if you can't see one thing you'll see another!

North of Ringwood there are lakes and hamlets with lovely names like Blashford, Harbridge Green and Mookbeggar. The lakes stretch up towards Fordingbridge. On the map they appear to line the roadway; but try to find them!

We discovered one, only to find ourselves in a private sailing club. A very kind man  explained we would be better going up a short distance to Rockford Common and looking at the lakes from there: we would see much more of them.

This is the path to Rockford Common.

You would be forgiven for thinking that water doesn't often run uphill!

This is Rockford Common - or a very small bit of it - which you may share with ponies and cattle.

I managed to picture these few. Later, when we found ourselves in the middle of the New Forest - by accident - we saw many more but couldn't get near enough to photograph them for the grey haired tribes of off road make believe Land Rover drivers who rarely move over to the side of the road for fear of getting dusty whhels.

The views from our vantage point were worth the climb. You can see, just about, what the man meant when he said you could see much more of the lakes from up here.

It does help of course if you are intrepid explorers dressed for hiking like what we are

If you follow our travels, you should know by now that we are the kind of well travelled explorers who are able, always, to find an oasis.

This one is called The Alice Lisle.

There are no camels hereabouts - at least we didn't see any. But the nomads do park their donkeys in places that are a nuisance for those of us who do not like to be too far from the entrance to what would be a sheik's tent in other places.

How did we get into the New Forest? Well, this is a part of it. The problem is that once you are on a forest road going in the wrong direction, they seem not to have discovered road juctions until you are nearly in Romsey. Not that it matters because it is all so beautiful.

As a footnote I can tell you that Alice Lisle was the last woman to be beheaded in England.
The following site is of interest.
http://boormanfamily.weebly.com/blog/lady-alice-beconsaw-lisle-1617-1685-3-52-ancestors