Category: January 2017

Hatch Farm, mole hills, ice, mud and big plans

24 January 2014

There was a great deal of dithering about which route to take home from the Quobb Lane Cemetery. With the decidedly changeable weather, neither of us fancied hunting for a probably non existent ack ack gun site, especially as it would mean heading back along Allington Lane with no footpaths. CJ didn’t fancy Church Hill, possibly because of the hill part of the equation. In the end we decided the path in front of us, running beside the cemetery, was probably the best choice. Where it would take us was anyone’s guess. Continue reading Hatch Farm, mole hills, ice, mud and big plans

Quobb Lane and Men of the Trees

24 January 2017

The icy cold continued into the week so, not wishing to loose any appendages to frostbite, I decided on a shorter walk than normal today. For a while I’ve been meaning to check out the cemetery at Quobb Lane and today seemed like the day for it.  With the weather and the conditions underfoot fairly unpredictable, I’d plotted a few alternative circular routes so CJ and I could make a descision based on what we found.  Continue reading Quobb Lane and Men of the Trees

The conclusion of the camp fire tales

17 January 2017

Every Saturday morning we drive up The Avenue to the Common for parkrun and, for several weeks now, we’ve commented on the broken drinking fountain on Asylum Green, the grassy verge in the centre of the two carriageways.  Now, while we were deciding which route the Frontiersmen and their Remount horses would have taken to Portswood, I took the opportunity to take a photo of it.  Continue reading The conclusion of the camp fire tales

Following frontiersmen’s footsteps

17 January 2017

Before Christmas CJ and I took a walk that inadvertently led us past the Swaythling Remount Depot and we recently walked through North Stoneham Park where one of the Remount camps was. Looking for more information about the Remount Depot, I stumbled upon some entertaining ‘campfire yarns’ on The Legion of Frontiersmen of the Commonwealth website. Three tales told of stampedes when frontiersmen were driving as many as six hundred horses through the city. Today, I thought CJ and I would retrace some of their footsteps, as far as we could, and share their stories. Continue reading Following frontiersmen’s footsteps

Stoneham Park, a shrine on a hill and a changing world

10 January 2017

This morning I thought I’d cheat a little and start my walk with a drive to Lakeside. The plan was to walk to North Stoneham Park and take the trail we bypassed last time we walked this way.  Then we got slightly lost. This time I’d spent some time looking at the map and thought I’d worked out a nice circular route to take us back through Eastleigh to Lakeside. Of course, getting lost was still a distinct possibility but, undeterred, CJ wanted to come along.  Continue reading Stoneham Park, a shrine on a hill and a changing world

Badger Farm, running in the fog

8 January 2017

The first CC6 of the year was at Badger Farm, near Winchester. Despite a thick fog as we headed towards Winchester, there was no getting lost. This could be considered as something of a miracle given our track record. We both remembered walking through Badger Farm during the Winchester Half Marathon and the map told us the event was almost in sight of St Cross Hospital, divided from it by the railway line. Even so, finding the Sainsbury’s car park which also acted as the official race car park, was touch and go. When we did, I was delighted to see an open Starbucks. Continue reading Badger Farm, running in the fog

Old walls and Watermark

5 January 2017

Our little tour around the inside of The Bargate  had been far shorter than CJ and I would have liked and it left us wanting more. Short of breaking into the rest of the building, which would have probably only resulted in us seeing the inside of a police cell, we decided to have a coffee instead. Normally this would mean a short walk to Costa on the High Street but, today, I had a better plan.  Continue reading Old walls and Watermark

The Bargate, inside and out

5 January 2017

With Commando now back at work and all the post Christmas and New Year clearing up done it was time to think about my first walk of the year. There were a host of possibilities but one stood out. While we were in Iceland CJ went for a wander into town on his own and discovered an art exhibition inside the Bargate. It isn’t every day you get the chance to see the most iconic symbol of our city from a new angle so he went inside. Only a small part of the building was open but it was still more than I had ever seen. Luckily, it turned out the art exhibition continued into the New Year so, today, I decided to check it out. Continue reading The Bargate, inside and out