Almost the
whole Forest is like a great sponge, water standing in every part. In
the part nearer to Xchurch forest trees, especially beeches, seem to
grow well. We stopped to bait at Lyndhurst, a small place high up in
the Forest: a good view, such as it is, from the churchyard. The
hills of the Isle of Wight occasionally in sight. On approaching
Xchurch the chalk cliffs of the west end of the Isle of Wight (leading
to the Needles) were partly visible; and, as the sun was shining on
them, they fairly blazed. Xchurch is a small place with a
magnificent-looking church (with lofty clerestory, double transept,
&c., but with much irregularity) which I propose to visit
to-morrow. Also a ruin which looks like an abbey, but the people call
it a castle. There is a good deal of low land about it, and the part
between the town and the sea reminded me a good deal of the estuary
above Cardigan, flat ill-looking bogs (generally islands) among the
water. I walked to the mouth of the river (more than two miles)
passing a nice little place called Sandford, with a hotel and a lot of
lodgings for summer sea-people. At the entrance of the river is a
coastguard station, and this I find is the place to which I must go in
the morning to observe the tide.
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