Brook (New Forest)

Sir Walter Tyrrell murdered King William with a stray arrow that rebounded off an oak tree (or was it an accident?). 500 years later Charles II picked a particular spot based on no apparent facts and placed the Rufus stone there. We camped at the Sir Walter Tyrrell pub (expensive and no facilities) about 100m from the Rufus stone.

This post is from the New Forest, it’s a national park for a reason, it is beautiful, not in the Swiss type stunning but certainly magical. We spent one day laid in a clearing listening to the birds and squirrels, another outside the pub listening to a band. We cycled about 50 miles to the coast (Lymington, Milford and Barton) and back in a loop also taking in Lyndhurst and Burley amongst others. The paths are all gravel, which distracts from the serenity as the wheels constantly crunch along but the landscape is good. We ate out on the government scheme, which took somewhat longer than expected so we ended up cycling back in the dark. Lovely experience cycling footpaths in the pitch black surrounded by cows, ponies and deer.

I find it interesting how people are behaving with Covid and their reading of rules. We are eating out but only if we can eat in the garden. We are not going into places if we can avoid it. Pub rules are so varied, the one at the campsite told us we didn’t need to wear masks while queuing at the bar. It had a live band on, in the garden, and social distancing went out the window. (We sat on the common on a blanket well away). Another pub did everything, masks if you went into the loos, table service, disinfected tables, it’s the safest I have felt while out. Twice now people have tried to sit on the same bench as us!

One of the things I notice on English campsites is the number of parents who hit their children, normally because they can’t be arsed to give their children any time. It’s strange camping in the UK after two years of Europe and noticing the differences.