2 August 2016
Having an injured Commando at home has been cramping my style, at least walk wise. There have been no long walks since the zebra hunt last week, just lots of short ones. This is mostly because Commando can’t be trusted to do what he’s told and rest if I’m not actually there forcing him to. The man is just not built for resting! Continue reading Short walks, swans, cygnets and zebras
26 July 2016
With some difficulty we found our way out of Ocean Village and back to Canute Road. Soon the familiar sight of South Western House was in front of us, along with our next zebra. Henman, sponsored by Barratt Homes, stood opposite the imposing building at the entrance to Queens Park. It took us quite a while to get across the road to have a proper look at him. Continue reading Waterside zebras, WestQuay zebras and free coffee!
26 July 2016
Ocean Village is not somewhere I often walk. In fact it’s been many years since I was last there but today it was the first stop on our second Zany Zebra hunt. Sadly, we didn’t have the blue skies and sunshine we’d had for our first hunt but, climbing the steps to the Itchen Bridge, this didn’t seem too much of a hardship. The grey skies seemed preferable to the muggy sunshine even if it might mean less attractive photos. Continue reading The changing face of Ocean Village
21 July 2016
Monks Brook Meadows is connected to Monks Brook Playing Fields via a tunnel under Stoneham Way. It was an oasis of shade on our hot walk. We were slightly reluctant to leave it. The playing field is bordered by more trees and meadow but we walked through without stopping this time. There are only so many pictures of flowers even I am willing to take. The next part of our journey was not one I was looking forward to. Continue reading A one handed clock, cygnets and a few trains
21 July 2016
The medical bods can’t seem to decide whether Commando is suffering from a stress fracture or a ligament issue. Either way the advice is rest, ice, elevation and two weeks off work. While he was at home finally doing what he was told, CJ and I decided to go for a walk. It was another hot, muggy morning so sticking close to water and shade was the order of the day. Continue reading A floral tour of Monks Brook Meadows
19 July 2016
Our first zebra hunt was going well, despite the heat and we’d found almost all the zebras within the old town walls. The app on my phone told me there was another at the bottom of Blue Anchor Lane on Western Esplanade. When we walked through the arch though we were shocked to find an empty plinth criss crossed with red and white tape. Snappy, the Deplan zebra had been vandalised. Continue reading The Walk The Walls zebras
19 July 2016
In hindsight the hottest, most humid day of the year wasn’t the best of choices for our first zebra hunt. CJ and I were too excited to wait any longer though and this was the first chance we’d had since the zebras went on display on Saturday. With one hundred and ninety eight zebras on the trail, including all the babies hidden in shops, we knew from the start we weren’t going to find them all in one go. Half way over Northam Bridge, with sweat dripping into my eyes and legs that felt like lead, I wondered if we’d even make it to town to find the first one. It may only have been three miles but, in such weather, it might as well have been a marathon. Continue reading Southampton old town Zebras
14 July 2016
Today I planned to take CJ to see the boundary stone on Old Redbridge Bridge, then cross the flyover to Totton, visit Eling Tide Mill and come back via the boardwalk across the Test estuary. In the end, events conspired against us and things didn’t turn out quite how I expected. Continue reading A boundary stone reprise
12 July 2016
One sunny lunchtime in 2013, I sat in the park with a coffee and spotted what looked like a horse in a high vis jacket at the end of the path on Above Bar. The horse turned out to be a rhino. A summer of wandering around the city hunting these colourful beasts had begun. When they left, Southampton seemed a very empty and colourless place for a while and lunchtimes felt very dull. Late last year I learned there would be a new hunt this summer, not rhinos this time but zebras. Today, the zebras came to town! Continue reading The zebras have come to town!
7 July 2016
Dental appointments always seem to come round far faster than I’d like. Don’t get me wrong, my dentist is very nice. I’ve been going to the same one for more than twenty five years and, apart from the poking around in my mouth part, its a bit like visiting old friends. As a treat to reward myself for submitting to all that prodding, poking, scraping and cleaning, I thought I’d have a wander around Hatch Grange afterwards. In fact I had a bit of a plan…sort of.
Continue reading Hatch Grange, Hatch Farm, footpaths and developers