Field of Blue 2026 (2 - Norsey Woods)

On Sunday afternoon, we visited Norsey Woods. The advantage of Norsey over Hockley is mainly that I know it, and where the bluebells will be.   They did not disappoint. We expected the wood to be heaving with people, as the car park was full, so we went to another entrance and parked in the road. Once in the wood, it did not seem that busy. Perhaps that's because I follow paths that are not way marked.

The carpet of blue is interrupted by logs or fallen trees at times, but it continues into the distance, giving the wood a blue-purple floor.

I try very hard not to step on any of the bluebells.  It's not always possible because sometimes they have tried to invade the path.  Here we can see a path that has been made by a number of people walking on them for a considerable time - so sad that the carpet is ruined.

Celandine and wood anemone are still flowering, the anemones in particular add a sprinkle of white to the blue carpet.

It was a warm day, so the wood ants are busy building their nests ready for the summer breeding programme.  They don't care about the bluebells or the visitors, unless you're dumb enough to get involved in the nest construction.

Field of Blue 2026 (1 - Hockley Woods)

We had never been to Hockley Woods.  It's a popular place, perhaps especially in school holidays, we know this because the car park is full, and we had to park in a local road.  All the roads we drove through had parking restrictions at different times, we found one where the restriction was earlier in the day.

Then into the woods, we decided to follow the path that goes around the edge.  There were few, if any bluebells.  Plenty of wood anemones, and some celandine.  It's a very open wood, but the fields of blue seemed to be missing.  There was however a path off the main path where the bluebells are incredible.

Anemones

Celandine

The path took us across a broken down fence to part of the wood where there was a great field of blue, a proper carpet - but not one I would like to walk on.  Stunning views all around.  The path looped back to the main path, so we returned to entrance, and then the car.

It was now approaching 13:30, so time for lunch.  The Bull is just down the road.  It was heaving.  We got a table and ordered our food.  The wait was not too long.  The food was poorly served.  My chicken was 'out-of-the-fridge' cold, they took it away and (re-?)heated it.  Then parts were red hot and other parts just hot enough.  We probably won't go there again.

 

Road Angel Halo Pro - Setup and Initial Use

Road Angel Halo Pro

I bought Road Angel Halo Pro for our new car.  This is the picture you will most often see.  It is misleading.  The camera had a bigger footprint than suggested by this image.

The camera comes in a nice cuboid box, with a 32 Gb SD and micro SD on the outside under the cellophane.

Installing it was 'fun', the sort of fun you don't want to have.  So, don't follow the instructions, because if you can't make it connect it will be stuck to your windscreen.  I did the setup with the camera on the passenger seat.

The camera provides a Wi-Fi SSID to connect to.  It's the only way to communicate with it.  To get the app I downloaded from the Play Store to connect I had to turn off my VPN (normal), and delete the VPN profile.  Not great.  Then comes the re-naming, so that it doesn't present default values to anyone standing outside my car.

1) rename the Wi-Fi and set a password.  Now essentially start set-up again.  Delete everything from the app.

2) rename the device and set a password.  Now essentially start set-up again.  Delete everything from the app.

One other thing that tripped me up.  It knows my time zone - London, but it chooses to display the date in m/d/yyyy (American) format. 

Now, and only now, stick it to the windscreen and put the cabling behind the various bits of interior decor (where you can).

Now to get the videos off I have to delete the VPN profile, stop my home Wi-Fi from autoconnecting , connect to its Wi-Fi and run the app.  Too much like hard work - there has to be a better way.

So that I know what's happening, when It's powered up, it tells me it is working in an English language voice, and it tells me it's got GPS the same way.  Just occasionally it shouts something in a language I don't understand. 

It will also report collisions with your car in a car park, when you're not there, but to make that bit work, you need to buy an extra connection kit - bit of a cheek, to advertise a feature like that, that I can't use out of the box. 

Which has this as a 'best buy'.  Well I haven't seen any of the others, but on what I have seen so far I wouldn't recommend it - but I'm stuck with it (literally).