St Cross to Winchester on New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve, the year is nearly at an end and frost lays heavy on the ground even this far south. Perfect weather for a winter walk from St Cross to Winchester.

The ground was hard underfoot as we set out from Five Bridges Road past the farm alongside the River Itchen.

The wintry sun sat low in the sky, just warm enough to slowly melt the morning's frost, drip, drip, drip from the skeletal oaks and beeches.

The Hospital of St Cross and Almhouse of Noble Poverty. ‘England’s most perfect almshouse’ (Simon Jenkins: England’s Thousand Best Churches).

He withers all in silence, and in his hand
Unclothes the earth and freezes up frail life.
~William Blake (1757-1827), "To Winter"

Mist still lay across the fields, yet to be burnt off by the pale winter sun.

The days are short
The sun a spark
Hung thin between
The dark and dark.
~John Updike, "January," A Child’s Calendar, 1965

Into Winchester and past the last home of Jane Austen.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” Edith Sitwell.

Happy new year to all.