Moyles Court and Summerlug Hill Walk

Pond at Summerlug Hill

After a cold start this morning it turned into a glorious autumn day. Mark and I drove out to the New Forest for a walk. We started at Moyles Court and followed the Avon Valley Path to Mockbeggar. From there we climbed up Summerlug Hill, walked across the heath and then down to Rodents Bottom, returning to Moyles Court via Bigsburn Hill and Rockford.

This is a superb little walk. Fields, streams, fords, woods, heathland, paddocks, a pond, fantastic views, ancient oaks, ponies, donkeys... all in 3 miles! There are a couple of places that are muddy but we managed to cross them on logs etc pretty much unsullied. In wetter times wellies would be in order.

The leaves on the trees are changing colour and the bracken has turned the colour of my childhood canine companion, Chum. In another couple of weeks the colour will be magnificant. There are a lot of holly berries around. I have noticed that quite often in the forest there are oaks and holly growing together - seemingly from the same spot in the ground! I haven't managed to get a satisfactory picture yet because the oak is usually much taller than the holly but I did manage to get one picture today with both holly and oak leaves in it.

On Summerlug Hill there is a pond and we sat there watching the reflections of the clouds in the water as we ate our sarnies. As we made our way back to the car we met a couple of friendly donkeys who came over for a pet.

If you fancy taking this walk the route is in Jarrold Short Walks - the New Forest National Park.