The weather today was very dull with a couple of hours of rain of varying velocity early this afternoon.
When the precipitation had desisted we took a drive into the forest.
A group of ponies gathered on either side of Charles’s Lane wandered back and forth across the road. I am normally quite at ease among these fairly large creatures, but when they come clopping and thudding straight for me two or three abreast down such a narrow lane requiring a decision about whether it is them or me on whom it is incumbent to move aside it is somewhat disconcerting.
The bay in this last picture had an issue with the grey which fortunately declined the challenge.
The post boxes on the overgrown verges in this countryside present quite an access problem for the Post Office staff whose task it is to empty them.
We stopped beside this one in Crow Lane so I could walk back and photograph a few deer I had spied. Despite the distance they very soon sniffed me out which meant I needed to poke my lens through a hedge for fear they would be gone before I reached a gate that would have given me a better view.
They then promptly scarpered.
Beside the ford at Ibsley, children played in the stream, while a cow and calf played with the traffic. Every year visitors like these build a dam.
Further on donkeys with a foal kept the verges well clipped.
Along Roger Penny Way the green keepers were the ponies and foals who lined those verges. This little one had difficulty keeping its balance when having a scratch.
This evening we dined on the plentiful left-overs from last night’s Indian takeaway with which Jackie drank Becks and I drank McGuigan Black Label Shiraz 2019 provided by Danni.