Prancing On Ice

It may be the last place people think to go to in the winter but recently James and I went walking at the beach. It was freezing cold and really windy but a good excuse to dust off my walking boots from Nepal. Still had to tog up with lots of layers though. Probably looked very silly driving down there in a roofless car with hats, scarves, gloves and thermals on. However the sky was clear and the sun was out. Thats out excuse anyway. There were an surprising number of people out walking their dogs and sailing their yachts. Having bought himself an new camera on the way back from Amsterdam it was a good chance to get in some practise. Luckily the sunset gave a very pretty background to the scenery.


The beech has not been our only walking destination recently. A few weeks ago we went for a mini trek up to Kingly Vale, a hill with some impressive landscape around. While we were up there we decided to go up over the top on the hill. This meant wandering off the normal path. However it also meant we got to see a herd of deer. Initially we only saw three. Two females and a stag with huge antlers. Once they saw us more were revealed as they ran off into the woods. There were probably about ten in total. Amazing.

Last weekend was the coldest by far yet this winter. So cold that the Mill Pond in Emsworth froze over completely. This obviously gave a chance to go ice dancing, well sliding anyway. Slightly nervous at first that we would get wet feet the confidence quickly grew when a couple of 16st ish guys jumping up and down didn't make it crack. The whole town seemed to make the most of it by playing ice hockey, curling bricks with garden brooms and dogs skidding in all directions.

Last Minute Holiday

What should you do on a long weekend? Skip the country of course. This was exactly the idea James and I had when we decided to book a last minute get away. Having surfed the interweb to find the best deal possible we made a snap decision to take a risk and go for a short break in Amsterdam in a mystery hotel. Risky you might say. However we got lucky and ended up staying in pretty nice hotel not far from the Schipol airport and a short train journey into the centre of Amsterdam.

A picture of one of the canals with an example
of some typical architecture in the background.

Once in the small city centre we made the most of being able to walk to most places though on several occasions we came close to being run over by bicycles. We went on the obligatory canal trip to get an overall view of the city sampling views of the strange tall houses they have there. We also wandered down to the Van Gough museum and had a nose around some botanical gardens.

Amsterdam is a city full of museums and loads of tourists. However it does also live up to its name. It is a very forward and liberal city and mixed in amongst the houses and shops were the brown cafe's and red lit windows it is now famed for. All very bizarre. All in all our weekend was a short trip away but definitely worth while.