Fritham - New Forest

I subscribe to the magazine Webuser and it must have saved me a fortune in costs over the years. Those people who know me well know that I rarely spend money on software. There is lots of free software on the net which is excellent. Why am I burbling about software? For the first time ever I am writing the Blog offline using Windows Live Writer (free of course). This software was mentioned in Webuser so I have to practice with it. Apparently I can insert photos, video, tables, hyperlinks etc. all offline. So here goes.

I am leading a ramble starting at Fritham, in the middle of the New Forest, and I needed to walk it beforehand. I persuaded Sue, with the promise of a lunch at the Royal Oak, to come.

 

Sue and Bailey (next door's dog) standing by the old post box for the Schultze Gunpowder Factory, which operated for about fifty years in Fritham. The factory was based at Eyeworth Lodge, just down the hill.

Although gunpowder for sporting guns had been made at Eyeworth from 1859. It wasn't until Edward Schultze, an artillery captain in the Prussian Army, took over the factory in 1869 and made the first successful smokeless powder that large scale production commenced. At its height the complex comprised some 60 to 70 buildings and employed around a hundred people.

The most substantial relic of the factory is Eyeworth Pond, created in 1871 to provide water for the works.

Bailey by the pond.

The walk we did was about 5 miles and the pub lunch was half way round. It was excellent.

July 2008

Since our visit to France we have been catching up with (old) friends. We invited Brian and Julia over for Sunday lunch, but in his email Brian warned me that Nog and Karen lived 'dangerously close'. I wouldn't say Portsmouth was that close, but close enough to join us on the Sunday.


The last time we saw Nog and Karen was 9 years ago at JHQ. They haven't changed a bit.


Nog in full flow. He's not asleep - honest!


We were invited to Sue Jones's 60th. Here she is at Eastney Cruising Association for lunch.


Here we are at ECA. The meal was great and the 'dinner' ladies always provide an excellent lunch.


I managed to get out into the forest on my bike early one morning. This pool at King's Garden (no King's or garden here) always has water in it even during the driest periods so it remains a good watering hole for the animals. This time the pony was enjoying the water lilies.

The Red Arrows - this was a surprise. We had gone to Mudeford Lifeboat Funday and the Red Arrows who were off to Swanage, for an air display, were persuaded to overfly Mudeford in the afternoon.


This is a shingle bank about 50 metres offshore. For the Funday some joker had put a For Sale sign on it. The white bit underneath the sign says 'Seaview'.



The 'Mudeford Servant'.

The Atlantic 85 is a rigid inflatable lifeboat, introduced in the latter half of 2005 as the latest development of the B class. It has a manually operated self-righting mechanism and is capable of being beached in an emergency without sustaining damage to engines or steering gear. The Atlantic 85 is fitted with radar and VHF direction finding equipment and can be operated safely in daylight in a force 6/7 and at night in a force 5/6.