It was with much sadness that we learnt that an old and dear friend had died suddenly just before Christmas and his funeral was to be held in Dorset on 26 Jan. We had enjoyed our visit to this part of the world when we visited him in 2019, so this was an opportunity to pay our respects and revisit those places that he took us to on our last trip.
On Mon 24 we set out, wanting to break the journey as we were in no rush. Somewhat inconveniently, the Camping and Cackyvan Club decided to shut the site at Chertsey for refurbishment (more "fully serviced pitches" and associated price hikes probably), so we asked for a pub stop at the Chequers, Weston on the Green. The pub is closed on a Monday and Tuesday, but they generously let us stop anyway and we had a good night's rest. Continuing our journey on Tuesday, we arrived at Wareham Forest Park, a delightful and well-managed site in the middle of Wareham Forest. Quickly setting up, we took to Mr Toad to have a quick look at Wareham. It was freezing, but we did have a wander around the Saxon earth walls of this ancient town.
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| Wareham |
On Wed 26 we drove to Wimborne Minster for a mooch around and a spot of lunch, before heading off to Poole Crematorium to say a last goodbye to our dear friend Stuart and meet up with a few of our Quins friends who had made the journey. After the service we adjourned to the Royal British Legion in Wool to share fond memories of our friend. The night drive back to the site was a bit interesting. It is very, very dark around here!
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| Wimborne Minster |
After the sad day on Wednesday, the following day we visited Corfe Castle, which was closed for the day for safety reasons, so we had a wander around the village then went on to Swanage, where we walked along the front and had fish and chips for lunch, then on to walk along the cliff top to Old Harry Rock in glorious sunshine.
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| Corfe Castle |
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| Swanage |
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| Old Harry Rocks |
On Fri 28th we had a busy day, visiting the famous sycamore tree in Tolpuddle (through the delightfully named village of Shitterton), then stopped to watch some military vehicles hare around the training area, paid our respects to the spot where Lawrence of Arabia crashed his motorbike, then drove down to the expensive car park at Durdle Door and walked along the cliff top to Lulworth Cove, again in glorious weather. We enjoyed a very nice lunch of moules frites in the Lulworth Lodge then slogged the very steep climb back up from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door. On the way back to the site we stopped at the Black Bear in Wool, a place that Stuart had taken us to on our last visit, but, with a change of landlady, the place wasn't the same. We did some shopping in the small supermarket in Wool before heading back to our remote home in the depths of the forest. It really is a quiet, peaceful site and there would be lovely dark skies if it wasn't for the plonkers who insist on leaving their awning lights on.
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| Tolpuddle |
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| Bovingdon Training Area |
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| Durdle Door |
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| Lulworth |
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| Lulworth Cove |
On Sat 29 we met Nigel and Jillian, more friends from Rugby, in the car park in the delightful village of Worth Matravers, enjoyed a lovely walk down to Winspit Quarry then back for beer and pasties in a superb pub - the Square and Compass. It really was a lovely day - and a great pub!
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| Winspit Quarry |
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| Square and Compass |
The Army owns a lot of land around this neck of the woods and only opens parts of it to the public on certain days (mainly weekends). On Sunday we took the opportunity to visit the ghost village of Tyneham, which lies within the ranges. In 1943, the Ministry of War requisitioned the village and the land around it so that troops could train. The villagers were evacuated - they never got their village back. It was interesting to wander around the ruins, then on to Worbarrow beach. From there we stopped at a couple of viewpoints high up on the range roads, then headed for Kimmeridge Bay to have a nose around, but the thieving gits wanted to charge £6 to park, so we stuck two fingers up at them and went back to Corfe, where we found the castle now open and were able to have a wander around. We then enjoyed a stunning cream tea in the Pink Goat (highly recommended) before heading to Swanage so she could have a look at a bathroom cabinet that she had seen in a shop window the last time we were there. Of course, the window display had changed......
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| Tyneham |
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| Corfe Castle |
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| Corfe Castle |
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| Swanage |
On Monday, our last day in Dorset, we visited the National Trust House in Kingston Lacy. The grounds, and the snowdrops, were lovely, but we were less than impressed with the house as it appeared quite boring (albeit there were some nice paintings).
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| Kingston Lacy |
On Tuesday 1 Feb we reluctantly left Wareham Forest and drove the short way to the camping in the forest site at Setthorns in the New Forest. This is a large site with pitches scattered randomly amongst the trees with deer and ponies wandering through the site. After some indecision we finally found a spot, pitched up and then drove down into Lymington to have a quick mooch around and get some provisions. Lymington is quite a nice place, but hideously expensive and full of yachty types yah-yah-ing around in their designer boating gear.
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| Lymington |
On Wednesday we took advantage of the Motorhome and Cackyvan club offer and bought a couple of tickets to Beaulieu. It was a great day out, with lots to see and we more or less had the place to ourselves.
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| Chitty Chitty Bang Bang |
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| James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 |
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| Bluebird CN7 |
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| Norton Commando (sigh - happy memories) |
On Thursday we decided to visit a couple of the local villages - Brockenhurst and Lyndhurst, then headed down to the coast to walk to Hurst Castle. Unfortunately we hadn't paid enough in the car park and the castle (closed) was further than we thought, so we had a mad sprint back across the pebbles to get back to the car in time.
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| Donkeys wandering around Brockenhurst |
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| The grave of the "real" Alice in Wonderland in Lyndhurst |
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| a small visitor |
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| Hurst Castle |
On Friday 4th we walked from Beaulieu to Bucklers Hard and back in glorious sunshine - warm enough to sit outside and enjoy a pint in the sunshine.
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| Buckler's Hard |
Sat 5 we set off for a quick walk around the Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, admiring the massive Redwood and Sequoia trees planted by the Victorians. A very lovely place. After lunch we walked to Sway and then back to watch an awful England game where our brave boys lost to Scotland because of a stupid stubborn Aussie coach who made some crap decisions.
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| Big Trees in the New Forest |
Sunday was a wet and windy day and more gloom beckoned as a weakened Quins team faced a very strong Sale team. The internet was not very good in the forest so we drove down to Milton on Sea where we knew there was good reception and watched the match with the boiling sea in the background. Our performance matched the weather - and what with the Harlequin women losing to Saracens it was not a good rugby weekend.
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| Isle of Wight and the Needles in the distance |
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| Milton on Sea |
On Mon 7 Feb, after a brilliant two weeks away, we reluctantly headed home with the usual motorway delays due to accidents. In fact, the SatNag diverted us off of the M27 to avoid a 30 min delay, through Romsey (challenging) and then back on to the M27, right where we had left it 20 minutes earlier and, by then, the traffic had eased. Stupid bloody SatNag
