500th Geocache

We were visiting Colin and Trish over the weekend and staying overnight, so you know who, could have a little more than his 2 glasses of wine. We had a great time and caught up on all the news.
On the Sunday I had lined up a few geocaches and the second we did was my 500th. This was accessed from the lovely village of Pitton. We had to walk up a bridleway to the cache which was at the top. This view is looking north over Wiltshire.



Here I am at my 500th cache. During the afternoon I went on to do another 3 caches whilst Sue checked on the quality of the shops in Salisbury.

A Day Out - Friday 19th April

We had a Telegraph Promotional meal voucher which would soon be out of date so had to find somewhere that would take it on a Friday. The Haven Bar and Restaurant at Lymington Marina could take us so off we went. We had a good meal for £5 each and managed a walk from the marina afterwards.
The first photo is on the edge of the marina and the second of two Isle of Wight ferries about to crash (they didn't).
Did you hear this week of all the postage stamps that had to be pulped because they had spelt Wight 'White' - a collectors items if you could get hold of one! I've just checked this is correct click this





On the way home we did four geocaches. This photo is at the second one - St. Leonards tithe barn which was on one of the Granges attached to Beaulieu Abbey (now the National Motor Museum). To the left you can see a mare and her two newly born foals.



The last geocache was at Buckler's Hard, this is where Nelson built some of his major warships. The houses are where the workers lived.



This is where the warships would have been slipped into the water, notice the scooped out bit.
The geocache here took us along the banks of the Beaulieu River, a very beautiful area.
Note at the top right corner of the Blog page my Geocache counter - 500 is very close!

Sunny Daze

It was a shame to spend the day inside when there was a geocache out there waiting to be found. Looking at where it was on the map I could make this into a good walk with maybe a little refreshment at the end.
The good deed for the day was putting some Australians back on the right track after getting lost in the forest. Before finding the cache we saw this mare and her foal.



This is Splash Bridge near to where the cache was. If there are no planes overflying it is one of the quietest places in the forest. Sue by the bridge.




We had parked in the High Corner Pub car park so we just had to give them a little custom.

Weekend Visitor

Sue's brother Neil came to visit over the weekend. He was lucky that the temperatures were close to Cyprus temperatures (where he lives) so he should have felt quite at home.
He kindly took Sue and I to the Woolpack at Sopley for lunch. The fish and chips are superb. We had a walk around Ringwood in the afternoon, but there is no photo of the cake Sue consumed. She's on diet in between meals and snacks.

Easter Sunday

During the year I had read a book The Forest by Edward Rutherford, it's a fascinating book especially if you know anything about the New Forest.
Anyway in the book is mention of a 'crinkle crankle wall' so after Googling for this item found it is also called a Serpentine Wall. This great name had stuck with me for some time so I had to see one.
With a little bit of research I found that there was one at Dean's Court, Wimborne (10 miles from here). Today they opened the gardens to the public so off Sue and I went. The crinkle crankle wall is part of the walled kitchen garden. It is believed to be the longest wall of its type in the country and was built in the 18th Century by French prisoners from the Napoleonic wars.




The rear of Dean's Court.




Dorset cream teas - we couldn't resist. Diet - what diet?