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| The Spit at Hurst Castle Keyhaven |
I was lucky enough to be invited along to The New Forest to stay with my best friend Olivia's family last week (4th-7th July) and aside from some horrific sunburn it was a beautiful couple of days. We ate, drank and indulged in all of the pleasures of being at the sea.
We stayed in a town inland called West Wellow which meant a scenic drive through the forest to the beach each day and of course ultimately I read the map wrong a handful of times and we ended up reversing down a bridleway but hey what's life without an adventure right?
Muddeford
I realised once I'd got home that I had in fact been to Muddeford when I was a lot younger with my family, but while we were there, everything felt new and exciting and beautiful as if I was seeing it for the first time. While on the sandy beach, I also took my second dip of the year into the cold English sea, having already tried out the water in Suffolk the week before, which although seems like an ice bath when you first dive under, it's a feeling from ones childhood you can only really get from diving straight in! I love the English seaside and swimming in the less than tepid waters is a vital part of the experience for me!
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| Swimming with Lucy at Muddeford |
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| Muddeford beach-huts |
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| Olivia loving the sun in Muddeford |
My Last Day
Christchurch, Keyhaven & Hurst Castle
After suffering the worst sunburn of my life, (entirely my own fault for not wearing sun cream, I mean look at the sun in the photos!) I was rather hesitant about spending another day out in the sun, but I'm glad we went anyway as it turned out to be another jam packed day.
We started off at Christchurch marina with picnic in hand ready to hire a couple of boats for a trip up the river. Rather concerning for me was the sun, but it made for a gorgeous little cruise captained by Olivia, and I wore Ali's scarf around my blushed shoulders while I tucked into a sandwich and some lemon drizzle cake! The boats were around £20 to hire for the hour and totally worth it if you every find yourself down by the river, not only to enjoy the water, but to be nosey and enjoy staring at all the extensive riverside homes and their grounds!
Once we had exhausted the parks and bars next to the harbour, we moved on in convoy along the coast to the small harbour of Keyhaven where the view of the Isle of Wight is as clear as it could possibly be from the mainland. There isn't much in terms of amenities at Keyhaven but an ice cream van and a footpath to walk upon is all one really needs and that's exactly what we did, walked around the little port, before making our way up to the spit to look out onto the open sea. As one can imagine, up on the spit we were fighting against the wind to tame our hair and stand up straight, but it was definitely worth it for the view which included Hurst Castle in the distance and a faint glimpse of Yarmouth on The Isle of Wight.
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| Girls boat trip up the river in Christchurch |
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| Fighting against the wind on the spit at Hurst Castle |
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| The spit separating the sea and Keyhaven harbour |
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Watching kite surfing
(And yes the guy was totally showing off!) |
Time to say goodbye!
After a mere three nights, I had to leave the family and head back home to my own family to celebrate my Grandma's birthday, but it was more than enough time to enjoy great company and even better views. I rediscovered a childhood love of the game UNO Extreme and a familiar dislike to ancient editions of Trivial Pursuit which only those above the age of 50 had a chance of winning, as well as cementing a hatred towards those darn UV rays of the rare English sun! Mark my words, I will be back and next time I shall devote myself to a pair of walking boots and I will discover what the forest has to explore!
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