New Years Day - 1st January 2014
Happy new year!
Today should have been our traditional family get together in Lymington for a walk along the coast but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. Had I been Noah with an ark I would have been happy but with just wellies and waterproof coats we didn't feel adequately prepared for the torrential rain and wind. Several times on the drive to Lymington via Lyndhurst and Brockenhurst we encountered floods across the whole of the main roads - not good.
Last year there were lots of highlights on this blog. These included the lovely scenes in the snow in January, watching seals and gannets in the sea on holiday in April and seeing the returning swallow/house martin/swifts also in early April. We have visited Southampton Common on numerous occasions this year and we have got to know it quite well, it has been particularly nice keeping an eye on a family of swans as the cygnets have grown during the year. A highlight of the summer months was the Go! Rhinos trail in Southampton city centre as this provided us with hours of walking and plenty of photo opportunities!
A low was finding a dead buzzard in March, I have never been so close to one, it was beautiful and much bigger than I thought but dead!
We have continued to geo cache throughout the year and successfully found 293 caches, not many by some people's standards but we're not obsessive about it and that number keeps us busy enough!
Mileage wise I walked 615 miles in 2013 according to my trusty pedometer that I wear every time we go out for a 'proper' walk. I feel very epic!!! The trouble is I will now want to beat that total this year. We've been to many new places walking this year and of course re-visited lots of old favourites, I look forward to doing the same in 2014.
Wednesday, 1 January 2014
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Poole Quay
Tuesday 31st December 2013
I had a walk along the Quay at Poole this afternoon. It's not a place I have been to before but it's somewhere I will come back to and explore properly when we have more time. It was dull and overcast (but at least it had stopped raining) so my photos are a bit uninspiring and colourless.
I had a walk along the Quay at Poole this afternoon. It's not a place I have been to before but it's somewhere I will come back to and explore properly when we have more time. It was dull and overcast (but at least it had stopped raining) so my photos are a bit uninspiring and colourless.
Nice, if you can afford it, obviously quite a few can as there were many large luxury boats (should I be calling them something posher than boats?)
A Padstow registered fishing boat in the foreground with Brownsea Island in the background.
Just imagine a strong smell of fish and you're almost there amongst the pots!
There are signs of brightness in the sky, looks almost promising (and so it was when I got back to the car!)
On the way back I passed this lovely old hardware shop, with goods spilling out over the pavement, it reminded me of Arkwrights shop in Open All Hours.
Finally, I am celebrating one year of blogging, (I started one year ago yesterday) and it's been great. Here's to the next year.
Happy New Year!
Friday, 27 December 2013
Boxing Day in Swanage
Thursday 26th December 2013
Having had a lazy day with family, by late afternoon we were in need of fresh air and ready to blow a few cobwebs away. We walked just over a mile into the centre of Swanage, taking in the Christmas lights,. There were more people wandering about than I expected and a few pubs and cafes open. Some of the shop windows were beautifully decorated, and in the dark looked amazing, we needed a bit of sparkle. Having had a quick look round we walked back for more festive food!
On the journey home we had a traditional stop off at Corfe to have a look at the lights and the nativity people in a 'stable/shed' thing! For a small village, the residents of Corfe pull out all the stops with their Christmas lights, it's well worth a look. As usual my photos don't really do the lights justice because I wobble and move too much - even though I try not to breathe as I take them!
Having had a lazy day with family, by late afternoon we were in need of fresh air and ready to blow a few cobwebs away. We walked just over a mile into the centre of Swanage, taking in the Christmas lights,. There were more people wandering about than I expected and a few pubs and cafes open. Some of the shop windows were beautifully decorated, and in the dark looked amazing, we needed a bit of sparkle. Having had a quick look round we walked back for more festive food!
Lots of festive glitteriness
The seafront at Swanage
Station Road, Swanage
The Nativity, Corfe Castle
Corfe Castle
Empty roads in Corfe Castle
Tuesday, 24 December 2013
Seasons Greetings
Tuesday 24th December 2013
What a dreadful 24 hours we've just had weather wise. The trees in our garden have taken a beating but are still standing and that's amazing as the old plum tree in our back garden is most definitely on it's last legs. We have had persistent rain running down the hill outside our house for hours and it's high time it stopped!
We were due to go walking today and I was hoping to take some festive photos but unfortunately circumstances have changed so I am posting a photo that we took a few years ago of a fairly friendly robin that visited our garden every now and then.
What a dreadful 24 hours we've just had weather wise. The trees in our garden have taken a beating but are still standing and that's amazing as the old plum tree in our back garden is most definitely on it's last legs. We have had persistent rain running down the hill outside our house for hours and it's high time it stopped!
We were due to go walking today and I was hoping to take some festive photos but unfortunately circumstances have changed so I am posting a photo that we took a few years ago of a fairly friendly robin that visited our garden every now and then.
Happy Christmas and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2014
Sunday, 22 December 2013
Family Christmas Walk and Picnic
Sunday 22nd December 2013
Yesterday was very wet and windy and tomorrow is forecast to be as bad but today we were very fortunate to have a dry bright day for our annual family Christmas walk and picnic (with a duck race and treasure hunt thrown in for good measure!). We met up at Anderwood car park near Burley in the New Forest and had a short walk to the River Blackwater, which eventually becomes the Lymington River. We have had a great deal of rain lately so the river that we were planning to use for the duck race was swollen and quite deep (too deep for wellies!) so having put a test duck down it we decided to use a smaller more sedate stream.
Yesterday was very wet and windy and tomorrow is forecast to be as bad but today we were very fortunate to have a dry bright day for our annual family Christmas walk and picnic (with a duck race and treasure hunt thrown in for good measure!). We met up at Anderwood car park near Burley in the New Forest and had a short walk to the River Blackwater, which eventually becomes the Lymington River. We have had a great deal of rain lately so the river that we were planning to use for the duck race was swollen and quite deep (too deep for wellies!) so having put a test duck down it we decided to use a smaller more sedate stream.
Blinged up ducks - mine was the Christmas duck and it came last in both races - I blame the scarf it was definitely not streamlined!
The test duck - stuck!
You can't beat a good bit of cheating - my duck is still back at the starting line in the background.
Proof that there was a blue sky!
Following a walk, we had a picnic lunch and got competitive over a treasure hunt - a great pre-Christmas family get together, with lots of laughing and silliness, just the job.
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Bolderwood and Bratley Wood
Sunday 15th December 2013
We had a pleasant but wet walk this morning starting from the Bolderwood car park. There is a useful deer observation platform overlooking a couple of fields not far from the car park but unfortunately today maybe due to the weather there were very few deer visible.
We had a pleasant but wet walk this morning starting from the Bolderwood car park. There is a useful deer observation platform overlooking a couple of fields not far from the car park but unfortunately today maybe due to the weather there were very few deer visible.
Starting off from Bolderwood in the misty rain.
Five deer just visible in the distance.
The rain got steadily harder as we got further from the car but it didn't stop us finding a fairly newly placed geocache under one of the many very large fallen trees in this area.
Rain on the lens!
I had a chat with a friendly local!
Getting murkier by the minute!
We came across this memorial stone on the way back,placed by the Forestry Commission, the sides were beautifully engraved with different animals birds and plants found in the New Forest.
A couple of seasonal engravings
An owl with very expressive eyes.
Then it was back to the car and time to get home and dry out.
Tuesday, 10 December 2013
It's Christmas in Romsey
Tuesday 10th December 2013
We had a walk around Romsey last night just to take in the Christmas lights because nowhere does Christmas lights quite as well as Romsey, in my opinion. There are twinkling lights, trees and festive shop displays everywhere and it was well worth looking in out of the way places too. It was a bit tricky taking clear photos of the lights, and it didn't help that it was really cold and I didn't want to take my gloves off.
We had a walk around Romsey last night just to take in the Christmas lights because nowhere does Christmas lights quite as well as Romsey, in my opinion. There are twinkling lights, trees and festive shop displays everywhere and it was well worth looking in out of the way places too. It was a bit tricky taking clear photos of the lights, and it didn't help that it was really cold and I didn't want to take my gloves off.
Bell Street
The Market Place
Reindeer wearing glasses in an opticians window
The Hundred
A traditional tree in Bradbeers shop window
The Corn Market
A modern display in a florists window
The Hundred
Palmerston Street
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