Exploring East Hampshire

 

Today, I am going to tell you more about our visit to Hampshire and the area where our little shepherd's hut was located.  After a wet and stormy night and another wet day and night, we finally woke to a lovely sunny morning.

As it was early and Grizzly was still asleep, Polar suggested that we bears could join her for a walk around the lake which was just outside the hut. 

'You need to be quiet little bears,' she said.  'There's a man fishing out there and he won't want to be disturbed.'

So we jumped into our bear bag and promised not to natter or be noisy.

One of the reasons humans like to stay in the little shepherd's huts is that they are allowed to fish in the lakes, and they can keep and eat the trout they catch.  

Of course humans don't fish like bears, by wading into the water and grabbing the fish with their teeth or claws; they use a long stick with a very fine line and a hook disguised as a fly on the end.  This means it takes them much longer to catch their dinner and sometimes they even let the fish go again - which makes you wonder why they spent so much time trying to catch it in the first place!

We thought the lakes were very pretty and wanted to run and play on the grass in the sunshine so, when we were a good distance from the fishing man, Polar let us out of our bag.  

We found a grassy bank we could run up and roll down, then we found a little wooden seat we could climb for a better view of the water.  We waved to the ducks - a pair of tufted ducks and some little grebes - and watched the big trout in the water, who were all staying a nice long way from the fishing man.

Then Polar told us it was almost time for breakfast, and carried us back to our hut.  On the way, she showed us where the South Downs Way ran through the site.

'We'll take you up to Old Winchester Hill if it's fine this evening,' she said.

When we got back to our hut, Polar let us out of our bag, because Hanley Bear wanted to take a close look at the wheels of the hut, and to see where the electricity and water came in, and the waste water went out - as you know, he likes technical things.

Sure enough, after a very enjoyable day out (that I will tell you about in my next blogpost) we stopped on top of Old Winchester Hill and Polar carried us along to the Hill Fort.  This was carved out of the chalk downland to make a protected settlement for ancient humans during what they call the Bronze Age, when there were still wolves and wild bears in England, although Polar said the ramparts were mainly to protect them from other humans.

Grizzly said that the ditch would be quite an obstacle even for a modern army.  It was amazing to think that ancient humans built it without any powered tools or mechanical diggers.

Polar showed us a sign for the South Downs Way.  'We could walk back to our hut that way,' she said.  'But not today, because we've got the car with us.'

We could see the valley where the lakes and our little hut home were, but they were hidden in the trees.

Grizzly told us how he used to go cycling around this part of Hampshire when he was a cub, with his younger brother and their friends.  We think it was nice for him to be somewhere that had hardly changed since then.

In the middle of the hillfort, between two tumuli or burial mounds, there was an Ordnance Survey Triangulation Point, which Hanley Bear thought was very interesting, and a marker showing what the hills and landmarks were that you could see.

We could see all the way to the Isle of White and we could see two different hills called Beacon Hill - one just along from where we were and the other right on the border with Berkshire.  

I said to the other bears that I really liked the South Downs, as there were lots of herbs in the grassland that smelled nice and the grass was nice and springy for running on.  They said they did too, although Hanley insisted that it wasn't as good as Staffordshire.

'We're lucky bears to be taken to see all these places,' I said to Endon and Hanley, as we scrambled back into our bag for the long walk back to the car.

Then it was time to go home to our little hut for tea and another game of Peril of the Pole.  I don't know what Hanley Bear's strategy was that he said he had worked out the night before, but it didn't work, as I won that game!

Hanley gave me rather a hard stare, but said he knew where he had gone wrong and would definitely win next time.