It was very sunny first thing. It was promising to be a hot day.

We had a good breakfast of eggs on toast with a leftover sausage. We needed it for our cycling trip.

First we went to the Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve. We cycled around checking out the hides there.

Glenn told me to stop so as not to disturb this owl.

Unfortunately he’s made of wood. But an excellent carving!

On the lakes there were a lot of the birds we have been seeing elsewhere – black headed gulls, swans and cormorants. There were lots of insects in the reeds.

It was very hot so along the path Glenn found a robin and a wren sunbathing.

We then left the lakes and went with difficulty on a narrow path on the side of a busy road to the garage to get some cash to pay the campsite. After that we then went over the worst gravel road called Snails Lane – very appropriate – to get to the entry to the New Forest area.

We were feeling a bit frazzled by all that – and then we saw the Alice Lisle pub and it was already 1pm so we stopped for lunch and a drink. It is a really lovely country pub on one of the lakes. We found a shady spot in the garden. I had a very good 0.5% beer on tap. I also had a very good porchetta sandwich with home made slaw – very delicious.

I found out Alice Lisle was a well off lady living in the Elizabethan manor next door – Moyles Court – now a boarding school. She allowed some men to stay at her house who were apparently part of the defeated Monmouth Rebellion who had attempted to depose the catholic King James II. She was executed for this. Her ghost is still supposed to walk along the corridors of the school.

There was a cute cottage next door.

After lunch we headed into the New Forest. We went up a big hill up to a large open heathland. The area we were in had a lot of grazing area for the ponies. They were everywhere.

We cycled over the gravel paths trying to find a good route. We ended up on a very muddy path beside a lot of cows. We tried to get past the mud on the side of the path but it became too difficult we turned back.

We got onto the road and came back down into the village. There were now ponies everywhere along the side of the roads including a very young foal.

We dropped the bikes back at the van and walked back to the Blashford Lakes to another hide. This time we saw a lot of sand martins nesting in holes in a sandbank. There were the same black backed gulls and cormorants.

On the way back we checked out the war memorials to those who had lost their lives in WWII flying from RAF Ibsley that used to be where the lakes now are.

This area has had many changes in the last 80 years. In the war it was an important RAF base to defend Southampton and had many Americans here too.

The spitfire was developed here and the film the ‘First of the Few’ starting David Niven and Leslie Howard was filmed here.

After the war it became a racing circuit. Then in the early 1960s it became a quarry for aggregate. After its life as a quarry it was transformed to Blashford Lakes Nature reserve. It certainly doesn’t look like an RAF base now!

We saw lots of deer around as the campsite owner had told us.

We arrived back at the campsite and had a rest in the shade of the van. We had another barbecue as it was still very nice weather.

There were visitors in the field next to us.

Glenn walked up the side of the field to capture the sunset over the lake and looking back at the campsite.

We had a warm night sleeping with all the windows open.