We thought we would go out on to The New Forest heathland today, park up and maybe go for a walk. I couldn't find the place we wanted to go to so we stopped off at the next car park we came to. Bang!!! the lowered floor on the car hit a rut at the entrance. We drove on and parked up. I got Chris out of the car and then discovered the path was very steep gravel and I was worried Chris might get stuck so we loaded him up and went on to the next one. Bang!! the same thing happened to the car again. There were some horses here on a large green area so I took some photos, but again the path off was unsuitable, there were lots of families cycling on it too, so we left that one. We decided not to risk the car on another rutted entrance and went to Brockehurst instead, the one saving grace in the New Forest is that it is free to park in any of the car parks with a blue badge. Getting around the village though was not quite so easy with inaccessible shops and cafes. I found one where we could at least sit outside and I had a coffee. We had hoped to find a restaurant called 'The Thatched Cottage' where we ate all those years ago, but the footpath ran out and we couldn't get past the pony barriers. We did actually see some ponies under the bridge on the way there and because we had to wait for them to cross over I managed at least to get a photo of them.
As we had already decided to give up on going out on to the heathland, we went to Lyndhurst next where there was the New Forest Museum. That was quite interesting and then we made our way back to the bungalow.
Although I don't regret it I am not sure I made the right decision to come back here for a holiday. We certainly haven't been able to get out and about as much as we had hoped and it was never going to be the same as our honey moon 20 years ago. Chris really enjoyed the show yesterday which is something.
Chloe was moving into her new flat in Brighton today too. She hired a van and moved herself, but in a different life we would have been up there helping her and although she has coped well on her own and hasn't needed our help, I feel a little guilty that we weren't there to do that.
We are going home a day early. We would have to be out by 10am on Friday and leave the place exactly as we found it or we will lose our £75 cleaning deposit. Unless I get up at a ridiculous hour I will not get Chris up and dressed, the car packed and the bungalow made clean and tidy by 10am. I think we both just want to be home now too. I am also hoping the traffic won't be as bad tomorrow.
Like it or not MND does make a difference in everything. It is hard to plan anything too far ahead because you just don't know how fast it is going to progress. We want to go up and see Chloe in the autumn, but trying to find somewhere suitable nearby is proving tricky. We only wanted a long weekend, but it looks like the only option will be a week again and because these few and far between places are well equipped, well they don't come cheap. Also how will Chris be then? That is anyone's guess.
Us home birds wil fly back to the nest tomorrow and go back to same routine as we have here, but in familiar surroundings, we will continue to take one day at a time and deal with each step in decline as it comes. What else can we do?
