Hollybank Woods

After yesterday's big adventure on Purbeck Isle and the Jurassic Coast and a late return last night, today was a no driving day. This morning we lounged about, Pam researching various nearby options while I wrote in my journal. It was late when we finally got going, so everyone was good with walking out of here into the Hollybank Woods and heading towards Rowland's Castle.

This was a long walk to a small town where, by the way, there is no actual castle. We sat in the grass together and ate the lunch we'd carried there. All in all the walk was lovely - great to be in the woods, and I'd say it was about 75 to 80 percent non-squabbling (But when we do squabble, we really squabble. We squabble like British royalty. No quarter.).

On the walk back we saw an English deer, which are slighter in stature and of a lighter hue than their American counterparts, and we happened upon a cherry tree which, while delicious, was too tall for us to decimate its fruit in the manner we would have liked.

Thought I had escaped driving entirely when Pam coerced me, over a delicious tortellini dinner, to chauffeur her down the road to Westbourne to get milk for tomorrow's coffee. She doesn't drive in England. Mostly she rides shotgun, screaming when I come to close to the curbs and yelling "thatched roof!" when we pass one of those.

Tomorrow, Brighton Beach.