Playing Disrupt The Traffic

CLICK ON SMALL GROUP IMAGES TO ACCESS ENLARGED GALLERIES.

This afternoon Jackie drove us around the forest,

beginning with Tanners Lane where ponies, delaying our arrival at the beach, played at disrupting the traffic.

They crossed and recrossed the narrow lane in their eagerness to crop the grass

and prune the hedgerows.

Cyclist resting on shingle

When we actually arrived at the waterfront, a cyclist who had weaved his way through the horses ahead of us, was already sunning himself on the shingle;

Cyclist and walker resting on shingle

a young lady carrying an Ordnance Survey map soon sat on a lump of concrete to take her rest.

The now familiar boat floated on the tide which was the highest we have seen it.

Jackie reading RAF Needs Oar Point sign

On the approach to St Leonards lies an apparently insignificant field that performed an important role during World War 2. Across The Solent in the background the Isle of Wight can be seen. Here Jackie reads

RAF Needs Oar Point sign

this explanatory sign. (I haven’t managed to enlarge this image in WordPress’s improved editing facility), so

I offer this information from the D-Day Museum website:

“Needs Oar Point, like Bisterne and Lymington airfields, was a temporary two steel track runway built in 1943. The runway was built to support the D-Day operations. On D-Day and for the next four weeks, squadrons flew sorties in support of the troops in Normandy. Additionally the Hawker Typhoon ground-attack aircraft flew from here. This provided low-level close air support to the Normandy beachhead.

During the Second World War there were twelve airfields in the New Forest, nine of which were built in wartime. Flat areas of land in this region made it suitable for creating airfields. Being situated near the south coast of the UK also made the The New Forest a useful base for aircraft operating over continental Europe.”

This evening we dined at Lymington’s Lal Quilla, where we received a very warm welcome and delicious food. My choice was Purple Tiger, which is a dish of tiger prawns, tamarind, and various other spices.  We shared special fried rice, onion bahji, and a garlic naan. We both drank Kingfisher.

50 comments

  1. I used to love cycling around all the old New Forest airfields – lovely and flat and edged with unusual weeds and thinking about all their history. Have you been to all of them?

  2. If I was a horse I would disrupt traffic all day long just because I can. 🙂 As a pedestrian without a car I waste a lot of time trying to cross roads.
    I like the photos of the man and the girl resting – were they looking at the Isle of Wight? 🙂

  3. I’m thinking we need to have ponies wandering at will around here – all the hedges and grass verges would be kept in tip-top condition and there’d be none of that Sunday morning noise of machinery! I shall write to the city council forthwith 🙂

    1. Where ever you go in the forest the verges are close cropped and beautifully green, not only kept short by the ponies and cattle but liberally fertilised as well!

          1. Thank you Derrick, I was reading and thought ‘this is familiar’ ……… And was definite when I got to Jackie’s bit at the end – for some reason I didn’t leave a ‘like’ but did leave a message. I remember when I was very young there were still horses around doing the odd jobs and the driver [ostler?] had to gather up any droppings as they went. I think nowadays it might be much appreciated by home gardeners!

  4. bloody ponies. Anyway you know what I think of them! My grandfather spent time at Beaulieu aerodrome in WW1 before flying planes to France. Gordon has his log book that records his time there.

  5. Any post with ponies, beaches, and history is automatically a good one–but your photos make it extra special. I love the pony pictures, but the one of the cyclist and woman resting is really wonderful. I guess it’s the perspective and the angles.
    Your dinner sounds great, too. 🙂

    1. How true, I have driven past that rather ordinary looking field so often without giving it a second look.

  6. Wonderful Derrick, Those horse’s truly help set up the scene and slow down all of the lives who wish to zip here and there ever faster.. Lovely Photo’s and beautiful Day of blue sunny skies.. 🙂

  7. So much history in the UK and it’s set in such beautiful countryside.
    [I’d LOVE to have a horse be the cause of a traffic jam – instead of the usual crazy driver reason!]

  8. Horsing around in traffic – fascinating cultural expression of ponies in the lane. Would not happen here in Canada, our loss. 🙂

  9. ‘Some more cars coming, chaps. Gather round. Just remember, act very casual as you step out in front of them, And while you’re blocking them pretend they’re not there. For maximum fun, ALMOST get out of the way a number of times … but don’t.’

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