Winter Days Diary - Frosty Day

7th December 2008

At last, whiteness! There was but one place I could go to catch the last of the sun. I went back to Telegraph Woods. Had lots of fun playing in the mud again. This time I was on a mission to get photographs of the views from the edges of the woods and of the main features - the beacon, the earthwork, the lake and the clearings. Fortunately, the frost was still lying on the sheltered open ground around the lake and in the foresty clearing a little further on, and also on the golf course and the open spaces around the Rose Bowl.

I met a mad boxer dog that seemed intent on getting this one branch detached from its tree; apparently this was no youngster. This hooligan is 10 years old. The chap and his daughter with the boxer also had a dear little wiry terrier which came and sat at my feet, gazing up at me with one paw lifted. What could I do? She was very happy to be fussed.

Later on, I met a young black labrador. As I said "Hello dog" to it (as you do), around a clump of shrub and trees I came upon the owner in jeans and white shoes staring rather forlornly at the thick, black mud. I advised him that the way improves uphill. That didn't help his present predicament but he thanked me anyway and began to rather gingerly pick his way around the goo. I had thick boots on (no gaiters - hurry up, Santa!) so I just waded through.

It was a lovely, cold walk with a dusting of frost to make a pleasant change to the usual drabness of the damp and the sun golden and heatless sinking into the west.

Winter Days Diary - Telegraph Woods

6th December 2008

For a sunny late afternoon I chose a lovely muddy tramp through one of my favourite places locally. Telegraph Woods is beautiful at any time of year. In the winter it has a sparse beauty with a forest of pale beeches facing tall dark pine trees across the wide main path through the woodland.

I chose to follow one of the more indistinct paths which winds through pine trees into more ancient woodland of beech and oak. The trail is one of the type that is not clearly marked and often looks as if it's coming to a dead end, but is always there and the apparent dead end is a tight corner in the narrow path leading you on.

It was very muddy and so, of course, great fun. The path ran down behind a small woodland lake and up again to emerge beside a fence that separates the woodland from the Rose Bowl Cricket Ground. However, as you come down to the radar gate on to the footpath that runs down beside the golf course, there is a clear view down into the cricket ground and then a fabulous view out over the countryside to the north.

I came back to the main path and soon diverged off it to descend a stepway to a lower path which runs around the base of the ancient earthworks and rises again to a fork. I took the right-hand fork back to the main path. I only cleaned my boots a couple of days ago; they're covered in mud again!

Near the main entrance to the woodland from Telegraph Road there is a perfect circle of open space which has a low wooden barrier running around it to mark the position of an ancient Beacon, one of a chain fired to raise the alarm that the Spanish Armada was approaching the coast of Britain, during the reign of Elizabeth I.

Just inside this entrance, nailed to a tree, is a sign: No fires are to be lit in these woods ...

Winter Days Diary - Walking and shopping

4 December 2008

I was out for an hour and a half today. I needed some more fountain pen ink and another extension lead. Some of the time was admittedly taken up with looking around but it was a fair couple of miles on a late winter afternoon, a cloud-and-sun day with a sharp breeze blowing.

To the local Hobbycraft for the ink, the trail goes along a quiet lane between the edge of an estate on one side and school grounds on the other, both sides screened from the lane by trees and high brambles (good blackberrying in September). From Hobbycraft (eventually), the way goes alongside a busy road with views out over watermeadows to the north and into wet woodlands on the south side, and into Riverside Park. At the two-way traffic bridge at Woodmill, I turn right along the narrow pavement and over the railway bridge, then left and come to the local B&Q store for the extension lead.

The way home is back over the railway bridge and back through Riverside Park.

Winter Days Diary - A walk around the block

2nd December 2008

I managed to get in two short walks today, one in the afternoon for a photoshoot; one this morning just to get out - itchy feet!

There is an open common space nearby called Frogs Copse and has recently been signposted as an area managed to encourage wildlife, which is excellent news. This has become quite a major project in this city. There are four such sites near me.

From Frogs Copse through the quieter back streets, across the main road and along the path beside the river through Riverside Park, then back along the cycle track and up round Broadwater.

This rather nice area has been a Christmas treat for several years, with nearly all the houses being done up with lights and seasonal ornamentation; it has become quite a tourist attraction! My family always takes a walk round there after Christmas dinner.

With the current environmental situation, however, I'm not sure that this pretty tradition will be repeated this year. It could be that the residents might leave putting up the display until nearer the time.

It was a cloud-and-sun morning and quite cold, but with thermals and a good fleece jacket and hat, it was very pleasant.

Winter Days Diary - Photoshoot at Itchen Valley Country Park

2nd December 2008

I'm not giving away too much yet, but some interest has been expressed in a small article I put on a walkers' forum about my first time walking. However, the "interested party" wanted a photograph (oh lor'). So my Dad being a photographer and the Itchen Valley Country Park being the starting point for the whole thing, we set off to get some shots.

It was a pleasant, if cold, afternoon. We got a pleasant walk around the Forest Trail and some decent pictures out of the excursion. I sent one of the pictures to the "interested party" and as I haven't heard anything back, I'm hoping it's OK.