Today, members of the Gosport Camera Club went for a delightful walk along the River Itchen, starting at the Woodmill Centre. How do you find out about places like this, other than through friends? If you want a calm, peaceful walk along a lovely rivers edge, you would be very hard pushed to find somewhere better than this.
The path along the river side, not quite sure of the length is probably 3/4 of a mile after that it moves away from the river. But for a pleasant stroll, with opportunities to stop to admire the scenery and wildlife or talk to strangers is ideal.
Then, at the end of the walk, there is a very nice little cafe, which even at 10 AM on a Sunday was packed. They had some very nice cakes on show, and to my deep shame I succumbed to rather large piece of Rocky Road. Yes, I know, I shouldn’t have done. It was though, really rather nice.
From the walk we had a shortish drive to the pub (we took the wrong turn) , The Cricketers Arms. It’s interesting to note that the pub had sold out of a couple of the main courses by 1230 (including the one I wanted – Lamb Shank) I ended up going for the Roast Beef.
It was an excellent meal. The Yorkshires in particular are worthy of mention. They were crispy and literally melt in the mouth, I’d never had one like it – as far as I can recall. I will definitely be taking Elayne there.
I promised myself that if a bus turned up within two minutes of my arrival at the bus stop at the bottom of our road, I would save myself a bit of time and get on. Something was working in my favour because I looked around just as I got there and stuck my hand out to request a stop. Pretty much simultaneous arrival. It was lucky really as the rain wasn’t particularly heavy but it was persistent.
The ferry trip over to portsmouth was a little bit bumpy, which had me wondering what the Catamaran trip might be like. i could see that the water out in the solent, outside the harbour entrance was distinctly choppier than inside the harbour, which promised an interesting ride.
All the good timing meant that I had about half an hour to wait at the Wight Link terminal, which was fine. I watched people & dogs. The man almost opposite managed to cover himself in coffee whitener as he tore open the packet, which perked up the interest of the dog belonging to the man sitting two seats down from him, and meant a bit of restraining. The Dachshund 10 seats down started to get excited as well, and was yapping away, with his owner trying to quieten him.
Boarding was smooth and efficient and the Cat slipped smoothly away from the mooring and did its twirling to line up with the harbour exit. The journey started nicely, with the slow gentle cruise along the exit channel, it was when the captain started adding throttle as we moved out of the channel heading towards Ryde that it got a bit more interesting.
Before Aurora was born, I confess, babies & young children crying used to bother me a bit – I guess that’s what it is intended to do, grab attention, and Hoo yes, this one was doing that! The little boy or girl was having a monumentally serious meltdown, the increase in speed had added a delightfully exciting bounce to the trip with some good stomach drops. Oh dear, that was not popular, each bounce brought an increased intensity of the screams, which I could clearly make out to include the phrase “I want to get off” and “Are we there yet”? it was only when the Captain eased off for the approach Ryde Pier that the screaming eased to some serious sniffles. The docking was as smooth as the departure.
The trains now run all the way down the pier (they had been suspended for quite a while – maintenance to the pier), which at just under half a mile long (the second longest pier in the UK) would take me roughly 10 – 15 minutes to walk. There were no indications as to when or if a train was due, so I decided I had to walk. It was a good job I’d worn my full-length raincoat. The 25mph south-westerly wind was blowing straight into my face, full of what can only be described as obese raindrops, great blobs of water that seemed unhealthily excited at the prospect of making my walk as miserable as it could.
I was determined that the rain wasn’t going to beat me. There were several groups of people walking toward the end of the pier, and as they approached me, I’d smile and say cheerfully “Bit of an adventure isn’t it”? Nobody responded to me, but I did notice expressions on faces that aligned with “who is this weirdo”? (see earlier posts about weirdos, I thought it more apt than nutter).
Luckily, the bus was waiting, with door open. I boarded and waved my pass at the sensor, giving the bus driver a cheery “Good Morning”. The bus driver responded with “‘Morning, how are you”? I replied “Wet”. She laughed.
I arrived in Newport just over an hour before I was due to be at the pub. I took the opportunity to have a browse in Waterstones, and yes I decided that after my event, I would return and buy a book or two.
What was this all for you might ask? It was the day of the Isle of Wight Radio Society’s Christmas meal – these events are always interesting. Meeting people that you speak to on a fairly regular basis, whom you only see once a year – some for the first time. The pub was The Bargemans Rest, and the food was delicious.
I will be brief about the return journey; it was routine, unexciting and dark. But, it was the end of a delightful day. Everything linked up and I was home by 1750. A lovely day out.
The house at the end of our road has his Christmas lights up. It’s always a nice display, and I think it has fired Elayne in to getting our decs down out of the loft and up ready for christmas.
It seems that writing will play a role in my retirement, well at least, until I get bored with it, and going by this blog, that may hopefully take quite a while. I have a number of topics, that I am inclined to write about. One of them warrants a separate resource, so I’ve started a substack, which I am planning to update once a week.
I can’t really start writing about the topics until I have material, which needs me to have the time to gather, which means being retired! I just hope it works. Sorry, it’s all a bit silly isn’t it. I have plans. Plans don’t always survive first contact. Only a few days to go now. Let’s see what happens.
Last night, I had a post lined up, all ready to go and must have got distracted because I forgot to post it. Which means my 70+ day count – since the last time I forgot to post has now reset to zero, and I begin again.
I have to mention that I am almost in to single figures, not quite there.
I don’t have anything to report. We were on GrandDaughter duties today so I didn’t go for a walk. Perhaps tomorrow, but I want to be careful about my heel and make sure that I am good for Sunday.
With today’s date being 25 Nov 25, there are 103 days between today and. 14 Aug 2025. You might well ask what is so important about those two dates? Actually, there’s a third date; 14 August 2020. Tha’t when I began enumerated posts on Locality Stories.
I started it. If I recall, because COVID was still very much a thing. It still is a thing, we tested for it recently. The tests were negative But when I started it little did I realise I would still be doing it five years later. Of course, it isn’t perfect because in theory, I really should be on post 1929. Over the course of the five and a bit years, I’ve managed to miss posting on 103 days.
I just wanted to mark that point. I. Intend to keep going which means my next goal is Post 2000.
Just a little bit about today then, firstly a walk this morning. Just the market starting to bring life to the high street, the gang were having a coffee outside the charity shop. There were two blokes inside the bus station compound checking drains. I asked, the older chap and although he was friendly, I got the impression that he didn’t really want to talk, I left them to it.
A big ship out in the solent caught my eye. A quick check on Marine Traffic told me it was The Gateway, a 14000 ton Hopper Dredger. Actually, when you compare her to even a small cruise ship, 14000 tons isn’t that big, but she looked huge.
I really should have written this earlier. I have been completely distracted by one of my interests that I am developing; it’s quite a steep learning curve. I’m not going to write about it here, but when the time comes, I will mention it. That won’t be until probably early next year.
I’m cheating a little bit, this looks like I went for a walk today. I didn’t. Instead we had a really pleasant day in. Breakfast was cereals and a Banana. The cereals are on trial from Aldis and not my normal fayre. But it turns out these are quite acceptable.
We had a lunch to prepare, so we planned out our menu for the week, plus what extras we would need for today. Elayne was doing a Lasagne, with salad – quite a while since we last had that. I went to the shop and got everything. The run up to Christmas has started (well, it started a while ago) I always feel sorry for the shop workers I guess they must learn to filter what can be some really annoying canned music that is passed off as “Christmassy”. I arrive just a couple of mminutes after the store opened, so it wasn’t that busy, but by the time I left (with everything I needed) there was steady stream coming in.
I’m going to say that Lasagne is a fairly simple meal – of course, that does it a massive injustice, but Elayne had everything in hand so the only way I could help was by getting the table ready.
Alex, Sian and Aurora turned up midday-ish, A was in really good voice and is a very fast crawler. She’s not walking properly yet, but we were delighted to see her take a few tentative steps unsupported. Won’t be long now.
We sat down to a seriously delicious lunch, which we all enjoyed, and there is even enough left for Elayne and I to have for dinner tomorrow.
I was on a good radio net this evening. It’s a regular, and regulars call in, but it lasted an hour and a half, so I got in three good overs (there were 14 of us on the net). And I’m closing off by writing this.
I’m not going to post a picture of the Christmas tree in the town square yet. It is up, but the lights haven’t been installed, so it isn’t quite ready.
I wanted to go for a walk. The rain was very intermitent, so big rain coat, it was cold so gloves and flatcap all helped to keep me comfortable, but the weather was definitely somewhere between autumnal and winter, but that wasn’t a problem, I had the right kit.
Even with the weather being as it was, the high street was quite busy. Not heaving, but a fair few. I was heading towards the waterfront, and I have to confess that I had come out with the intention of getting something to eat. For quite a while I’d been fancying a SubWay, Elayne had gone out with friends, so why not?
The subways actually quite nice if a bit expensive, but it’s not something I have very often.
The rain was getting worse. I made the decision that I would get the bus back to the Royal Arms. Luckily, nowadays, I have my buspass with me more honest than not.
I have no idea what footfall in the high street is normal between 12 – 2 ish, so I am assuming that today was normal for the time of the year. I make that point because when I went out first thing to put some rubbish out I said to Elayne that the sun was out and bright and it was a glorious morning, but the air was freezing, and by the time I went for the walk, it hadn’t warmed up that much – if at all, actually.
I would expect there to be more people about, it is after all lunch time. Even with the temperature as it was (what was the temperature? I don’t know). there were people sat at tables outside, and the cafes looked relatively busy.
I ended up at the ferry terminal, there’s some maintenance going on along the bridge to the pontoon I did read something about it a few days ago, I’ll have to see if I can find it.
i walked into the Falklands Gardens and had a look around people were on the phone, having lunch, or just enjoying the day.
I noticed the little boat which appeared to be moving at quite a clip. Apparently there is a speed limit in the harbour, 10 knots, but I don’t think it applies everywhere, I’m sure it was going faster than that, and nobody seemed interested.
The Local Transpoprt Plan for Fareham & Gosport of which Hampshire County Council have issued a draft version for the public to comment on it and the proposed associated strategy.
The only snag is, I suspect it is too boring for you, my readers.
i have to say that i am currently on Page 18 (of 47) and it isn’t the most exciting document I’ve ever read, to the extent it will probably take me two or three nights to wade through it.
The thing with Gosport is that walking and cycling in the area are, surprisingly, quite well catered for, there are quite few routes that incorporate cycling, perhaps the main one being the old railway trackand numerous others around the town.
The bus service is really quite good. Speaking selfishly as I don’t know if coverage across the whole of town is as good as it is for me all I know is that I can walk to the high street, and typically within 15 minutes be on one of two fast buses to Fareham,, and a few slower buses if need be. They take advantage of the track of the old railway line up to Fareham which has been turned into a fast route for buses and cyclists. Although that has been marred recentlky by a bout of serious anti-social behaviour, that was quite destructive. It seems to have been resolved now, but I’m not sure what the outcome was.
It strikes me that there are only a few things that could be done, such as giving the buses more priority at traffic lights, but I don’t see how they could do that. I suppose that something might be said about it later in the draft document. I’ll have to wait and see.
Hi! my name is Sebastian (You can call me Seb!) ...welcome to my Blog. I'm a photographer from Worcester, Worcestershire, England. Thanks for dropping by! I hope you enjoy my work.
I'm here to work on fiction. Occasionally I'll blog but that's certainly not my focus. You have a specific fiction genre or format you can't find enough of? Ask me. Maybe I got it. I migh share it with you. Otherwise, leave me alone; I'm toiling away at my workbench.
Bills Posts 