Adventure to the New Forest in Brockenhurst

Greetings blog- readers! My class went on another field trip this week- we ventured outside of the safe city limits of Winchester and explored the New Forest in Brockenhurst, which is a town a few stops away on the train. This leads me to the question of this blog.. Have you ever taken a five hour walk? Well, I did.

We got off the train and met our teacher, who proceeded to tell us that we could either carry on the road we were on straight into the village and find the first path that way, or turn right on some other street, cross a bridge and turn at a hotel and find the second path. While everyone else went straight toward some kind of civilization, what do you think this Nottingham did? That's correct- I went right, because we all know Magi likes to do her own thing. Today, my own thing got me lost for five hours. So if you're tired of reading already, you might as well stop now or take this post in parts because I saw a lot, had a couple of adventures, and it's going to take a while to cover it all.

As I made my way toward what I thought was going to be a path to the New Forest (which is a giant park/ nature reservation that takes up pretty much an entire town), I found myself lost within five minutes. However, because I am pretty experience at getting lost, I was not surprised. On the chicken scratch map I had that was provided by my teacher, I finally found myself, and realized I somehow ended up back at the train station. I should have just gotten on the next train back to Winchester. If only I had foresight. I turned on this little curvy road that had no sidewalks, but according to my map it was the way to the path. After almost being hit a few times I saw this really awesome gate to someone's house. No, that is not the house itself, just the front gate. A girl was riding a horse just down the path, and I could hear little kids playing a little ways off. Wouldn't be such a bad place to live. However, this was not the New Forest, therefore not where I was supposed to be observing nature and getting inspired. But who cares, right? That's what I thought then too.

Then after walking for a little while I stumbled across this horse. Now, I could hear my mother's voice inside my head saying "Now wait a minute Magi... you don't know that horse." I probably shouldn't have touched him, but I did. But when I tried to take a picture with my hand still resting on his forehead he didn't like that and tried to bite me. No worries- I still have all 10 fingies. I settled for just a picture of the horse instead! I think he looks like he is smiling or laughing at me.. as if he knows he just scared me to pieces by almost taking off one of my fingers. What a sassy horse! Wish I would have had an apple!

At this point I have come to realize that this town hardly has any street names, none that are clearly posted anyway.. but every single house has some kind of cool name- like 'Cherry Blossom Cottage' or 'Oak Acre' or 'The Forest Villa.' I decided that when I get home I am naming our house. Maybe something like 'The Notty Shack'-- has a nice ring to it I think. We could get a sign and hang it on a post in the front yard. Just a thought! I soon became faced with a choice- I can keep walking along the road that I am on, which is at least some what civilized, or take the route into the forest that is unmarked and gated off.. I hear a familiar fatherly voice in my head saying "Go get lost, baby." So of course- I set of into the woods. I AM a Nottingham after all..

This was my amazing jump over a creek!

In the forest I found a nice place to sit for a while and just look around. In the distance I saw this giant pack of deer. They were so beautiful- they had black and white striped tails and were so peaceful. Now, I might have been a horse whisperer that day, but these deer wanted nothing to do with me. They ran far and fast, so I didn't get any clear pictures. But I tried to follow them! They led me to this wide open, squishy, muddy field that I quickly discovered I shared with some horses. Nothing between me and them but maybe 150 yards. I didn't feel like whispering to those ones, due to the lack of fence between us, so I decided the safest thing for me to do would be to jump over the creek. I ended up with some really muddy shoes, but at least I didn't get trampled. (I later found out that I was in fact in the New Forest- key word being IN.. I was in the restricted area off the path for the wild horses. Congratulations Margaret, you were trespassing.)

So then I decided to climb a tree.. :) It was the perfect shape for sitting. I felt like I was 10 years old again climbing the trees in my back yard. My hands were a familiar shade of dirt and they smelled like the earth. If you've never climbed a tree, I highly doubt you will find value in or appreciate this feeling. To my right was a road and I watched cars pass by. One drove by really slowly- it was an old man in a rusty red car, and he smiled at me, as if he remembered exactly what it felt like to be on top of the world. After sitting for a while I decided it was time to get down and move on, and maybe find the New Forest (as was my assignment.) Getting down was the interesting part. Funny thing about getting down from a tree is that once you start to slide down, its hard to to stop if there is nothing to grab on to. And there wasn't. How is my back, you ask? Scratched to pieces.



After I left my tree I walked along the road that you can see in the background of that picture and finally (after about an hour and a half) found a path and a sign. I have to admit in a way I was somewhat disappointed that I had to give up the adventure and start walking along a man made path as opposed to making my own and trespassing. Oh well. It didn't take long before walking along a path started to become complicated. Notice how little traffic there is on these paths. I saw one biker and two walkers in a matter of another hour and a half.

I was in this section of tall pine trees walking along a reddish brown dirt road by myself with not much to see. I decided to turn on my ipod, but it was out of battery, of course, because I never remember to charge it. So what did I do? I improvised. I sang. I sang at the top of my lungs. I sang in the wrong key. I sang what seemed to be the right words to about ten songs. When I didn't know verses I sang just the choruses. I just sang. What a feeling! No one was around to hear me! And then hit it me-- NO ONE WAS AROUND TO HEAR ME! What if something was to happen to me? I picked up the pace from there, and began taking lefts and rights after rights and lefts- and of course nothing was marked and there were no park maps. I kept walking and started noticing a bunch of trees had been cut down for lumber. And then my dirt path turned into a grass one, which got mushy, and led me into yet another muddy field without any paths. I had been walking for almost two hours and couldn't remember which way I turned where, so I decided there was no way I was going back. Onward I pressed until I found a fence with a narrow path that ran along it. Fences usually lead to somewhere so I followed it until I heard cars. Nottingham intuition and keen sense of direction proves itself once again. I'm screamed aloud "I'm saved!" Ahead of me was a car park.. and in the car park were people.. who heard that. I hung my head and passed them quickly. At least they didn't hear the Dave Matthews/Amy Grant/Glee marathon from 30 minutes earlier.

What I didn't realize was how far up the map I had gone. And the road I found was the motorway. There was no sidewalk, only fast cars zooming past me at ridiculous speeds. You know those people walking along the side of interstates you see every once in a while.. that was me. When I came to a turn off that said 'The New Park Farm and Hotel' it was on my map and looked like I could cut through. I was tired of walking along side of the highway and constantly getting blown over by the wind that the passing cars were making so I decided to give it a try. I passed by beautiful stables and fields, and then a giant manor. That's when the road ended. There were more fields in front of me, and then more woods. I was contemplating the best decision when I heard a gruff voice say, "You lost? This is private property." My thoughts? Shit. After explaining myself, showing him my chicken scratch map, and batting my eyes (thanks for the blues, Mom and Dad) the kind man pointed me in the direction of a fence that I was supposed to hop over, then head toward another gate, climb over that, cross a bridge, and follow a path back to town. "Should take you half an hour or so. Bye now." Realizing I had just been dismissed, I was back on my way. As I walked toward the fence I looked to my left and in the field was a pack of deer with giant antlers! Maybe reindeer. I couldn't get a close look and I did not dare take a picture for fear of being shot, but they were there.


So after two hops over a fence and a gate, I came to the bridge and found a pretty river. By this point I had been walking for just under four hours: my feet were killing me, my arms and shoulders were on fire, and my jeans were causing the most uncomfortable friction against my legs that I have ever felt in my life. (Later, when i got back to my room and took them off I found that the seams had left deep indents on my thighs, which stung like a rug burn. Next walk is happening in either shorts or sweat pants, no questions asked.) But back to the pretty river.. I actually don't have a lot to say about it. I just crossed over it and took a picture. Sorry for  that disappointing climax, but the good news was that there were finally some signs! One said "Brockenhurst 2.75 miles." At least now I had an estimation of how far left I had to go, and I was for sure not lost in someone's back yard. I put that in the improvement column.

After I got out of the woods I continued on the path (actually thankful that I was on a path for once, and headed in the right direction) I started to walk through yet another field. After four hours I considered calling Emily, who is also in my class and was out exploring with a couple of girls, to complain about being lost. But then reconsidered. What would I say? "Hi I'm lost in a muddy field?" That narrows my locations down to 80% of the country, which would be useless in my rescue. It was then that I looked around and realized this field was full of horses. Wild horses. Untamed horses, with no fences anywhere to be seen. In fact one was up ahead standing right next to the path. They were beautiful. At first, I admit I was a little jarred at being so close to horses that have little to no contact with humans other than the people that pass by them in this park, but they were completely undisturbed by my presence. I wondered if people pass them on a day to day basis and think nothing of them- these wild creatures without a care in the world. I wondered what it would like to be that free. Not just free but without stress or burden in life. The picture below of the black horse is hardly zoomed at all. That horse couldn't care less how close I got. It wasn't bothered by me, it wasn't afraid of me. Sorry I'm rambling, I just think that it must feel incredible to live the life of a wild horse.

After I left the field, which I now refer to as "The Field of Wild Horses," the path took me back into the woods for a bit, and then had me cross a major road which the led me to walk behind a countless number of houses. More names for them, no name for the path or street I was on. Fabulous. I was nearing the five hour mark. Let me quickly recap my day for you- woke up at about 7:50ish, ate breakfast at about 8:20, walked to the train station, caught the 9:25 train, started walking about 10:00- its now nearly 3:00. But let us focus on the important issue shall we? I had not eaten anything since 8:20, which was almost seven hours ago. All I wanted was civilization and food. I no longer cared about the pretty houses, horses, or landscapes.. which is why I don't have many more pictures after the horses in the field. Sorry. My friend Gemma, who lives in the room next door to mine and refers to herself as my English best friend, asked me, "Well during your walk, where did you pee?" Very good question my dear. The answer: I didn't. Moving on...

I finally reached civilization, but I refrained from yelling this time. My problem was that I couldn't find a place to eat for the life of me. And my life was depending on it! I kept following signs that were leading me to the city center, but I never seemed to get there.

Then I turned the corner and met THIS guy (look to the right). I'm not sure if you are having a hard time understanding this picture so let me make it clear for you. That is a donkey. The donkey is standing on the side walk, eating (I'm assuming) what ever he can find. The donkey is not on a leash. There is no fence keeping the donkey from crossing the road or walking some where else. Yes, this picture was taken IN TOWN near the city center. Any questions? I believe I could have pet him. I almost did to make sure he was real. As Emily said (who also got lost for a long time) "I saw him too! I thought I was hallucinating!" That is exactly how I felt.

When I did find a place to eat it was a tiny little tea shop. I was tired, irritable, possibly hallucinatory, out of breath, and hungry. The place was empty except for the employees sitting down having a nice cup of tea. I barged in the door desperate to eat. "Are you serving food?" was my question. Startled, the waitress replied, "Yes, tea and sandwiches and--" I cut her off. "That's fine. Where can I sit?" I inhaled my salmon, cucumber, and cream cheese sandwiches (yes I chose that.. some of us LOVE salmon!) but not before I took a picture. I also got three mini scones with clotted cream and jam.. but I forgot about taking a picture of those. I was too excited to eat them. But aren't my sandwiches cute?

Thanks for tuning in to this one blog-readers. If you made it start to finish, I commend you. Although I do not pity the time you wasted reading it. It was at most 10 minutes, which is 1/30 of the time it took me to walk and accomplish all of this. But I love you for reading it! Tune in for my next adventure: back to London with a Harry Potter fanatic (yes, a bigger one than me!) named Jackson!

<3 M

p.s. This is the church I almost stopped in to pray for someone to come save me from the walk from hell... but I was too hungry to stop. Haha, its a beautiful picture anyway- so I thought it deserved to make it to the blog.