Hillwalking in the New Forest (in Brockenhurst.)

October 8, 2011

My day began waking up to meet with Sami at 8:30AM so we could catch a train that left central station at 9:50AM. It was an interesting start of the day as I am sure the Hillwalking club could tell that Sami and I were foreigners from the get-go. If it wasn’t our accents that tipped them off, it would have been the fact that Sami and I both showed our “vast” experience in buying train tickets from the machine. We barely had a clue of how to purchase our tickets that we asked one of the guys ahead of us in the line if he could help show us what to do. Once ticket was in hand we set off to go through one of the gates; both of us went to ones that weren’t working for our direction. Eventually we figured it out though and life was good, we were on the train heading to a quaint little village called Brockenhurst.

I was really excited to explore outside of Southampton, let alone be able to go ‘hillwalking’ which is the British term for our ‘hiking’. Brockenhurst is located within the New Forest, which is according to brockenhurst-newforest.org.uk is “Europe’s largest surviving area of ancient pasture woodland”- impressive. It was quite a short train ride from Southampton to Brockenhurst, and soon Sami, myself, and roughly 50 other students interested in hillwalking trodden down a dirt path with pastures on either side of us. The morning coldness soon warmed up enough where jackets were optional. Inside the forest, wild horses galloped majestically in front of us. It was quite the sight, seeing these creatures in a forest instead of being fenced within a farm. 

Rob and Sami getting ready for our hillwalking adventure!

During lunch we talked amongst ourselves when suddenly one of the girls made a loud yelp of surprise, finding one of the ‘wild’ pigs taking interest in her water tube that was part of her backpack. A group of us jumped to our feet trying to protect our sandwiches and snacks. The pigs managed to find any bread crusts or apple cores that were tossed into the brush. It was attack of the pigs! Trying to shoo them away was somewhat easy, as they were very skittish, but curiosity resulted in their many attempts of looking into the contents of our lunch sacks. 

ATTACK OF THE PIGS!

After the second half of the hillwalking group joined us and were able to enjoy their lunches too, we set off again to complete our eight mile journey. I would have to say this trip was more like a scenic walk rather than a hike, as the elevation remained for the most part the same. It was lovely though to get back to nature. I didn’t realize how much I have missed it. Back in Sammamish, I have a state park joined up to my backyard where sightings of owls and bobcats are not that uncommon. Though I wouldn’t necessarily venture out there all the time – mosquitos often kept me away during the summer – it has always been part of the scenery that surround me every day.  

Back in town we went to a pub called, The Rose and Crown. It was pleasant with gazebos lining the back of the beer garden and a decent garden around the border. After a while we dispersed little by little back towards the train station. For my first weekend during school, it was a rather enjoyable way to spend my Saturday.