Lois and I are staying with our daughter Alison, her husband Ed, and their 3 children in Headley, Hampshire. Today is a big celebration because Sika, the family's Danish dog, turns 7 years old today. Rosalind (13) will be baking him a special cake later today. Lucky Sika !!!!
11:00 This morning Lois and I go for a walk at the Devil's Punchbowl with Rosalind. Rosalind directs us in the car, but we have our Australian-voiced GPS-satnav on audio as back-up. There are no arguments between the two and the 4-mile journey goes smoothly, which is nice. There are few turns to negotiate, which is also a bonus: hurrah!
We park the car in the National Trust carpark and get a free ticket for all day parking, which seems reasonable - "the price is right" !
we arrive at the National Trust Punchbowl car-park
Lois and Rosalind keep our place in the queue for the ticket-machine
while I mess around trying to take a selfie at the car itself
We start our walk down one of the long tree-lined walkways. It feels like it's wanting to start raining, but we're lucky and the rain holds off, which is nice. Rosalind is a really good conversationalist, and a budding writer, so it's really nice to have her with us!
we start our walk down one of the Punchbowl's many
tree-lined walkways
After a while we stop to take a rest and take in the view over the Devil's Punchbowl. Legend has it that it was created when the Devil scooped up a handful of earth and hurled it at the Norse god Thor. The Punchbowl is supposed to be the depression that remained. More scientifically it's believed that this giant natural amphitheatre is the result of erosion caused by spring water beneath the sandstone, causing the upper levels to collapse, whatever that means.
after a while we stop to admire the view over the Devil's Punchbowl,
This old walkway, that we're travelling on, is the remains of the old Portsmouth to London turnpike road from the 18th century and earlier.
We reach the so-called "Sailor's Stone", which commemorates the murder, in 1786, of a sailor on his way from Portsmouth to London. Nobody knows who the sailor was, but the murderers were caught and hanged, which is good to know!
the Sailor's Stone monument - commemorating the spot
where an unknown sailor was murdered
on this old Portsmouth to London turnpike road in 1786
Eventually we get to the Punchbowl café, which is the main point of the exercise haha! We put our face-masks on and go in, although we notice nobody else is wearing them. We order hot chocolate drinks and flapjacks for Lois and me, while Rosalind gets a gigantic piece of chocolate cake.
14:00 A relaxing afternoon for me - I sneak upstairs to take a crafty nap, while Ed is working-from-home, as usual: I can hear his zoom calls coming through the walls, but it doesn't keep me awake luckily.
Lois, Alison and the children meanwhile take a 4.4 mile journey to see the Sculpture Park at Churt.
Tremendous fun !!!!!!
18:00 Lois is reading Naomi Wood's study of Ernest Hemingway's 4 wives "Mrs Hemingway". Ernest is on Wife no. 2 at the moment, she says.
It's kind of chilly, even though we're in the middle of August and a month ago the popular press were warning of an incredible heat wave on the way. What madness !!!!!
The temperature is actually only in the 60's again. Ed decides to light a fire in the house's picturesque fireplace.
19:30 Time for Sika's birthday cake. Hurrah! Although Sika seems disinclined to share it. Oh dear!
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