After an uneventful flight we arrived in the UK, picked up a rental car, and headed south-west towards the New Forest, to visit relatives. Despite GPS we managed to miss the odd turn, and eventually arrived at School road. Alas, the wrong school road (Google maps fail!). Remarkably, for an area that is relatively well populated, there was no mobile phone coverage. Thankfully we had Open Street Maps (via the OsmAnd app on the phone — no internet needed) which had the correct school road, and we got to our intended destination soon after.

Being bank holiday Monday, there was a fair at the end of the street, so we all went there after lunch for a quick look. The cheese rolling competition demonstrated a distinct lack of skills among the populace.

And being a sweltering day (by local standards – about 30°C there was an array of gratuitously exposed flesh on display.

From the New Forest, we headed North to Leicester to stay with my cousin. Leicester is a bit off the usual tourist beat, but it is a lovely place to visit. From my couin’s place in Blaby (about 8 km south of Leicester CBD) a 5 minutes walk takes one into the countryside, with a web of footpaths and rights of way through the idyllic scenery.

Green everywhere; hedgerows; blackberries a-plenty to forage from, crops, wildflower meadows. The canals that were the major heavy transport routes that made fortunes for the investors, now provide pleasant walkways and support a busy narrow-boat population that putters around the nation at about walking pace. The railways that superseded the canals are often out of service and have become walk/cycle tracks. The local meadows and ponds have lots of dragonflies and damselflies, so you’ll see lots of photos of those in the gallery.

So here is the gallery link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xTM1yCDwWCLKdSet8