On another cold and bright morning we drove into the forest by way of Brockenhurst.
From the Hinchelsea car park I photographed a somewhat misty moorland landscape.
The winterbourne pool just outside the town had iced over,
as had some of the terrain
leading to further distant scenes.
Rhinefield Road,
where bracken provides burnished autumn colour,
crosses Ober Water with its clear reflections. Jackie parked nearby to enable me to wander around the
frosted banks. She moved on the the
Puttles Bridge
car park where she noticed a sign indicating the Ober Water Trail. Naturally I walked along this. It is marked by very helpful posts bearing colour coded strips – red for one and a half miles and yellow for one mile. I took the yellow option, giving me a two mile total. The track was mostly flat with occasional variety provided by
tree roots
and mud.
Along the way I enjoyed sunlit views of red-brown bracken and autumn leaves, some decorating sawn off stumps; fallen lumber logs; backlit foliage; and tree shadows stretching across the forest floor.
The trail clearly runs alongside the eponymous water, but one needed to go off piste to see it. I am not yet ready for that, since this was in itself my longest post-operative trek.
The yellow marker disappears from the post at a bridge crossing the now visible stream.
On reaching the bridge I noticed an equestrian quartet approaching.
Realising they would be crossing the river by this route, I crossed first and stood, poised, to one side,
ready to tracked their clattering over the planks and
gentle thudding off into the forest.
Leaning on the bridge, I took one last look at the water before retracing my steps.
The sight of Jackie’s Modus in the car park had a rather similar impact as that of Big Ben coming up to the end of a London marathon. Either is welcome, but you know you are going to be hard put to make it.
Those who have been concerned about Nugget’s apparent absence will be pleased to know that, although not photographed, he was about this morning. From the comfort of my passenger seat I did, however, spot
one of his relatives. Can you spot him?
This evening we dined on a second helping of the Chinese Takeaway with which Jackie drank Hoegaarden and I drank more of the Minervois.