Luckily it's light in this part of the world at 4.30 am – one can check the weather when one is wide awake and therefore know what to wear for the 5.45 am walk 😉
It was a beautiful morning though and we saw our first four legged 'wild life' hanging out down a small lane off the High Street.
Clearly quite unperturbed by cars, cyclists and pedestrians, this little family were taking it easy as the village began to stir.
Further down the road the beautiful St. Saviour's Anglican Church provided some great photo opportunities as we continued our search for the New Forest ponies we had seen fleetingly the day before whilst driving in.
Rounding the corner and nearly back to the B&B, we saw our first ponies casually grazing the verge..
I don't think I will ever get used to this – completely oblivious to traffic they were only concerned with their breakfast. Despite later in the day reading that you were “not to approach” the ponies – they were actually quite amenable to a quick pat.
A bit about the New Forest ponies……
The cattle and ponies living on the New Forest are not completely feral, but are owned by commoners, who pay an annual fee for each animal turned out. Approximately 80 per cent of the animals depastured on the New Forest are owned by just 10 per cent of the commoning families. Ponies living full-time on the New Forest are almost all mares, although there are also a few geldings. For much of the year the ponies live in small groups, usually consisting of an older mare, her daughters, and their foals, all keeping to a discrete area of the Forest called a “haunt.”
After taking heaps of photos (sorry 😉 ) we eventually found our B&B and were subsequently presented with a delectable feast.
Our mission post breakfast was to find a pre paid sim for the iPad and with this in mind, our host helpfully sent us off to Lymington where they were coincidentally having a market day!
Some time later, with several new articles of clothing, a UK mobile which cost 99p and no iPad microsims, we left for the so called 'picturesque' village of Beaulieu – curiously pronounced “boolee.”
En route, we discovered the delightful Hatchet's Pond where the balmy 23C had picknickers out in numbers – the ponies, not to be outdone, were also enjoying a bit of sun next to the pond…
Beaulieu proved to be picturesque indeed and the crayfish sandwich for £6.95 was pretty good too.
We had also been told about a “delightful walk” from Beaulieu to Buckler's Hard along the river so decided to tackle that after lunch.
A note about the term : 'hard' (noun)
Definition: A large gently-sloping harbourside area that is uncovered at low water,and covered to a sufficent depth at high water that a boat may be launched. The hard may also be used to careen a boat for scrubbing the bottom and making minor repairs.
Delightful perhaps if one is not in pursuit of Dr Waddell who does not know the meaning of 'stroll' but instead set off to accomplish the 4 mile round trip in record time.
It was a lovely walk but my muscles were protesting loudly when we eventually got back to the car park and began dreaming of a deep bath!
A chicken korma and Spanish rosé also helped and tomorrow we look forward to Sunday lunch at one of Sam's old haunts “The Anchor.”