Hockley Viaduct to St Cross (Winchester)

Sunday 18th August 2013

Today's three mile walk was from the disused Hockley Viaduct to St Cross in Winchester, along the River Itchen.  

The Hockley Viaduct (just before a heavy shower of rain).

Luckily we had taken our coats as shortly after taking this photo we had a short sharp shower of rain.  We sheltered for a while under an old tree, but even then the rain got through so we gave up and walked on.

Rain!!! (on a pond)

The Hospital of St Cross.

We walked past the Hospital of St Cross http://stcrosshospital.co.uk/ then came across a tree with very funky fruits - I think it's a lime tree of some sort.

Lime tree fruits.

The River Itchen.

We returned via a posh footpath (which follows the route of the old A33 before the M3 was built) alongside the Itchen Navigation in the shadow of St Catherine's Hill and back to the Hockley Viaduct.  We walked  up onto the viaduct which has recently been done up as a cycle friendly path with lowered walls tomake the most of the views.  http://www.railwayramblers.org.uk/news/13news/13hockley.htm

A bit of blue sky up on the viaduct where we found a sneaky small geocache.

Looking down from the viaduct onto the field in which we sheltered from the rain earlier.

 Back at the car we saw these lovely teasels alongside the footpath.

Fritham Plain, Heather and Bees

Friday 16th August 2013

We had a three mile walk this afternoon across Fritham Plain in the New Forest.  We haven't been out in the Forest for a couple of weeks and in the meantime the heather has well and truly come out. There was a carpet of pink across the plain and if we stood still the only sound we could hear was buzzing bees - I thought there was a bit of a shortage of bees at the moment, well there most certainly was no shortage here today!!!

Just imagine buzzing and you're there!

We took a short detour to have a look at Green Pond, I don't know about pond, it was more like Green Dried Up, even the animals looked a bit fed up, especially the black cow in the dried up mud.  Doesn't everything look dull and dry?

Green 'Pond'

Another thing I noticed today was the Rowan trees, (are also known as Mountain Ash) which are covered in bright orange berries.  I expect to see berries at the end of September and into October so it was a surprise to see these today - I don't suppose I have noticed how early they are before (another benefit of keeping a blog).

Rowan berries.

Southampton Common - Swan Family Update from 20/6/13

Thursday 15th August 2013

Back on June 20th we came across a family of swans on the Boating Lake on Southampton Common, this is the family back then.

Mum, Dad and five cygnets.

Since then we have been back to the Common a few times and have seen the cygnets gradually getting bigger.  This is the family today.

Still Mum, Dad and five cygnets!

How good is it that the whole family is still on the Common and doing so well?  Whenever we walk on the Common there are always people feeding them or taking photos of them.  I hope they continue to do as well.  Another thing that seems to be doing well is the horrible weed on the lake, it doesn't cover it, it's mainly around the edges, but the swans don't seem bothered by it.

Lepe Beach & Cowes Week 2013

Tuesday 6th August 2013

This week it's Cowes Week, the world's largest sailing regatta based at Cowes on the Isle of Wight.   http://www.cowes.co.uk  Races are held daily on the Solent (providing there is enough wind!) and there is plenty of entertainment on dry land too.  As today was forecast to be one of the best days of the week we headed to Lepe Beach overlooking the Solent, where in many previous years we have had an excellent view of the yachts racing.  Armed with a picnic and everything necessary for a beach day out we were hoping for some great photo opportunities, unfortunately the weather had other ideas and apparently racing was cancelled due to a lack of wind - hmmmmmml!!! One year when we were watching the yachts there were all manner of problems as they got into trouble and needed rescuing because it was too windy.  Hey ho, the good old unpredictable British summer weather. 

Never mind, it was a lovely hot day so we had a walk and then relaxed on the beach for a couple of hours.

There were quite a few yachts about, just not racing and only in the distance basically going no where fast!

  Lepe played an important part in the D-Day Landings and the wartime evidence can be seen on the beach and on the shoreline

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/countryside/lepe/lepe-history.htm

King John's House - Romsey

Monday 5th August 2013

After visiting the chiropractor and dodging a heavy  shower of rain I had a quick look around the garden of King John's House in Romsey.  It's another place with quiet nooks and crannies and it's very well kept and traditional.

With Romsey Abbey just visible in the background.

Perhaps I will come back again when the sun is shining.

Abbey Gardens - Winchester

Sunday 4th August 2013

In conjunction with a bit of shopping we had a walk around Winchester this morning and we managed to find some little nooks and crannies that we haven't come across before.  We walked through Abbey Gardens (we usually walk further up The Broadway and along the River Itchen) which had lovely colourful flower beds together with some funky topiary.  Even at 10.30 in the morning there were plenty of people taking photos of the gardens and there seemed to be a large party of tourists on a guided walk. 

Abbey Gardens

Abbey Gardens

Abbey Gardens (with that washed out sky again!  -  the sky was blue as you can see in the reflection on the river)

This spot was a bit further  along the footpath towards the Cathedral, it was like a secret little garden, a very tranquil and pretty place.  There was no information on it, so I have nothing to share about it but it was a nice surprise to come across before joining the crowds again.

Southampton Attractions and Go Rhinos (part 2)

Thursday 1st August 2013

We walked another part of the Go Rhinos trail in Southampton City Centre this morning.  It was a beautiful hot morning, just right for hunting rhinos!!  It was fairly busy around the trail now that the schools have broken up for the summer holidays but we managed to photograph most of the rhinos without other people in them.  

We realised today that we don't appreciate the lovely parks in the city centre, they are very pleasant, well kept and peaceful so we have decided to come back another day and have a really good look round.  I haven't really been through the parks for years, probably not since I was at the Technical College (as it was then), which was some time ago now!  There are some lovely new areas in the parks, and I think they are well worth a visit.

We passed lots of places of interest on our walk, most of which can be seen in the following photos.

Above Bar/Ogle Road  - this rhino is covered in penguins.

Palmerston Park Bandstand.

East Park

East Park Mosaic Garden

Entrance to East Park opposite the Cenotaph.

In Watts Park, there was work going on to touch up this rhinos paintwork.   I can't believe that vandals have attacked quite a few of the rhinos, I just don't understand some people.

Watts Park

The junction of Commercial Road and Above Bar Street.

Guildhall Square - this rhino has images from plays and musicals painted on it that have been at the Mayflower Theatre over the years.

Outside of the Art Gallery.

At the SeaCity Museum.

And lastly my absolute favourite of the day, this is Glint, who is covered in tiny mosiac mirrors, standing in front of the Guildhall, fab.