Down Horton Lane

From time to time I mention the hawthorn along Horton Lane, sometimes quite special at this time of year. The white road that runs roughly north and south, joining the B280 below to the B2200 above. With Hobbledown of the nilgai of reference 1 marked in heavy purple on this map from OpenStreetMap, rather as the National Trust is marked on Ordnance Survey maps.

So an opportunity to see what the new phone could do.

I was heading north, that way being slightly down hill. Bit of a haul the other way, despite only being slightly uphill. The price being a bit of a run up to Christ Church down on the B280, a little before turning north into Horton Lane, but a short hill climb somehow seems a lot easier to me than the same height stretched over twenty times the distance.

Second shot. You would not think from this one that you are running through the site of four big mental hospitals, now more or less completely given over to housing, plus a certain amount of infill in the large amount of green space which had once been left for the patients. Plus a former Director (or perhaps Superintendent) was something of a tree-hugger, so the lane is also home to a large number of Wellingtonia, of which I have scored a reasonable sample.

The fifth hospital, St. Ebba's, was a little way to the east on Hook Road, to the right on the map above, still marked with a red cross for the few bits surviving. Just above where it says Parkviews.

I think the council is eyeing up some of the remaining green space with a view to using it to meet the housing target it has been given.

Third shot. I think the old phone would have done better on this one. But I don't suppose that I am going to start tweaking the default settings on the new phone any time soon.

Snaps notwithstanding, it looked pretty good for real. Quite a strong smell as well - but not an unpleasant smell, in the way of some blossom. Ivy, I think, can be pretty sickly.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/11/horton-country-park.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=nilgai. More nilgai.