Brockenhurst Amble
Over the weekend we had been planning on heading over to Brockenhurst to enjoy a weekend of camping, walking, and general outdoorsy fun, however a situation prevented us going. Those we were going with were still able to head down for a relaxing weekend and it kind of dawned that I could quite easily hop on a train and spend the day with them… So I did.
I packed a day bag the night before then hopped on the train to Southampton, then down to Brockenhurst after the usual morning jobs. It was to take just under an hour but there were some delays (to be expected on a Sunday), so it took closer to an hour and twenty minutes, but it was a very easy journey.
After getting there I was greeted by two of my closest friends, a tired pup, and a very excited pup! They took me on to the campsite where we had a chat before taking to the first of our walks. This consisted of Min, excited pup, and I, where we ventured out into the woods for about two hours there and back. The New Forest really is a spectacular place with so much to see, it was quite spectacular to see parts I hadn’t seen before, especially when we went off the cycle path and into more natural spots. This walk was just about 3.75 miles.
After the walk we came back for some lunch and a chat, while ponies walked amongst us. I really do love the New Forest, I always feel so at peace when I’m there, even with blisters forming — I used this impromptu visit as a way to test my new walking shoes for SDW at the end of the month. I believe I now have a blister upon a blister on my left little toe, which I think is a pinch blister, my little toe keeps going under my second toe, so I’ve bought a spreader thing to experiment with.
After lunch Min and I went on for a second walk, this was an extended walk from camp to the train station. We went North the same way we went with the last walk and this time followed the cycle path. It eventually looped around to an area I was very familiar with from when we did our Brockenhurst to Ashurst walk a few months back. This walk was about 3.8 miles in total and took us about an hour and a half.
When we got to the train station I still had twenty minutes, so we sat and chatted for a while, then I went on my way back up to Southampton, and got on the wrong train. It got me where I needed to go, but it took 20 minutes longer as it stopped at every station between Southampton and my stop!
The past week I had been quite down about things. My right foot had been playing me up preventing me from doing my exercises, or going out for walks. I wasn’t sleeping very well. But the trip to the New Forest really swung me back around. I netted just under 25,000 steps, I fell straight asleep at just gone 9pm, and slept for almost a solid 9 hours. Things really do feel better when you’re out on a trail.
