Sharing a walk with my best friend.

Good morning. I am sitting here with Lily on my knee as usual, and back to wearing lots of layers in my central heating free zone. This mild weather means I can live with the absolute minimum of heating, only putting it on for an hour in the evening if it is really cold. I'm on target for a relatively cheap gas bill in February.

Loads of photo's to wade through, here are a few of my last morning with Carol, on Monday. I managed to get her out for another walk, albeit quite short. Frensham Common is 1.5 square miles of open heathland midway between Farnham and Hindhead on either side of the A287. There are two ponds known as Frensham Great and Frensham Little ponds, and they are surrounded by coniferous and mixed woodland. The ponds were built in the 11th century to provide fish for the Bishop of Winchester's estate. The Great Pond was drained during the second world war to prevent enemy aircraft using it as a landmark.

We set off from the visitor centre car park to walk around the Great Pond in a clockwise direction. Part of the waters edge here resembles a sandy beach, children were enjoying themselves playing at building sandcastles and a moat.

A bit further on and we came to the Sailing Club. There were quite a lot of boats out on the water, a slightly warm breeze made it ideal conditions. Although I don't fancy having a go myself, I like to watch people busy enjoying themselves. Preparing to set sail.

Pushing the boat out into the water.

Rows upon rows of boats, all in their allocated parking slots.

Once out on the water the trailers are left along the edge for the return. People are sitting out on the deck of the boathouse enjoying the mild weather.

A life boat is on standby in case anyone gets into difficulty. A bit further round we stopped to watch the sailors as they grappled with the sail to keep themselves in an upright position. Throwing themselves from one side of the boat to the other as the wind changed direction. Several times we thought someone was going to flop their boat over, but they managed to heave ho and pull it back again, with the whole of their body leaning over the side. No wonder they all looked in peak physical condition, you need to work every muscle for this. A great sport if you like water and want to keep fit. This non water babe will stick to walking thank you ;o)

The Frensham Pond Hotel is right on the side of the water. This attracts a few ducks and swans, in the hope that a few morsels will be tossed their way.


Sorry mate, I have no bread today.

This is a Best Western Hotel, and prices range from £65 per night for a single, to £100 for an executive suite. It looks very nice but I will have to stick with Youth Hostels for the time being. One can dream, ha ha.


Aren't swans so very beautiful. They make a place feel very tranquil and fabulous. I love them.


After lunch back at Carol's I was ready to leave for Oxford. It's been a fabulous break, smashing to see my friend again, indeed Carol is the bestest friend anyone could have. She might poke fun at my quirky ways, but she is never condescending and she never looks down on me. Throughout our lives she has always earned more than I have, she had the brains to chose a lucrative career path, I just bimbled along doing what I loved best, driving a truck. Our lives have been completely different, the only thing we have in common is that neither of us had any desire to have children. So for more than 50 years we have remained friends, I hope we have many more years as best friends.