With Emma scheduled for an early start on Saturday and my original plans scuppered by our friends at South West Trains deciding to get the donkey jackets and oil drum braziers out, a slight change of plan was required. The weather was still too good to not get out and about so I set off after tea on Friday night in the trusty van for a cheeky overnight stay and early start, planning on doing a few miles of pleasant walking on the Oxdrove Way . Up as the sun rose and on the trail by 07:30 the birds were singing and the day quickly warmed up enough for just a T shirt and surprisingly stayed that way until 20 seconds after I got back to the van (21 miles and 8 hours later) when it absolutely chucked it down, it's not very often I get lucky but it seems the walking gods were smiling on me today. I've no idea what was going on at lunchtime though, having spent ages looking for somewhere to sit and brew up that wasn't a tinder dry corn field and that had an obligatory back resting tree, my chosen spot was on the grass verge of a quiet road junction in the middle of no where with a pleasant view and a comfortable slope to rest on.
Imagine my surprise then, when no sooner had the water boiled than a road sweeper appeared from out of nowhere and proceeded to sweep the verges right where I was happily sat having my lunch, nearly deafening me in the process and covering everything in a fine layer of dust. I mean come on, what are the chances of that, I'm in the middle of nowhere, it's 13:30 on a Saturday afternoon and your going to sweep the road exactly where I've chosen to have my lunch, give me a break! The only other thing of real interest from the day is the little obelisk above Old Alresford. It's out in the middle of a field all fenced off with the grass neatly cut around it but no indication as to who or what its for. Looking at the dates on the plinth which appears to have been recently attached as it doesn't match the other stone work, doesn't shed much light on matters and a google search of Melita + Alresford (a pretty unusual name so I thought it might come back with an answer) seems to indicate that a Melita owns the dry cleaners? Another mystery that obviously needs a bit more looking into when I've got a spare 1/2 hour.
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
March 2024
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