I’ve always argued against using the word “new” in a title. It’s guaranteed to become a misleading statement before long - the new Jaguar, the new Surface - not sensible! And my second question, when I was very young and first heard about the New Forest - where’s the Old Forest then?
It was William the Conqueror who designated it the Nova Foresta in 1079 and it wasn’t new then, he just forcibly collected up a load of land parcels from his peoples (which were already forest) and gave it the name, which after early 950 years is likely, I suppose, to remain the same forever but to this pedant it will always be upsetting.
Anyway, the place known as the New Forest is our destination du jour and after breakfast we first try to find where I put the car keys and finally head off towards our chosen starting point. Once in the National Park the lanes become very narrow and on a few occasions some diplomatic road craft is needed to get past oncoming traffic, but soon we’re parked in the lovely little village of Hyde and set out on our walk.
Because we know that the ponies are a significant feature of the region we start a tally on first sighting this beautiful creature, a breed in its own right called, New Forest Pony. In a way the forest is a bit like Kruger, albeit 1/34 the size, it has sweeping open planes, paths created by the animals, water courses, patches of dense vegetation and roaming animals, so we are immediately at ease wandering across the land with, a huge bonus, not another person in sight.
On route to our first way-point we find a huge arrow in the ground which was the site of a WWII bombing exercise area, known as Ashley Walk Illuminated Target Arrow. Scattered around the arrow are various other concrete markers but the arrow is fascinating because it’s completely intact.
Dropping down off this ridge we wander into more dense vegetation, encountering ponies from time to time as we walk. Our first way-point is the Royal Oak at Fritham but it’s too early for lunch! We continue on, next heading for Nomansland.
Nomansland sounds like some sort of DMZ but in fact it’s nothing like the border between two warring countries, just another small village, an hour further on, and much more like lunchtime. The Lamb Inn does lots of nice sounding lunches but we only want a sandwich, so settle on Croque Monseir and Fishfinger Sandwich both of which are lovely!
Checking the weather app whilst we have a bit of 3G for a while, we learn things have not improved and we can expect to get wet very soon, but there’s nothing we can do about this, so head off as intended, back a way to rejoin our route. The heavens open with some force and to add to the insult we’re alongside a road for a mile or so getting spray as well as rain, oh joy! We give instruction to a bedraggled couple and their sad looking dog, who were clearly unprepared for rain, and before long we turn off the road and rejoin our lovely walk in the peace and solitude of the forest, just us and the ponies.
The skies dry up for a while and we even see chinks of blue, our waterproofs soon dry in the strong breeze which remains a mild 18 degrees, until of course, another torrential downpour reverses everything! Once again we dry out and there a chance we might make it back before the next tranche hits, so we best-foot whilst the terrain is good.
Our pathway passes through a designated car park and we’re quite happy to see and ice cream van! After a sugar boost the last two miles are easily consumed and we make it back to the car with just moments to spare before the rain returns. Of corse you’ll be wanting some stats now, so: 17 miles, lots of cows, one pig and a very satisfactory 98 ponies.
We return to our hotel just in time to shower and dress for drinks with friends before heading up town for dinner. We chose Tiien Thai for this evening and had a lovely meal. Walking home it was a lovely clear night and the five ships were shimmering in the distance. It was also the first time ever (I think) that we have seen Mars, Saturn and Jupiter at the same time together - magical!!
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