skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Today we went to Hogsback Brewery in search of a gift for our mail carrier at home. The US Postal Service only provides for 30 days of mail hold service but our carrier agreed to work with us to hold for longer which we really appreciate. My sister Mary contributes to this scheme too because she goes by the post office every couple of weeks to pick up accumulated mail - but she's not a beer drinker so didn't figure in to this outing. This last minute outing turned out to be one of the English experiences I treasure.
While browsing around the shop at the brewery Robin picked up and was reading the quarterly newsletter of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). An older gentleman starting chatting with him and told him he was the one responsible for checking on and reporting on about 40 pubs in the area. The newsletter always has member's notes about the pubs they've been visiting. He seemed quite proud of his responsibility and contribution. Robin mentioned we'd be meeting some friends this weekend at the Red Lion in Oakhanger and that was given a good review by our resident CAMRA expert so that was good news! From there we headed north. I was driving and wasn't exactly sure where I was going but generally heading in the direction of home via Ash and Ash Vale. I've done a bit of cycling through these villages but I am always lost. I suggested we were heading in the general direction of the Swan (a nice pub on the Basingstoke Canal) and Robin thought he could use a pint on such a cold, grey, and drizzly day. We'd been to the Swan before but had gotten there by hook and by crook because it is a bit off the beaten path. I kept heading north just following my nose. As we passed through Ash Vale village a small black car in front of us began maneuvers to parallel park. We waited and both commented on what a cute little car it was but couldn't actually determine the make. We continued on and the road became a little narrower and more winding. Robin had just made the comment that I had gotten us good and lost when what should loom into sight but the Swan! Ha! Just like I knew what I was doing! We pulled in laughing and trying to figure out how that had happened. It was about 11:40 so the place was empty. We ordered some beers and read the menus and boards to decide what the have for lunch. Our timing was perfect because within another 20 minutes the place was packed! And then guess who should arrive but the man with the cute little black car! Robin had a little chat with him while we waited for our food. We happened to be walking out of the pub at the same time so went to have a closer look. He was quite happy to tell us all about his little Austin. It was a retirement project and he'd had it 7 years. He said he took it out a couple of times a week. We mentioned we'd seen him in the village and he rather sheepishly admitted he'd stopped there to pick up "a crunchy (or crusty?) roll and a naughty cake" before heading to the pub for a couple of pints. What a great character! He even let Robin sit in the driver's seat for a photo:
This was a great day for cars too as we'd seen one of my little Nissan Figaro's for sale in North Camp earlier. I must find a way to get one of these!
Ordnance Survey maps are marvelous. They are extremely detailed maps originally created by the government for military purposes. Long available to the public they show details of roads, contours, buildings, footpaths, and points of interest. A must-have resource for outdoor activities in the UK. The one drawback is that they are expensive so I was delighted to recently discover that I can get parts of them for free online (http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/getamap/). Our local map shows something called Bat's Hogsty. A walking guide has this to say about it: "Bat's Hogsty is a curiosity amongst walkers because of its name and because they cannot find it; amongst archaeologists because they cannot decide what was for. It is a rectangle of about 3/4 acre enclosed by four mounds with three ditches between them, externally 300' x 270', in total about 1 3/4 acres." Now how can you resist a challenge like that? Well, we couldn't.
We called Rachel to see if she wanted to join the adventure, drove by to pick her up and headed south to Aldershot. We started at the Wellington statue. This sucker is huge (40 tons and about 30 feet tall!) and but seems to be stuck off in a very out-of-the-way place. When it was first made in 1846 it was taken by grand procession to London and installed atop the Constituion Arch. Some people were unhappy that it seemed out of proportion to the arch but there it stayed until the arch was moved to the corner of Hyde Park in 1882-3 and the statue was removed and later reinstalled in its current location. Wellington, of course, is a war hero, most famously from the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. He later entered political life and was Prime Minister - but apparently not a very popular one. I suspected it was the change in his popularity that resulted in the this kind of exile however I have since discovered that its current location used to be much more visible from the main roads before the surrounding trees grew tall enough to obscure it. Anyhow, here it is:
From there we went on our quest. It wasn't far and in the end we decided that we had indeed found Bat's Hogsty but it was a bit of a letdown. The site was on a scale made it hard to distinguish the four mounds bu the ditches were quite clear. It is in the midst of military lands that have been used extensively for training so there are remnants of old buildings and trenches and foxholes everywhere making the terrain of this particular point of interest kind of blend into its surroundings. It was also quite grown up in trees, ferns and shrubs that also masked the underlying land. We enjoyed walking around the area though and seeing the evidence of the changing season. Here are Robin and Rachel making their way towards Bat's Hogsty:
Robin hasn't been enthusiastic about road-riding lately. Maybe 1200km in France was enough for a while? Tuesday was looking like the last sunny day for the week so I blasted him out of the house to do a loop I'd been thinking of for sometime. Heading south from Farnborough we revisited our old English home base of Aldershot then hit Bourley Road - one of my favorites. It has a bit more traffic than is ideal but it isn't intrusive. The road rolls up and down through a deciduous forest which was very pretty with the yellow leaves floating down and the sun peeping through. From there it was a tour through some of our favorite country villages - Church-Crookham, Dogmersfield, Odiham, and Winchfield. To make it a loop we returned along Robin's favored route through a new housing development called Elvetham Heath. This development goes on FOREVER! There are even signs pointing "way out" at the round-a-bouts. I'm thinking if there are any heavy drinkers living there they may have a hard time finding their way home from the pubs! It was nice to be out in the sun even though it was cold and my tootsies were frozen. Back home we rustled up some lunch and got Robin off to work and I settled in for the long and drawn out process of getting 2 loads of laundry done. No lie - it took over 6 hours - and that's with a separate washer and dryer - not one of the crazy combo machines. Sheesh.
We hosted friends Ken & Babara Robson and Shaun Bonney for dinner Sunday night. All three are friends we've met here in England through cycling. While (or should I say whilst?) trying to decide what to make for dessert Robin requested pumpkin pie which seemed a great idea as that is a distinctly North American thing. I've been having groceries delivered for the last month or so from Tesco. I didn't find any canned pumpkin while doing my online shopping but they did have "culinary" pumpkins plus all the other ingredients I needed. Delivery Saturday morning brought a subsitution of plain old Halloween pumpkins (which I rejected). I'm no expert on pumpkins but I'm pretty sure those wouldn't have the right flavor for a pie. Sunday morning we're off to the stores to try to find the missing key ingredient - no luck. We had a nice dinner though - fun guests and good conversation - and we settled for banana cake (bread) with cream and ice cream for our "pudding". Maybe I'll drag over a can of pumpkin filling if we are here in the autumn again.
Out for a walk today along the Basingstoke Canal near one of our favorite villages, Odiham. We were looking to get to the end of the navigable portion of the canal where a tunnel collapsed in 1932 and was never repaired - it now serves as a winter habitat for bats. We're walking along enjoying the clear, sunny, and warming day. We both look up at a bridge ahead and see a sign for The Swan Pub. I think we were both pondering at the same time about this because there is another Swan Pub along a different section of the canal where we've eaten. It was one of those things that twist your mind for a second because we weren't in the right place for that pub (simple explanation - it was a different Swan Pub - there are only about a billion of them). Anyway, it was enough of a distraction for my meager "walking and chewing gum at the same time" skills that I stepped off the path and rolled my left ankle. I used to do this a lot when I was playing soccer but haven't had a really good one (and by that I mean bad one) like this for a while. I was nearly in tears and felt nauseated and light-headed with the pain. Robin got me hobbled up onto the road and over to a nice sunny bench outside the damned Swan Pub so he could run back for the car and pick me up. Well, we still got to have a nice lunch at the Grapevine in Odiham so all was not lost. Back home to ice packs - fun!
So if I'm driving on the left here in the UK does that mean I'm driving in my right mind? Somehow I doubt it. The British are excellent drivers as a whole so I can't fault that (or maybe Americans are just so horrible anything looks great in comparison). They pay attention and adjust to circumstances without a big fuss or that old American standby - the one fingered salute (possibly accompanied by gunfire). It is the system that is nuts. Car parks have very small parking spaces (and by the way, if it is a pay and display lot you'd better not have even one tire resting on a white line or it's ticket time baby - right Robin?). Many have one-way ailes. So why the heck aren't the spaces angled??? No, you get to squeeze into a space approximately 10 centimeters wider than your car and have fun executing a 10 point turn to get lined up right. Of course many people get around this by just parking on the sidewalk (called "the pavement" here - huh??? aren't the roads paved???), or a median, or whatever. Driving on these is also practiced when the situation warrants and is very rewarding. We haven't noticed that drivers react much to emergency vehicles (that might just be because the catchy "move right for sirens and lights" doesn't work here). Anyway, check out #4 on this website to see an example of some of the fun you could have driving British roads: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/autoexpressnews/210607/worlds_worst_junctions.html#
e were leaving, we passed a couple heading towards the site and their walking sticks reminded Steve he'd forgotten his so he went back while we waited just a ways up the trail. He was some time in coming and we figured he was talking to the other walkers which he was. He reported back that he'd gotten quite a bit more information about the ruin from them. All of the mosiacs from the site had been taken up and transported to nearby Sudeley Castle and then lost (not sure about that details of that). At some later point this portion was found and it was then reinstalled (along with the adjoining rebuilt walls). It kind of put a little cloud over it all for me. It was much more exciting and romantic to have envisioned this little treasure right here for a couple thousand years untouched. Oh well, reality prevails again! We did enjoy the time with Steve and Rachel and later that evening we were treated to a lovely dinner. Our friends Jean and Robert took us to the Red Lion in Oakhangar which provided a great meal, a warm fire, and entertaining company.
A natural "heart" in the bark of an oak.
