intrepid pony: Corfe Castle.

Corfe Castle from near the road

Corfe Castle from the farmer's field

While Van-Man walked the dog I transferred the contents of our fridge and toothbrushes to the van. He returned and packed his clothes (Mine had been in the van for days) and most important for Lottie, the dog food.

Lottie cooling off in the brook

We set off in sunshine and had an easy drive to Corfe Castle camping site as all the traffic moved well on the motorways. I took over the driving at Cobham services and stopped at Winchester services where we had lunch. Lottie enjoyed exploring the steep grassy banks after our picnic lunch. After visiting the toilets Van-Man drove along the final roads to Corfe Castle.

C+CC Site was small and on the side of a hill but had cut all the hard standing so that they were level. Van-Man was delighted as this meant no ramps were needed to level up after a day out exploring.

As with all C+CC sites the location was peaceful and friendly. Once we had set the Van up and Van-Man had had a brew Lottie demanded a walk. There was no dog area at the site but a gate led onto a web of public footpaths.

that feels better

We had just left the site when a van alarm sounded.

“That’s Sally,” Van-Man said, and abandoned Lurcher and me to check on his newest love.

He asked our neighbours if it was our van.

“No,” they replied. “The alarm is further away.” H promptly returned to his abandoned hound and wife and continued his walk. The path tilted uphill to begin with then joined a larger track which went left for Knowle Hill or right for Corfe Castle.

Corfe Castle village

“I’m not climbing up there,” Van-Man proclaimed and turned downhill towards Corfe Castle. Soon the track entered a field with cows grazing across the path with their calves.

“I don’t know how the cows will react to Lottie,” Van-Man said while I thought it was uncertain whether Lottie would pass by quietly or incite the cows into action by barking.

He swung onto a footpath around a farmer’s field that led to Corfe Castle village. After stepping over some nettles and avoiding thistles we crossed the road that we had taken to the campsite. Beyond the road the path led across the meadow. Lottie looked thirsty and trotted ahead as if hoping that she would find water at the bottom of the hill.

Thatched and slate roofed cottages

Fortunately the path crossed a narrow brook where Lottie stepped into the water, had a drink then sat down to cool off in the shallow water. While following this path we had splendid views of the castle up on the hill. From the brook the path cut through the corner of another meadow and emerged in Corfe Castle village. We walked through the pretty village, bought locally made ice creams and passed the entrance to the castle.

village centre

From there we followed the path between the brook and the castle mound. The outer wall tilted towards us at a crazy angle and at one point the stone tumbled down the hill as its foundations were too weak to hold it upright.

Finally we crossed the road and headed to the campsite hoping that the cows had moved on. They hadn’t but walkers coming towards us assured us the cows were fine with dogs.

By the time we reached the cows they were laying on both sides of the track. I walked ahead while Van-Man kept Lottie glued to his knee on a short lead hoping that she wouldn’t bark as her voice is both loud and aggressive.

one last dip on the way back to the camp site

However he had to encourage her to pass the cows. Clearly she knew she was intruding on their territory. The cows watcher her warily but our nervous Lottie didn’t go near the precious young. We were nervous as this spring a herd of cows has charged at and trampled a walker and his dog near our home on the Winnie the Pooh forest. Anyway there were no problems with the herd so we completed our walk without injury. Back at the van Lottie sprawled on the grass while Van-Man wrote this log. They stayed outside until Van-Man felt chilly as the sun went down.