White horses

On returning from Weymouth, I enjoyed a week in the New Forest. Staying in Bungalow decorated in delightful green and kitted out with the’ greatest hits of the 1930s’, finally I was able to work on writing my dissertation in the peace and quiet; my only distractions being white horses wandering into the garden, and a large, colourful pheasant who liked to chatter away outside the back door. We even had the family cat 'Tiger' in tow and as usual, he didn’t live up to his name spending the week hidden under the bed covers.  I think the wild animals must have been too much for him... 

I had a good afternoon out at Buckler’s Hard, which has a great Maritime Museum all about the history of the18th century shipbuilding village; Nelson had a lot of ships! If you feel so inclined, you can also dress up in old-fashioned clothes and enjoy some batten cake beside the river. There was also an exhibition all about Francis Chichester and Gypsy Moth IV, on which he made the World's first single-handed circumnavigation of the globe (1966-7). He took a lot of tinned sardines with him.

I  also had a good day going to visit Hurst Castle, taking the ferry from Keyhaven. I had to sit in the bow to help lift the stern out in case we got stuck, as there wasn’t a lot of water! I hadn’t realised just how much history there was to the place; built by Henry VIII, it had a role right through the Napoleonic wars to WW2. There are some massive guns inside!

By the end of the week I had enough work done to justify racing with the Etchell’s over the weekend. Both mornings started off sunny and light, but by around lunchtime there was plenty of exciting breeze. Unfortunately we had a bit of an accident, ending up wearing the kite like a rubber ring…but we had good fun. The boats can be a bit of a handful when the breeze gets up, and managing to get up on the foredeck and the side is always tricky with short legs!

                                                      One-handed handstand on the Etchell....