Off Visiting.

Home once more after a visit to Vytas and Sally in Basingstoke. We drove down on Boxing Day and did the journey in 3 hours as for once there were no hold-ups on the A303. Coming back today took longer and we spent 22 minutes at walking speed or less in the usual traffic jam going past Stonehenge which gave me the chance to take some decent photos.

Yesterday, which was quite sunny, we drove down to Lyndhurst for a walk in the New Forest. The amount of traffic was staggering. Just shows the difference living at the edge of the country makes.

Neither Peter or I had been to the New Forest before which is a lovely mixture of heathland and forest with of course the famous New Forest ponies that roam free.

Vytas led the way on a route that took us right around Lyndhurst which we then had to walk through to get back to the car. I think we walked about 5 miles which was quite enough for our old knees. 

It was so nice to spend time with the youngsters and to be so well looked after. In the evening we played a game called Munchkin which was new to us and then a game of GOT Monopoly.  

An elven steed spotted out in the forest.

We set off for home this morning before there was much local traffic on the road system around Basingstoke which seems to be roundabout after roundabout. The Tom-Tom gave clear instructions and did take the stress out of navigating our way around strange roads. The nice thing about the A303 is that it takes you across the beautiful countryside of the Somerset Plain with its gently rolling hills scattered with Neolithic barrows and virtually no buildings in sight. By the time we got back to Barnstaple we were feeling pretty tired but made a quick stop at Tesco's to pick up a few things. At home the cats were very pleased to see us. I can't have set Patch's feeder correctly as he'd only had 3 of the 6 meals so I'll need to do that again to make sure I get it right. Still both cats are okay and no disasters indoors.