A walk with Ozil

On Sunday Ozil Baboon went for a walk in the countryside to the south west of the island.  He started in the beautiful village of Brighstone and climbed up into the woods at Grammars Common.  Being a baboon Ozil took advantage of the opportunity for swinging in trees.

OK enough showing off Ozil, we know you can swing upside down!!

On leaving the wood Ozil could see the way ahead.  This is the Mottistone valley leading to the longstone.

We walked down the valley, to the house you can see in the distance, where Ozil visited the famous longstone.  It is thought to be an ancient burial artifact.

After the longstone there was a long slow climb up above the valley.  Ozil stopped to look back over where he had been.

A lot more climbing and Ozil was at the top.  He was pleased to say it was down hill all the way from there.

The cliffs behind Ozil are at Freshwater Bay, where we walked on Friday!  They are a long way west of where Ozil is, but he is high up so you can see a long way.

After a long descent we got back to Brighstone, where Ozil enjoyed swinging on the sign for the little village museum.  He would have like to go in but its not open on Sundays.

There is also a little library.  Ozil climbed up to see what time that would be open, but no luck there either.

We did a walk on Monday as well, but we spent a lot of time climbing over stinging nettles and avoiding getting stung, so no pictures, but it was a pretty walk.  We will blog about today's walk tomorrow.

Introducing Ernest

A couple of months ago the Baboon HQ laptop decided to stop working properly.  I took pictures of our new baboon, Ernest, but did not do the blog to introduce him. So, now we have the new Baboon HQ laptop (awesome), I would like to introduce Ernest Baboon, who joined Baboon HQ in June.

We took Ernest for a walk to Fishbourne and he stopped off for a rest outside the church of Holy Cross at Binstead.  This is a 13th Century church.  I hope Hurley is reading this blog, because he will see that Ernest is a cousin of his baboon, Boise.  We called him Ernest after our person's grandfather.

This was Ernest's first visit to the countryside and he loved the thatched cottages in Binstead.

Of course Ernest is a baboon so swinging in trees is a favourite pastime.  This is the wood between Binstead and Quarr.

Ernest had a look at the old ruins of Quarr Abbey, it was destroyed by Henry VIII when he dissolved the monasteries in England.  The monks went to Belgium to escape from the persecution of Catholics, and did not come back for 400 years, when they built the new abbey.  Ernest did not visit the new abbey on this occasion, as it was a Sunday and the monks would be praying.

By the time Ernest got to Fishbourne he was quite tired and rested on the seat under this ancient tree.

Ernest had a look at the sea at Fishbourne, you can see the mainland behind him.

Before coming home Ernest had a final swing in a tree at Fishbourne.

Ernest is enjoying being a Baboon HQ baboon and is taking a full part in Baboon HQ life.  He is a great chap and we enjoy having him living here.

Baboons, monsters, ice cream and scooters!

Harry Baboon has had a busy day!  He gets to go out quite a lot because he is a good poser!

He started out at Yarmouth Harbour, where there were lots of very expensive yachts around today.

Next he walked down the disused railway that he has often walked down, to the causeway at Freshwater.

He crossed this very big field, to the golf course on the top of the hill, over Freshwater Bay.  Harry doesn't stop there for photos, golf balls are best avoided!!

After walking around Freshwater, he took a loop back towards Yarmouth.  He saw these passion flowers.  He wondered whether they had landed from outer space.

Into the woods and Harry did the normal baboon climbing activities.  This is a very pretty wood that takes us back towards Yarmouth.

Back at Yarmouth Harry thought it was time the Lifeboat needed inspecting.

Harry also reacquainted himself with this creature, that ate Yarmouth pier.  I think posing in the teeth is above and beyond the call of duty.  Brave lad!!

Back in Ryde, Harry felt it was time for ice cream.  He went to the very nice ice cream parlour on the harbour.  He chose the lemon meringue flavour!!  Yummy!

That gave Harry the energy to check out the scooter rally in Ryde.  It happens every August Bank Holiday weekend, people come with their scooters, talk to each other about all kinds of scooter interesting facts and drink lots of beer.  It is a fun festival.  Harry saw a large number of scooters.

Harry chose this scooter to ride.

It is so smart and shiny and a brilliant colour!

After that Harry felt it was time to put his paws up back at Baboon HQ!  A tiring but fun day.

Historic Sandwich

In the spirit of the harmony that exists between Baboon HQ and Lion HQ, Jackson Baboon (aka Mini-Kolo) and Lawrence Lion (the newest lion at Lion HQ), when on a trip together.

Like all trips to the mainland, the trip began with a breakfast muffin on the car ferry.  Lawrence enjoyed that aspect of his first trip very much.

We drove to Kent and started by visiting Deal.  Mini-Kolo met this native American.  He was surprised to see him in Kent, and they got on well.

After visiting Deal we made our way to the neighbouring town, of Sandwich.

This is a very old town, one of Britain's Cinq Ports.  Lawrence had never been anywhere so old.

We stayed at the highly recommended Bell Hotel in Sandwich.  They have a great restaurant, and following fish and chips for dinner Mini-Kolo had a tiramsu!!  He really enjoyed that.

I think we have noticed that Lawrence is most keen on breakfast, he found these croissants in the dining room.

Mini-Kolo found some interesting luggage in the foyer.  He wondered who had left it behind!

Slightly more concerningly, he also found a murder kit in the reception area.  It looks as though he has been hit on the head with the candlestick!!  Oh dear, who dunnit??

Before we left we went for a stroll around Sandwich.  Lawrence was really pleased to find these bread hedgehogs in a market.  Don't you think he looks a bit like them?

After that we drove back to Portsmouth, and went on the car ferry again.  The boys enjoyed their adventure very much.

Aboo at the End of the Line

Today Aboo Baboon went for a walk.  He started at Totland, on the west of the island, and strolled, in a leisurely way, along the seafront to Colwell Bay.  On the way, after about five minutes, Aboo felt it was time to stop for a rest.

The little white speck you can see behind him is the lighthouse at Hurst Castle, that is attached to the mainland by a sand spit.  It is one of Henry VIII's coastal defense castles.

After Colwell Bay Aboo walked along to Fort Victoria Country Park, which is a climbing haven for baboons.

Anyone who has seen any of Aboo's previous blog posts will be familiar with his laziness.  When he reached the fort he decided to have a rest on this friendly dolphin's back.  I think Aboo thought the dolphin would give him a ride but he was out of luck there.

Back in the wood, this chap is familiar to most of our blog readers, most of the Baboon HQ guests have been introduced to him.  He lives in the woods in Queen Victoria Country Park.  However, Aboo is the first one to try to pinch the gentleman's cup of tea!!  Come on Aboo, lunch is waiting for you, leave the gentleman's tea alone!!

Further along and Aboo met this giant newt or salamander, near to a pond.  He is pretty big, but Aboo was not afraid and he got a ride on his back.  Finally someone gave Aboo a ride!!

Ah!!! lunch, the famous End of the Line quiche and salad!!  Surely Aboo couldn't eat all that!!  Oh yes he could!!

Henry from Lion HQ has a day out!

As you all know, Baboon HQ shares premises with Lion HQ, led by Leroy.  Today Leroy's brother Henry went for a walk.

Henry started at Quarr Abbey, where he stopped to chat with the piglets.  They are very sweet, their mother keeps a close eye on them, as they are still quite small.

We walked towards Fishbourne, where the car ferry comes in, but we didn't stop there, we set out to walk further.

Henry was happy to meet this much bigger lion, he was not scared as the lion seemed friendly.  To be honest, this lion doesn't do very much!!

We walked around in a loop up a country lane, past a holiday camp and up to a very old church.  We didn't stop for many photos as it started to rain.  However, Henry was surprised to find this.

A basket of vegetables and melon, in the middle of the countryside at Blackberry farm.  The produce and eggs they were selling looked delicious.

We stopped for lunch back at the abbey.  Look what Henry found there!!

That's more like it!!  Quarr Abbey beer!!  Henry is a bit young to drink, but he thought it looked good.