'Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me....'

This evening's Great Ball of Fire sunset was the Best....

This tree should officially be my favourite, ever!

But, in the New Forest, it is just a tree, amongst millions of other trees....

Looks better LARGE!

The Big Walk to Burley

Officially the best ever walk undertaken by anybody, ever!

Burley is one of those perfect little villages that every tourist coach either drives through, or drops in on. For many, it is the only half hour they'll ever spend in the entire National Park.

It is pretty, has perfect thatched cottages, twee little tearooms and a cricket pitch. Ponies and donkeys are the unpaid extras. A couple of very expensive swish and exclusive hotels and a good big pub that does food and drinks. 

Visitors would think that the entire village only consisted of these two dozen or so houses but it does in fact sprawl over several miles radius and within a few minutes walk, some of the best natural New Forest there is awaits you. Not that those poor souls on coaches would ever know. Good Lord, they might have to confront a puddle, or even worse, something left behind by one of those Forest inhabitants.

But for those without personal transport, it is a long walk. Five miles from Ringwood, via the old Castleman disused railway track, part of which is now a cycle route/path. Up Crow Hill, Kingston Common and then onto Burley Street (a separate hamlet to just plain Burley).

Thus, my last visit to the area was nearly six years ago!

A good and better walk than last time, with wonderful ancient woodlands such as Ridley and Berry Woods. Then, high up onto Ridley and Backley Plains, past Soarley Beeches and whilst clocking where I would get my sunset, starting to panic slightly that I would not find a suitable foreground for such a magnificent fiery orb, stumbled on this specimen somewhere near Backley Holmes.

A longer lens, to magnify that sun meant less tree and here it is about the tree, framing that sun. That framing makes the sun look bigger. Leaning back into a gorse bush, whose prickles can of course penetrate all known types of clothing, I stopped the Tamron SP 70-300mm VC fairly well down, to get both tree and sun sharp.

Just minutes later, the glowing orb sunk behind a bank of cloud and disappeared. I then suddenly realised that I was some 6 or so miles from Ringwood - and the last bus back home!!

Latent light, then dusk, then twilight, followed by torchlight in darkness and I then ran for that last bus.

I'll leave it up to you to work out if all that was worthwhile. I know the answer. And, behold, after 15 miles ramble or so, more lovely sunshine, it's bed-time, again! A bath though and washing drying on the line that I put out this morning, still to get in!!

Thanks again for lovely comments and everything on yesterday's Semaphore Blip.