Forest Walks

Last night we tried to do Daisy's walk. Daisy was a woman who loved this Forest and the walk was her favourite route. It used to be one of ours too. Two and a half miles, it was perfect for small children, long enough to seem like a long walk, not so long that we'd end up carrying them. It was varied - it went past fields, through beeches and pines, tall trees and scrub. A boardwalk across the wet soggy bottom of the wood, then broad sandy paths in sunshine where we once saw an adder basking.  Now there's no information about Daisy and the waymarkers have gone. We end up walking a slightly different route. We don't find the boardwalk. We cross the road and walk back to the cabin, past a gypsy camp, past the airfield.  This is a strange place. (- RAF - Orford Ness - Felixstowe Ferry - Bawdsey - more on this Anna). So no wonder it's a UFO hotspot. The airfield is cordoned off. A huge area hopping with rabbits. If you were an alien wanting to land, thi...

13 January 2018 7.56am Oldbury Hills Fourteen minutes to sunrise. Sitting on a bench to wait for it, a glove under each buttock to stop the cold. Maybe something to sit on should be part of my kit. So glad I got up early, got to the woods while it was still dark. Less than an hour, but what an hour. Stepping into the woods was scary, into blackness, like into water. But once I was in it wasn't so dark, I could see where I was going. Then I was stopped in my tracks by the smell. They are working in the woods, cutting down trees, and the fresh cut wood smell is clean, gorgeous. At first I thought pine, but it might be something else. I could see signs of damage due to the work, but too dark to really see what, Interesting to have this first visit in the dark. Then a noise - a dog? No. The creak of a branch? Maybe. Then a shadow running between the trees. A deer. It was a deer that made the noise. A gift. The daylight is beginning to glimmer through the furth...