Spring is in the air and much welcome after such a long and cold winter. We are looking forward to the Spring Bank holiday at Bashley Park. All of our caravans are full and our customers are looking for a much welcome early holiday.
The ponies on the forest are still wearing their winter coats as there are still some very cold nights. The bright yellow gorse flowers are in full bloom, giving a splash of colour on the russet brown undergrowth of the Forest. The trees are all budding with fresh bright green leaves. The bluebells are coming into bloom providing a lovely purple carpet beneath the canopy.
We have enjoyed a good few weeks of additional custom due to the problems in the skies with flights due to the recent eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland.
During the Easter holidays I took my grandson, Thomas on a great cycle ride along part of the old railway track to Brockenhurst. It was great run. Please read my account below:-
WOOTTON BRIDGE TO BROCKENHURST DISUSED RAILWAY LINE CYCLE RIDE (10 miles)
This is a cycle ride by Jan and her grandson, Thomas We started out on the day after the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Our sky’s were not dimmed by any volcanic ash cloud in fact the day was amazingly bright and sunny. Thomas even had a touch of sunburn – in April !!!
The railway from Brockenhurst (Hants) to Hamworthy (Dorset) via Wimborne was built in 1847 as part of the original route between Southampton and Dorchester. Superceded by the later, more direct route along the coast through Bournemouth, it closed in the 1960s and 70s. Parts of the line west of Ringwood now form the Castleman Trailway but other stretches, too, can still be followed on a bike.
We started our ride at Wootton Bridge and picked up the old railway track from that point. It can be easily found by taking the hill just a little way up from Wootton Bridge, on the right hand side before the road junction you will see a “cycle” sign on the right hand side. Follow the footpath to the old railway line, it is only a few yards. The ride was level with no hills to climb and no traffic to worry about.
The track meandered through the lovely New Forest National Park, bounded on each side by the rugged terrain of the Forest. We stopped on top of the first bridge and looked down onto a lovely view of the open Forest.
The first part of our journey took us through Sethorns, which is a camping and caravan park set in protected woodland. Just past Sethorns we went under 2 large bridges which spanned the width of the track. One could just imagine the mighty steam engines shunting under these wide arches puffing their smoke as they sped through the cutting. The track at this point was bounded by a canopy of dark green pine trees. The dappled sunlight shone through as we peddled along.
After we had passed under the bridges the track opened up into brilliant sunlight. On either side were lovely views of the Forest with its brilliant yellow gorse peeping through the wintered russet coloured bracken. Many New Forest ponies were grazing on the sparce greenery. After the recent wet winter there were many bogs and areas of the Forest under water still
We were startled by a grass snake which at full speed slithered across the cycle track, we slammed on our brakes. Unfortunately the snake was too quick to take a picture.
Our route took us through another cutting which was very muddy at one point. We sped past a rather large cow with horns that had obviously lost its way.
Emerging by a small white house on to another made up cycle track. At the end of this section of the track we passed under the currently used main line railway track bridge on to the main road into Brockenhurst.
We finished our journey by the old Railway Cottage which is a little pink house set back off the road. We took a lunch break, then we rode all the way back again. A very enjoyable ride.
We have just enjoyed our busiest summer ever with record visitors. No wonder the New Forest is one of the most beautiful areas in the British Isles. 
