CLICK ON ANY IMAGE IN A GROUP TO ACCESS ITS GALLERY, INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS OF WHICH CAN BE VIEWED FULL SIZE BY SCROLLING DOWN AND CHECKING BOX AT BOTTOM RIGHT
Today’s photographs will show how overcast and dull was the weather. They were taken early this afternoon. What they don’t show is neither that the rain had stopped nor how much colder was the temperature.
This morning, Jackie, on a trawl through Google maps, discovered Jealous Lane. She thought it would be fun to seek it out, especially as it looked as if it could lead to Setley Pond. Near the village of Battramsley, of which we had never heard, we soon realised why we had not ventured down it before. Firstly, it had no street name; secondly,
it was full of waterlogged potholes.
Even though a bunch of ponies had managed to find a dry area, there was so much water on the forest floor that we weren’t sure until we investigated exactly what was Setley Pond.
Walkiees website recommends the area to dog-walkers. I cast no aspersions on the specific dog owners who appear in a couple of my photographs, but I have to say that I have never before needed to negotiate as many heaps of canine turds in any forest location as we encountered today.
Here we stumbled upon a meeting of The Solent Radio Controlled Model Yacht Club. First we were aware of a ring of white buoys, then speeding model yachts, then a group of gentlemen sporting fishing waders on the far bank operating their radios. So engrossed were these enthusiasts in their occupation that I relied on another spectator for the information that this regatta regularly took place several times a week. I imagined this might be a club of sorts and found the group on Google.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s classic cottage pie, crisp carrots, cauliflower and cabbage; followed by mixed fruit crumble and custard. Â My lady drank Hoegaarden. I had finished the Paniza before we ate.
Â
Â
Despite not being the most beautiful of forests you’ve visited, at least it had my ponies!
It had to be done, GP. 🙂 Happy Easter and thanks
https://pacificparatrooper.files.wordpress.com/2018/03/easterbunny-2-june.gif
🙂
Hang on They are my ponies go get your own GP 😀
🙂
Jeez, and i thought we were friends, Beari…. 🙂
Well we are GP but they’re English ponies and I’m an Englishman, you know , we get quite possessive about such things 😀 😛
My grandfather immigrated from St. Kitts in the British West Indies – doesn’t that rate me a small pony?
🙂
Okay; a Shetland.
Hey – they’re feisty!!
The pond looks like a conglomerate of potholes…I would leave it to the dog owners and their turds and the boys with their toys.
Good thinking, Mary. Many thanks
Do you know how that trail got that name? Ow, it really must be jealous with all those unsightly potholes
I tried hard to find out. All I could come up with was that it might have been a corruption of a name like Giles. Thanks a lot, Andrew
Interesting. Thank you
I kind of agree with Mary Tang – not my kind of place at all! But dinner sure sounds tasty 🙂
Many thanks, Pauline
Reading from my mailbox did not allow me to enjoy the images as much as I did once I came here to like your posts. I love as usual the water features
Many thanks, Geetha. Glad yo can see them better now
Welcome Derrick 🙂
Happy Easter to you and Jackie, Derrick.
And to you, Frank. Many thanks
It certainly was a gloomy day, Derrick. Hopefully tomorrow will bring you some sunshine.
Many thanks, Jill. We take what we get, but the forecast is not good
The potholes are a menace at the moment. I kept thinking my wheels were going to be ripped off on the M6 this week.
Many thanks, Susan. Motorways are dodgy. In our lanes, though, it is impossible to pass without hitting them
Phew! Everything looks waterlogged. As for dog owners who don’t clean up after their dogs…g-r-r-r-r.
Unfortunately there are a few spots like this for dog shit. This is the worst, though. Many thanks, Laurie
Yuck.
I love that Jackie was poring over Google maps looking for interesting places to visit. I can understand why she wanted to see Jealous Lane–what a great name–even thought the place didn’t exactly prove the best rambling spot. I always wonder about street names. We passed a Leopard Road today, and I don’t imagine that part of Pennsylvania was full of leopards.
Many thanks, Merril. I’ve had more luck on Google with Leopard Road than with Jealous Lane: https://www.easttown.org/216/History
Thank you, Derrick! That’s it–we were traveling on Darby-Paoli Road for a bit, and I saw signs for Leopard Road. Coming home, I think we might have turned onto Leopard Road, as the GPS took us back home on a slightly different route.
That is a funny name Jealous lane! Always fun Derrick!
Thanks very much, Lynn. We thought so, too
hahaha
Wow, I liked the regatta. As for the turds, well, dog walkers will avoid picking up when they think they can, at least on evidence around here, where it’s the law…When I was a child, I remember my parents finding a detour on vacation and having to ford a small stream on the roadway, which wound around forever it seemed. I only learned later from my mother that we were running low on petrol, my father having passed a gas station whose prices he deemed too high. It makes me smile now at the roads taken and not–and what you find on them, or don’t.
🙂 Lovely, amusing, comment, Lisa. Thanks very much
Except for the secretive commune of toy yacht racers, which reminded me of my boyhood when we would race paper boats with complete with ant sailors aboard, the new location you and Jackie found out on the map isn’t much exciting. That however didn’t stop you from framing some classic shots.
Many thanks, Uma. I like the ants. We are unlikely to go there again
I thought they were toy boats. Big man’s toys…hehe!
Correct, Arlene. Many thanks
Happy Easter, Derrick!
Thanks very much, John. You, too
Excellent collection.
Many thanks, Rabirius
Always a tasty finish…
Thanks a lot, Pamela
The yachts look great, but cottage pie and fruit crumble is probably even better. 🙂
Most definitely Quercus. Many thanks
🙂
Everything is getting smaller, including ships. 🙂
🙂 Nice one, Micheline
That regatta seems fun 🙂
Many thanks, Anna. It looked like a very serious business 🙂
I think they had fun and were serious at the same time. Sailing is fun even with little boats 🙂
Roads similar in this region. We seem to have chosen the wettest spring in our forty years here for our heavy landscaping project.
Thanks very much, Hilary
Yey yes that is exactly at the other end of jealous lane, I do however suggest you visit back in the summer, it is a much more delightful walk. P.s there is a terrapin loose in this pond, I stumbled upon it last year, just by chance I googled it, turns out I am not the first to have seen it. Looks like some one realeased the nasty reptile, into our pond? It was the size of a dinner plate, and has been living here for a number of years? Keep a look out during warmer weather, in the mud shallows of the pond ( at the back away from the yacht-ies) just watch out for adders, they like to to dwell in the same habitat ?
Many thanks, Rebecca. As if the dog turds weren’t enough 🙂 P.S. Do you live in a cottage just up the hill from Minstead village? I ask because we lived in Castle Malwood Lodge for a year and a half
No I live in Ashley, but my ponies live in sway, just behind jealous lane, which is why I recognise many of your local photographs of the area. Setley pond is a real attraction for dog walkers…as are a few other areas of the forest, only a few dog poo bins exist! A few years back a guy was surveying the forest, and went to setthorns ( another highly populated doggy area) as he opened his car door, he recalled, an odour in the air of NOT PINE, as you would expect, but something not so pleasant, due to all the dogs leaping out of the cars in the car park and relieving themselves at the earliest available spot…usually on top of another poo!!!
We’ve seen that, too
Such a pity some dog owners can’t clear up after their dogs. Are there no dog waste bins there? Our villages are now full of bins and the dog poo problem has been greatly reduced.
I haven’t noticed any in the forest. I don’t watch Room 101, but Jackie does, and I heard a huge amount of applause when such dog owners were sent to the room.
Mixed fruit crumble sounds interesting, all I need to know is what mixed fruit the CQ uses. 😀
A dried mix – apricots, prunes, etc. Thanks a lot, Brian
Hello Derrick! I’m back from an amazing trip to the Southern Hemisphere, and making some blog visits. It appears from this post, and I’m sure the many that I missed, you are well. The Blogger Babes reading your comments during our gathering.
What a fun regatta! They looked to be have a blast!
Weren’t those ponies smart to find the dry patches? 🙂
Very many thanks, Laurie. It was wonderful reading about the Blogger Babes, and fascinating seeing your brief stops at places in Australia I visited in 2008
Nice post Derrick.
Thanks very much, Gary
That sounds like an interesting adventure you and Jackie took trying to find the pond. I am sorry you had to avoid so many “land mines” left behind by errant dog owners.
I like “land mines” Lavinia. Very many thanks