squirmelia | Phone Post

Brockenhurst takes just over 20 minutes on the train to get to from Southampton and can be used as a route to enter the New Forest. There are cycle paths at Balmer Lawn, as well as a popular river picnic spot and loitering forest ponies.

The birds chirped like space-invaders as they flew around a watering hole underneath the midday moon. Small grass-covered bobbles were dotted across the tundra and I stepped from mound to mound, not touching the lower ground until I reached the other side where trees broke up the bleak landscape.

I was not careful enough when crossing from the woods into a clearing. The mud made that wondrous sucking noise and my shoes filled up with grey squelchy mud.

When I reached Standing Hat, I could see the tops of the tall trees beyond the pit as I dangled from a swing attached to a sturdy tree branch. I watched the sky as the swing twisted up and twirled me around, looking again for the midday moon.