Rambling on trusty velocipedes

With the beautiful ones enjoying a Mum's and Daughters gathering in London the decision was made to hot foot it to the New Forest for some recreational cycling and usual fun bus pursuits.

Established by that gallic upstart William in 1079 its not really a new forest but really quite aged. Thankfully its no longer teeming with the privileged few randomly slaughtering  wild life in the name of sport.

Base camp was established at the Ashurst forestry commission campsite - a friendly but slightly officious air about the place but a safe haven for families allowing free reign to let children run free. all in all a jolly place that we would recommend

Ashurst is small. The last survivor of the Titanic disater died there aged 97. The only other thing of note is the great fire of 1989 that desdestroyed the wonderfully named pub 'The Angry Cheese' that was survived by an equally wonderfully named inn 'The Happy Cheese'. it was here that we sought succour and solace in the evening. Imbibing the local Ringwood ales and partaking in a rather tasty curry, all of which set us up well for the rigours to come.

Irate cheddar

Happy Cheese inn

Saturday dawned hot and with an early morning start, we commenced the exploration of the forest and its labyrinthine pathways and tracks. 5 hours later we were back at the bus - thank heavens for padded underwear!

Worth mentioning a delightful stop at a coffee stop in the hamlet of Brockenurst. Interesting for being the home of the Balmer Lawn Hotel - where Montgomerie and Eisenhower planned the D Day landings.

Natuarlly it was necessary to keep our liquid levels topped up and suffice to say some rather passable and refreshing vino blanc helped to maintain already high spirits.

Local inhabitants !

trusty steeds