

Down into Sloden Inclosure where they've let in the ponies to graze the new grass under the green-tinted trees. Here I was beguiled by grass tracks (the white dashless lines on the map) and glad I was! I'd stopped for a quick break and as I gathered my accoutrements about me again I looked up and there was a doe, still in her winter grey, staring at me from the edge of the trees. I started slowly along the path as she was right where I was heading, and in the end it got too much for her and she bounced away up the track ahead of me.

It was quiet and peaceful and woodpeckers were chatting in morse code across the Forest. I was having a great time.

It got better.

Through a gate and across what I think is a pony drove, a long and wide green track that runs between Sloden and Amberwood Inclosures. There are pony pens further down the track towards the end of Sloden Inclosure which I think might be used during the annual Pony Drift between August and November.

Now into Amberwood Inclosure. More deer. This time a young stag with two does grazing at the edge of the trees by the path. They saw me coming and trotted off, stopping now and then to look back to see what I was doing.

This is the "sweet" wood in the title. Despite the lingering browns and duns of reality between winter and spring, in my mind this place is green, that kind of warm green that is special to old woodlands. The wide track is grass and not as muddy as one might expect. The way undulates through the woods and comes down to a fast-running river with an excellent shallow ford. Today there was a tree fallen across the path - I hope no one ever moves it.

The peacefulness is something I find hard to describe without using a lot of empty cliches. The trickling of the water and the songs of birds, and that's all.

And so onward and upward to a gate where the path branches. However, both forks end at the cycle trail further up. I chose the right hand path, up through another gate and out on to the cycle trail which I've trodden many times with great pleasure. Westward it runs out over Hampton Ridge to Frogham and Godshill.

After being passed by a couple of cyclists ("Hello!") peace descended again.There was a moment standing on a footbridge over the river again where I was so tempted to stop and sit beside the water and just be in the peace and quiet with the sound of the river and the birdsong. Due to the sun starting to fall in the sky I reluctantly walked on and came back to Fritham.

Back up the track beside the fence and instead of going back across the Plain northward, I turned right along a path not shown on the map, to a little stream which is crossable via an obliging tree that grows at a 90 degree angle over it. And so up to the road and the fingerpost at the fork. Across the road, past a beautiful grey pony and then two brown ponies being stalked by a pheasant and watched by a small yellow cat. Further on in a thicket of trees and gorse were two huge pink pigs grubbing and grunting contentedly.

Looking back west across the Plain the 7pm April evening light showed me why it becomes easier to walk from this time of year onwards until the winter comes again. It's a whole different light level. We know it on an intellectual level, but to see it happening gives the concept much more understanding. The Plain still looked so inviting.

And so past a palomino pony with a thick blond fringe and back to the car park. Three hours of wonderful walking, my feet and the backs of my thighs just starting to complain very slightly, and my mind at rest.

Acres Down to Lucas Castle

7th April 2009

The east side of the A31 corridor today.

Ever since I misjudged the timing of my previous walk to Lucas Castle back in the autumn I've wanted to come back and do the whole thing in daylight. Today I did, following a slightly different and reversed route.

The sun shone fitfully out of a sky full of bubble-clouds eventually becoming quite overcast until late afternoon when the clouds fled and the sun beamed down on everything. Through it all blew a bracing wind that still has a chill edge to it.

I met a lovely lady just returned from walking a Westie on Acres Down. She walks the dog for someone else and also "grooms" for another lady who carriage drives a pair of ponies. The lady I was talking to also drives her own pony. She told me how lovely it was up on the Down. In all the times I have come to Acres Down car park I have never been up there. Today, my route would bring me back over the Down on my way back.

Having said our goodbyes, I headed off, not into Highland Water as I always have done but back round past Acres Down House and up to Stonnard Wood, from where I achieved a small ambition and followed the green fingerpost declaring "Murray's Passage" down and across Withybed Bottom. The valley made a lovely funnel for the wind.

More windy encounters up the far side of the valley where the path comes out at the unnamed lakes near Andrews Mare car park. Another path runs SW to NE past the lakes and SW was my direction following the rolling English "road" down from the lakes, up to Lucas Castle, down from Lucas Castle, fording a couple of streams and up Mogshade Hill. On the way, I saw tractor tracks that came from nowhere and went nowhere; there was about four feet of tractor track and then, nothing, just undamaged ground (??)

Near the top of Mogshade Hill I crossed to another path which eventually returns to Stonnard Wood. I wanted to check out the ford and footbridge in the "bottom". Across the footbridge my way went uphill and then right through an open gate into Highland Water Inclosure - how could it not?

I changed my mind about my path a couple of times in here which meant I could get off the cycle track and explore along more interesting grassy tracks. My choice turned out to be enhancements of an already beautiful walk. Eventually I came back to the cycle track for a little way in Holmhill Inclosure before passing through a gate and heading up a woodland path to the top of Acres Down.

The view from here is breathtaking, by Hampshire standards. This time for the view south. There are swathes of New Forest stretched out and yet the horizon is dominated first and foremost by the great Downs of the Isle of Wight, the entire east-west stretch of which is, whether by accident or design, framed on either side by the trees of the New Forest on higher ground. West of the Island you can also quite clearly see Sway Tower rising up like a pointing finger into the sky.

From the east side of the Down there is a view quite clearly towards and over Southampton to the downlands that march behind it.

Now I wonder at myself again that in all the times I've been to Acres Down, this is the first time I've actually gone up it.

Linwood Bog-Dancing

3rd April 2009

As I gathered my gear for a walk I thought to myself, "I'm going across Linwood Bog, shall I take my gaiters?"

For future reference, the answer to this question, or any question with the word "bog" in it, is always "Yes!" "No, I don't think so", is the wrong answer!

The sun was bright although the air was a little hazy.

Starting out from Broomy Walk car park I followed the cycle trail along the ridge and down past High Corner Inn. The track continued round past Nices Hill and at the T-junction I turned left past a ford and footbridge to pass between farms out to Black Barrow.

The barrow is large and crowned with a small copse of trees. I'm guessing the "Black" might come from the thick cover of dark heather which in autumn must be a spectacular carpet of purple going right up over the barrow.

Along a narrow path between farms again, through a little ford with an interesting little stone footbridge beside it, and out to Black Moor, still on the cycle track. There is a lovely view along a shallow valley to the east that looks towards Webb's Copse and Amie's Wood. Ahead, over a rise, a campsite shimmered in the haze. My way lay west past a barrier and over a footbridge, out into wide rolling moorland making for lovely valleys and views as you go up the steep sides of the moors outside Linwood.

Now I've met a bog before. It was an honest bog that gleamed openly wet in the sunlight. It didn't hide itself and it was passable by jumping from one firm-ish bit to the next, tested and proved with boot or pole first.

Linwood Bog is different.

Linwood Bog lurks. On the map the clearly marked path goes across it. Across it, my boots! Into it more like. I could see wet ahead and (I thought) firmer ground around the wet bits.

Ahead of me the way continued through a zigzag gate, past a yellow way-marker and on a good solid path into the trees. In the way was an area that wobbled squelchily under my feet with not a firm place to tread. What looked solid or appeared to resist my probing walking pole turned out to be mostly sinking squelch. Nowhere was there a passable bit of ground.

I was slightly anxious - I had no idea if there was a bottom at all to this place! - and not a little annoyed. Not with the bog. A bog is what it is and does what it does. I was annoyed with the map showing me a path through the bog that does not go through the bog. It disappears into the bog and continues on the other side with no visible means of bridging the gap. The annoyance was founded on: if I really couldn't get to that path on the other side I would have to go back on myself.

I am nothing if not tenacious, even in the face of possibly bottomless bogs. I did not want to go around. I picked the narrowest bit I could find ... and ran.

After fighting my demons, I passed through the woodland mostly on crude footbridges made of old railway sleepers it looked like, and wound my way up the hillside towards the road. On the other side of the road lies Rockford Common which, although it lies within the New Forest, is a designated National Trust area and must be investigated one of these days.

I had planned to go through Appleslade Inclosure and the north of Red Shoot Wood, but as bog-dancing had taken up about 15-20 minutes and I was tied to time, I walked back along the pathway beside the road, finally returning to the car park along a broad, grassy ride.

It was a lovely walk and one I shall do again (with a detour around the bog!). There are many other interesting paths to investigate. It looks like I may return there soon.

Three Ponds

17 March 2009

For route details click here

The three ponds in question are Janesmoor, Cadman's and Green. The one pictured left is Janesmoor on the plain of the same name.

In the glorious arrival of spring heralded by the silent yet blaring trumpets of the sun over the last few days, how can anyone ignore the call of the wild - or in the case of the New Forest, the semi-wild.

With boots on and jacket left behind (it started getting chilly about 5pm as the sun began to wester), I stretched my legs blissfully along the lovely lawns of Janesmoor Plain, past the pond and towards the road.

Now, the pink ice cream van was parked where I wanted to cross, and the afternoon was warm, and I haven't had an ice cream van ice cream for AGES and I had money in my pocket - what was I to do? I had an ice cream - with a flake and raspberry sauce.

Ice cream in hand I crossed the road and headed sunward past the Bentley Inclosures towards Cadman's Pool. There are two islands in the water and a colony of Canada geese. It was all very sunny-gold and peaceful.

From here I wandered off away from the cars and into the woods, following a vague path through leaves and over tree roots down to a pathway as marked on the map. This is Anses Wood and proper woodland, not Inclosure. There is a pretty river runs through it which has to be forded and although there is a specific place marked on the map, it's possible to cross in various places.

From the ford and up Freeworms Hill to Fritham Plain. As you come out from the screen of the woods to the left, a panorama opens out across Rakes Brakes Bottom and takes your breath away as it takes you by surprise.

On up to Fritham Plain, along the right path of the fork towards Green Pond beside which there is a little copse of trees. And there waiting for me was a small group of 6 or 7 deer. I managed to get a shot of them, and later another as they wandered away towards Freeworms Hill.

Turning east now, I passed one curious object in the ground a way to the right, then came upon another right alongside my path. It turns out that these are wells! I opened the one I was passing - the lid is extremely heavy, I suppose so that children can't lift it and fall in. The well is quite deep, enough to be a danger to a child, and although the water looked crystal clear, I wasn't brave enough to try it. I replaced the lid, took a couple of photos and moved on.

The borders of Fritham. Right here, past a very thin-looking grey yearling pony. I hope they soon start to fatten well on the new spring grass!

I chose to cross the footbridge further along and follow the track up round between the fence of North Bentley Inclosure and the fences of Fritham's farmland. I wish I'd gone into the Inclosure instead! The track is a cow-way and you can imagine the churned up mess of the ground. Not so bad today as there hasn't been much rain recently and as long as I stepped between the holes the cows' feet have made, the mud was reasonably firm.

Once off this lot, it was back out to the Plain and a concrete path. I know little about this area and can only surmise that this is something like the concrete paths of Beaulieu Heath, further south, and had some connection with air transport during WWII. As I was walking along, I heard a sudden shout of "Come back here!" and looked around to see a lady emerging from the Inclosure and two black labs charging ahead to find out who I was. They were very friendly and soon lost interest in me.

And so back across the road eventually and to my car, where I realised I was thirsty (I did have water with me in my "holster" so it wasn't difficult to get to!). 5.30 pm, on a Tuesday ... rush hour ... actually the traffic was fine coming home but I didn't like the look of the queues going out of Southampton, I must say.