St Mary’s Church South Stoneham

Counting time in hours, not minutes

The final Friday of February took me on another Eastleigh wander. This time there was no mist, so I risked the Monks Brook Meadows route. This meant I could walk off-road for most of the journey once I’d left the centre of Eastleigh behind. In no time at all, I’d reached Lakeside Country Park. Instead of skirting the edge as I’d done on my last misty walk, I crossed the tracks of the Lakeside Steam Railway and headed across the centre of the park. At this time of year, the little steam trains only run at weekends, so crossing the track was perfectly safe. If you want to see them, they run daily between 31 May and 1 October, and if you’re wondering what they look like, here’s a post I wrote back in 2017.

Mist, bridges, jetties and inspiration

The Millers Pond episode proved to be a turning point, of sorts, for plotting my next book. The Botany Bay, Sholing characters wouldn’t talk to me because the plot didn’t work, no matter how much I tried to make it. As soon as I stopped listening for their voices, I heard the other characters clamouring to have their say. They weren’t in Sholing at all. They were in Eastleigh. On Valentine’s Day, Commando dropped me off outside a foggy Eastleigh Railway Station on his way to work. I hoped walking the five miles home would prove inspiring.

Thickening the plot

Kim and I wandered down Cutbush Lane towards Mansbridge talking about the things we’d seen in Marhill Copse. We both agreed that the signs, both literal and figurative, looked promising for this little piece of woodland. We walked past Gaters Mill, and down the hill towards the White Swan. The sky was overcast but it was a warm day. The meadows were bright with wildflowers. If it wasn’t for the tarmac road, lampposts and crash barriers, we might have stepped back in time to when this was all farmland and copses and the Itchen Navigation still carried barges filled with wool and coal.

More Running School Adventures

17 July 2018

Today was my second session at the Running School. Part of me was slightly less nervous about the whole thing because I knew roughly what to expect. Another part of me was slightly more nervous for precisely the same reason. This time I only had to walk one way though, which was a bonus. As the session was slightly later Commando was going to pick me up afterwards. Another bonus was a relatively cloudy sky, something we haven’t had for weeks and weeks. The sun would not be beating down on me as I walked. Sadly, it was still more than a little humid so I was still going to get hot. Continue reading More Running School Adventures

Snowmen and spring flowers

18 March 2018

Of course we couldn’t stay in the warm pub forever. We lingered as long as we could, sipping our coffee slowly and letting the warmth seep back into our cold bones. When we could put it off no longer we bundled ourselves up in our warm coats and hats and stepped back into the frozen world outside. After the warmth of the fire it seemed colder than ever. Continue reading Snowmen and spring flowers

Monks Brook, heat and an invasive species – first published 14 July 2014

My mid July walk in 2014 had started off on a sour note but had soon improved when I had an up close and personal visit with a black swan. As I walked on towards the reed beds and, ultimately, the White Swan pub, I sipped my water. The early morning rain combined with the sun seemed to have sucked up all the air and left behind a damp stickiness. Even along the river there was little breeze and my pace slowed considerably. Still, I told myself this was not about speed but about getting out and walking, enjoying the nature around me and the sun on my skin, if not the sweat trickling down between my shoulder blades. Continue reading Monks Brook, heat and an invasive species – first published 14 July 2014

Duckling surprise

18 April 2016

CJ and I went for a little stroll along the river this morning. For my part it was mostly about trying to fit some miles in, in a month where I am fast falling behind on my pledge. For CJ it was more about the cygnets. There had been reports that the black swans had another clutch, two this time, and he was eager to spot them while they were still fluffy and grey. Knowing how illusive they are I did my best to lower his expectations but he wasn’t really listening. Continue reading Duckling surprise

Daffodils, graves and geese

17 March 2016

The sun was shining and it felt as if Spring was in the air so I thought a walk along the river was in order. The bank leading to the park was a mass of bright daffodils dancing in the gentle breeze. It felt like a great welcome to the river side. The tide was very low. White swans stood on the exposed mud and black swans swam in the shallow water. There’d be no point struggling down the steep jetty slope. There was no water underneath it. Continue reading Daffodils, graves and geese

A whole new cygnet hunt

2 November 2015

This morning I was looking through some of the posts I’d missed on the Southampton Heritage Facebook page and could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a picture of the black swans on the Itchen with five little cygnets. This is more unusual than you might think. The black swan, Cygnus atratus, is actually a native of Australia and New Zealand, not England. The first black swan arrived in 1791 as an ornamental bird and they became quite popular in zoological gardens and private bird collections. Over time a few escaped and wild birds, like the ones on the Itchen, all have their origins in captivity. With so few in the wild, breeding pairs have always been a rarity and until 2005 just twenty pairs were reported to be breeding throughout the whole of the UK. At the last count, in 2011, this number had risen to twenty eight. Continue reading A whole new cygnet hunt

Twenty hellish miles with goats in trees – first published 15 March 2013

With less than two months to go until the Moonwalk I had hit the long miles with a vengeance. Even the short walk weeks were ten miles plus and, in mid March, I had a twenty mile walk ahead of me. The last thing I needed was bad weather… Continue reading Twenty hellish miles with goats in trees – first published 15 March 2013

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