D and I spent three days away on a trip. Rather than riding it was to be a sightseeing trip.
Rain poured down unrelenting through the first day. Our route passed through the New Forest. Rather than a timber wood this four hundred square mile expanse is a former medieval hunting forest of mixed open space and cover created by William the Conqueror. Shortly after the 1066 invasion William evicted the populace to create this waste, and folklore held the deaths here of two of his sons in hunting accidents to be just retribution.
The New Forest is home to its eponymous breed of pony. These native ponies live in small herds across the broad heath, just rounded up once a year for young-stock to be graded and sold. Selected stallions run with the mares. The ponies are used to people but generally keep a bit of space between themselves and visitors.
Then it was off to the village of Corfe Castle where I had booked two nights of accommodation. The weather cleared to reveal a fine view from our bedroom, including the remains of a castle destroyed during the Civil War in the 17th century.
The village included a station on a heritage railway so first we took a train ride to the sea coast five miles away. Everything on the line has been built from the ground up by voluntary effort, and it is now a major tourist attraction as well as relieving pressure on the crowded local roads.
The sea coast in this part of Britain is spectacular. I took this photo a few miles from the resort where the railway terminates. The sea has carved the chalk into tall cliffs interspersed by sheltered sandy bays.
Then it was back to explore the ruined castle. After a long siege the structure was irreparably wrecked by Oliver Cromwell's parliamentarian forces in order to deny it to hostile forces. For centuries the ruins have stood, silent and romantic.
Close up it's clear that Cromwell's men took some time (and a lot of gunpowder) to comprehensively smash the massive structure. Large parts of the keep have tumbled down, and the smaller towers and walls are broken too.
The castle appears even more ruined up there on top of the hill surrounded by fallen stone. The wind drove a short sharp rainstorm through whilst we explored, reinforcing a sense of raw bleakness in erstwhile that place of war.
The castle did give a fine view of a train departing far below, steam carrying in the damp breeze. That's a Pullman observation car behind the locomotive, and one with an unusual history. It was part of a tourist attraction in San Francisco from 1969 to 2007, when it was sold back to Britain to run once more.
On the way back we stopped at Clouds Hill, once the rural retreat of T E Lawrence. It's a quiet cottage without electricity or running water, and remains much as it was during the 1920s and '30s when Lawrence of Arabia stayed there. Admittedly it was a little difficult to imagine its introspective former owner with a bus tour group milling around.
Overall we had an interesting three days away, and a welcome change from the routine of home and work. However it was also a pleasure to return home to horses, cats and dogs.