Day trip to Hampshire: Petersfield and Hayling Island

Two weekends ago, El Hombre and I went all the way down to Hampshire. Originally thinking of going to the Isle of Wight, really, but having checked ferries and other sort of transport, it seemed too complicated to organise, so we ended up staying in the mainland. So, after a lazy weekend wake up, we started our little excursion planning of crossing the South Downs National Park and finishing our trip by the sea. So a little bit of green and a little of blue. Always and without exception, involving water.

Hace dos semanas El Hombre y yo nos fuimos de excursión a Hampshire. Pensábamos ir a Isle of Wight, en realidad, pero comprobando ferris y otros medios de transporte, nos compensó más quedarnos en tierra. Así que después de un despertar perezoso, planeamos el viaje cruzando South Downs National Park y acabar en el mar.

Our first stop was Petersfield. Why Petersfield? Well, it seemed to be a big spot in the middle of the National Park. Quite big to offer something interesting to see and the truth is that I loved it. Somehow and totally unplanned, we ended up in the perfect place. A lake! We started walking the surrounding footpath and ended up jogging, done in just under 10 minutes. And after that, we took a kayak.

La primera parada fue Petersfield, porque fue el pueblo más grande que encontramos en el mapa y pensamos que tendría algo interesante para ver. Y sí. ¡Un lago! Empezamos andando el caminillo que lo rodea, lo acabamos corriendo y luego lo cruzamos en kayak. Más completo imposible.

Petersfield lake from a kayak. Continue reading “Day trip to Hampshire: Petersfield and Hayling Island”

esdelainaAugust 23, 2015January 7, 20161 Comment

lifestyle, travel

Summer hikes: Thames Path

Last Saturday El Hombre and I went for a day trip. It’s Summer!! And once settled down in the new house, we decided to go for a hike following the Thames Path.

I didn’t really know how big this trail was until last Saturday, when I saw National trail sings everywhere. It’s 184 miles long! Funny enough, I have done this trail myself many times before without knowing it.

When living in London, I used to go for long walks by the river: Tower of London to Big Ben, Millenium bridge to Pimlico, Hammersmith to Richmond, among others. El Hombre was wondering what is it that I like it so much. Well, the answer is I don’t know. I just love being around water.

El sábado pasado nos fuimos de paseo con el Hombre. Decidimos hacer un trozo del Thames Path, que como bien indica, va por la orilla del río Támesis. No sabía que era tan oficial como para ser una ruta nacional, equivalente a los GR españoles, pero la verdad es que tiene todo el sentido del mundo. Y sin querer, ya había hecho varias partes de él cuando vivía en Londres.

So I found a very good route on this website, walkingclub.org.uk, Reading to Henley-on-the-Thames, about 11 miles, and we just simply did it.

The route was very well described, step by step. We started in Reading walked by Sooning, then Shiplake. We stopped for berries, wheat or anything that could go into our mouths. We were amazed with some of the houses we saw (mansions) but, overall, the boats.

Continue reading “Summer hikes: Thames Path”