| Date: Location: Walk Leader: Participants: Distance: Parking: Lunch: | 3rd December 2014 New Forest Holmhill Inclosure Ray Ray, Peter, Rob 8.5 miles Deer Sanctuary Car Park Queens Head Burley ★★ gammon |
This was a really pleasant walk on a day that was variously sunny and cloudy.
It may not have been a red letter day but it was a very unusual red track day. It had been rumoured that Ray did not possess a map of the New Forest and this has now been disproved! It is however only the second of his walks that I have recorded in the Forest. Nevertheless his leadership was almost faultless.
The walk was a mixture of cycle tracks and other less well defined tracks and fire breaks. A small reddish dot can be seen on the map below. It was very wet in this area and Rob's walking pole completely disappeared as he lent forward to test the ground. Luckily he did not follow it and he managed to spot the top of the pole just below the surface and to recover it safely. It's a shame that there is no picture of the actual event.
The holly is now covered in very dense bunches of berries and there remain quite a lot of fungi to see. The wind has ensured that most of the trees are now pretty bare. The forest still looks really good when the low winter sun shines later in the afternoon.
We met three ladies near the car park at Acres Down and they were walking with only a rough map from the internet. I think that thought our use of an iPad with OS maps and a gps was cheating. Never mind we find it a comfort. Shorty after this we stopped in a small wooded area on Acre Down for out morning break. There were quite a lot of trees blown down in this area and numerous bracket fungi of various ages. After Millyford Bridge we crossed the road and followed the raised embankment to get round to the Reptile Centre. The area to the left of the embankment, where Highland Water runs, was unsurprisingly very wet. After this point it remained bright and sunny until we got back to the car just before 14:30.
We then drove to the Queens Head at Burley for gammon eggs and chips.
It may not have been a red letter day but it was a very unusual red track day. It had been rumoured that Ray did not possess a map of the New Forest and this has now been disproved! It is however only the second of his walks that I have recorded in the Forest. Nevertheless his leadership was almost faultless.
The walk was a mixture of cycle tracks and other less well defined tracks and fire breaks. A small reddish dot can be seen on the map below. It was very wet in this area and Rob's walking pole completely disappeared as he lent forward to test the ground. Luckily he did not follow it and he managed to spot the top of the pole just below the surface and to recover it safely. It's a shame that there is no picture of the actual event.
The holly is now covered in very dense bunches of berries and there remain quite a lot of fungi to see. The wind has ensured that most of the trees are now pretty bare. The forest still looks really good when the low winter sun shines later in the afternoon.
We met three ladies near the car park at Acres Down and they were walking with only a rough map from the internet. I think that thought our use of an iPad with OS maps and a gps was cheating. Never mind we find it a comfort. Shorty after this we stopped in a small wooded area on Acre Down for out morning break. There were quite a lot of trees blown down in this area and numerous bracket fungi of various ages. After Millyford Bridge we crossed the road and followed the raised embankment to get round to the Reptile Centre. The area to the left of the embankment, where Highland Water runs, was unsurprisingly very wet. After this point it remained bright and sunny until we got back to the car just before 14:30.
We then drove to the Queens Head at Burley for gammon eggs and chips.
 A lovely start |  Spot the walking pole |  Bracket Fungi |  Evening Light |
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