Brownsea lsland 17 Sep 2011
I’m really looking forward to this trip because Brownsea Island is a very special place and in all the years of living in the Southern part of England I’ve never been there. Don’t know why, it just always seemed a bit too much hassle but in fact was really easy once I’d got myself to Poole on the train, having cycled to Winchester. You buy tickets from a quaint little yellow wooden booth on the quayside, it reminds me a bit of a fairground stall. No vehicles including bikes allowed on the island so there is very little to think about.
1259 Step on to the ferry. The chap at the bottom of the gangplank was daydreaming and seemed put out that I'd simply walked by him without showing my ticket. I pointed out, quite reasonably I thought, that he hadn't asked to see it. Sunny day at the moment though rain is scheduled for later.
1345 The ferry crossing doesn’t take long and soon I’m inside the National Trust entrance foyer at the end of the small wooden jetty where we have disembarked, unpacking my camera equipment and handing the surplus to be put away safely. They try the usual attempt to get me to subscribe even offering to reimburse half my ferry fare – to no avail.
1400 Now that I’m here, what to do? I haven’t really planned out the day in detail deciding rather just to mooch around. Suddenly a heavy rain shower sends everyone stampeding to shelter in the nearby hide.
1422 Rain over and I walk past a manicured lawn dotted with peacocks and gaudy looking chickens into the first patch of woodland. All the other boat passengers have gone elsewhere so it’s just me and ...well there they are! Three red squirrels bounce out of the trees onto the leaf-strewn ground and start doing squirrelly things seemingly so oblivious to me that I can get to within about 10m. I’m taking photos constantly. Apart from their colour and size, they have a subtly different behaviour to the greys - I can’t say what it is but it makes them more appealing somehow.
1445. Continue to wander around the island, slowly doing a long clockwise loop. Starts to rain so I dive into a conveniently located information hut. It has posters illustrating the history of the island, apparently it and the house used to be owned by a recluse who dismissed all her servants and ended up with a disastrous fire. A brick industry was established at the West end of the island and Baden-Powell set up his first scout camp on the South side, a fact that has not gone unrecorded by dint of a memorial stone and a statue of him on Poole quayside wistfully looking out to the Island. The camp still exists, though with perhaps more comforts than B-P enjoyed!
1422 Rain over and I walk past a manicured lawn dotted with peacocks and gaudy looking chickens into the first patch of woodland. All the other boat passengers have gone elsewhere so it’s just me and ...well there they are! Three red squirrels bounce out of the trees onto the leaf-strewn ground and start doing squirrelly things seemingly so oblivious to me that I can get to within about 10m. I’m taking photos constantly. Apart from their colour and size, they have a subtly different behaviour to the greys - I can’t say what it is but it makes them more appealing somehow.
1445. Continue to wander around the island, slowly doing a long clockwise loop. Starts to rain so I dive into a conveniently located information hut. It has posters illustrating the history of the island, apparently it and the house used to be owned by a recluse who dismissed all her servants and ended up with a disastrous fire. A brick industry was established at the West end of the island and Baden-Powell set up his first scout camp on the South side, a fact that has not gone unrecorded by dint of a memorial stone and a statue of him on Poole quayside wistfully looking out to the Island. The camp still exists, though with perhaps more comforts than B-P enjoyed!
1545 Starts to rain again, this time I take shelter under a moss-covered oak tree. Snap a pic of an emerging mushroom. Seems to be a good place for fungi – got pics of several different sorts which I’ll have to try and put on iSpot later. Further on, wood ants have made a large pile of pine needles into a conical nest.
1700 On the last boat off the island though one can stay overnight as there is a hotel and if you are lucky enough to work for John Lewis, they have holiday apartments for their staff! There is more to see than I’d time for – e.g. a whole nature reserve I didn’t get a chance to walk round. The boat takes us on a guided tour around Poole harbour on the way back which was fine except that it means I miss my train by a whisker - so it will be a night bike ride back from Winchester. Such fun!
No comments:
Post a Comment