Hartshill Hayes 13 January 2018
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 furthest trees. Another gift.
Up to Oldbury Hills, too early for sunset, so I walked down the road, past the walled garden where I always imagined they kept tigers when I was a child, and down to where the conker field used to be. I think the big old trees over there are still the conker trees.
It's cold sitting still. Fresh cold air on my legs. The pines against the morning sky are beautiful. There is cloud cover so I might not see the sun rise, but it's only seven minutes now, so I may as well wait. Then I might find a discreet spot for a wee. - oh, and I used the compass on my phone to check where the sun would rise. Technology in woods. Love it.
9.06am, entrance to St Lawrence's Wood
This is a strange place, a memorial wood, all the trees planted in memory of someone. At the top there's a board with everyone's names. Some trees have grown, but none a very big. It seems a bit risky to me. What if the tree doesn't thrive? That would feel quite sad.
I just walked the circuit of the sponsored walk I did when I was ten or eleven, except of course, I didn't go and check in at the school. I didn't measure it either, but they said back then it was two miles. I walked it ten times that day and it felt easy. Some of the paths have been upgraded. One path I remember as very muddy with red clay, and a concrete pipe at the side of the path, running towards The Woodlands, parallel to the main ride, it seems as though it's been concreted, although that is overlaid with leaf and pine litter. No sign of the concrete pipe, bit I did see some patches of red clay here and there. The path along the bottom of the wood has been downgraded, is probably not now officially a path, but a dogwalkers' path. A path of desire. There's a plank bridge over a stream and some rudimentary steps.
I walked back up the main ride. The second time today, and I couldn't smell that fresh wood smell. I could smell the disturbed earth. Eventually I got a whiff, but not like the first time in the dark. Is that to do with the air? the light? my nose?
There are dog walkers out now. Not many. One man walked by smoking a cigarette that smelled as though it was rolled with pipe tobacco. and I was thinking, walking these paths I used to know so well, it's like visiting a town you lived in, a part of London, but there are no street names. They would help in a town, but here I only have my memory to guide me, As I start to walk the paths, that memory starts to wake up, and I find I do know the way.
9.30am
oh yes, I was going to write about the slope up out of the woods, from the main ride onto Oldbury Hills. It's gradual, it's tarmac, it's easy. I remember when it was sudden and steep, a stream at the bottom sometimes, icy sometimes. The icy makes me think of Christmas walks. All the excitement of Christmas as a child, pillowcases,chocolates, carols, pudding. And now, in the bottom of St Lawrence's Wood, near a place where we found footprints, blood, in the snow, fox and chickens, on a cold Christmas day.
10.56am
At the carpark now. So far I haven't seen anyone without a dog, but I guess that may change as the day progresses. The weekend, a lie-in, people will start arriving later. The kiosk opens soon. I will get a cup of tea and introduce myself. The car park is filling up.
I just got distracted, diverted. I got to the end of St Lawrence's Wood where I write about Christmas, then I thought, I'll just have a look at that path that goes over to Mancetter. Then I found I was going there. I walked over to Purley Chase Lane, up the lane, back alongside the quarry, with a short diversion to the pond at Purley Chase. Strange, strange. The rhododenrons have grown so much they hide the pond, it's like the jungle surrounding the Sleeping Beauty. A bit hazy like something from a dream. I bit spooky too.
It's not really got any brighter since dawn.
Cloudy, hazy, like the whole day is a dream really, starting in the dark wood with the deer and the sharp smell of wood. Then I walked by the quarry. I now have a cup of tea and a treacle tart and the information that Mike the ranger is here somewhere in the woods with some volunteers. The girl at the kiosk seemed like someone with a Saturday job, so I didn't introduce myself.
The quarry was scary, as it always was, the works surrounding it, spoil heaps, machinery. Also exciting.
I thinks it's not as deep as it used to be. Anyway, it was a diversion, it is not woodland, but it was a good thing to do. The place where the reservoir used to be - the big trees at the end of the garden at Purley Chase. I wonder if any of my family ever go to the pond.
After this beak I'll head back into the woods, choose some random paths, see if it's possible to get lost at all.
12.30pm
Sitting on a fallen tree to write this time. I have met Mike the ranger, who is very nice, fifty-five, married. loves his job and is very chatty. Today he is working with a group of volunteers to clear a pond, get some mud out to repair the wounds in the ground made by the foresters. I can smell the wood here - quite a lot has been cut up - piles everywhere. But Mike said you can always smell things more in the dark because you can't see, you're other senses kick in.
The wood is wounded and many trees are being removed- it was too crowded. Last time I was here I remember thinking that it needed some clearance. Next time I come, in a month, the work should be finished. So far i haven't got lost, partly because I chatted to Mike for a while. But also because even if I don't know the exact path I'm on, I know before long I will recognise where I am. This is not a wood I can get lost in. Not big enough, and I know it too well. I've been out now for five and half hours. My plan was to stay until after sunset - after four. Let's see how that goes.
1.45pm
Back down at the bottom path again, and now I think I remember when this was a new path, that it wasn't here when I did the sponsored walk. Then we walked on a path through the bottom of The Hollows that isn't there anymore. At least I don't think so. Maybe I'll go and have a look in a bit. I haven't been into The Hollows yet. I could go there, then up to the Green, then down the castle path to the cemetery and visit Mum and Dad. I've not managed to get lost, though I have found myself back on paths I'd walked before. I've found some more red clay down in the bottom of the woods.
Some things I've liked - makeshift crossings over muddy patches and tiny streams and ditches - made of sticks and other vegetation;
the orange colour of wood in a felled pine - so bright;
Muntjac - I saw one a little while ago vanishing into the scrub. The deer this morning seemed bigger. Are there deer here other than muntjac?
I've eaten all of my food. All I have now is water. I would like a cup pf tea quite soon. I might go to AK's then do back into the woods for dusk/dark. Maybe walk up to the carpark and back along the road. Sounds like a plan.
5.30pm
Back at Bethany now. I've walked nearly fourteen miles. At AK and Chris's for two hours. They talked about local news, and I was reminded that this place has an underbelly of darkness. Murders, suicides, attacks. After I left i walked through the woods, and it was later than I'd planned, half an hour after sunset. I wasn't sure if I was brace enough. I walked very quickly, racing the dark. Very different from the morning, welcoming the light.
In the carpark at the top there were some people, a woman, a man, a crying child, a an. Probably all very innocents, but I started to have fantasies about kidnap, other horrible crimes. Could be food for my novel.
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 furthest trees. Another gift.
Up to Oldbury Hills, too early for sunset, so I walked down the road, past the walled garden where I always imagined they kept tigers when I was a child, and down to where the conker field used to be. I think the big old trees over there are still the conker trees.
It's cold sitting still. Fresh cold air on my legs. The pines against the morning sky are beautiful. There is cloud cover so I might not see the sun rise, but it's only seven minutes now, so I may as well wait. Then I might find a discreet spot for a wee. - oh, and I used the compass on my phone to check where the sun would rise. Technology in woods. Love it.
9.06am, entrance to St Lawrence's Wood
This is a strange place, a memorial wood, all the trees planted in memory of someone. At the top there's a board with everyone's names. Some trees have grown, but none a very big. It seems a bit risky to me. What if the tree doesn't thrive? That would feel quite sad.
I just walked the circuit of the sponsored walk I did when I was ten or eleven, except of course, I didn't go and check in at the school. I didn't measure it either, but they said back then it was two miles. I walked it ten times that day and it felt easy. Some of the paths have been upgraded. One path I remember as very muddy with red clay, and a concrete pipe at the side of the path, running towards The Woodlands, parallel to the main ride, it seems as though it's been concreted, although that is overlaid with leaf and pine litter. No sign of the concrete pipe, bit I did see some patches of red clay here and there. The path along the bottom of the wood has been downgraded, is probably not now officially a path, but a dogwalkers' path. A path of desire. There's a plank bridge over a stream and some rudimentary steps.
I walked back up the main ride. The second time today, and I couldn't smell that fresh wood smell. I could smell the disturbed earth. Eventually I got a whiff, but not like the first time in the dark. Is that to do with the air? the light? my nose?
There are dog walkers out now. Not many. One man walked by smoking a cigarette that smelled as though it was rolled with pipe tobacco. and I was thinking, walking these paths I used to know so well, it's like visiting a town you lived in, a part of London, but there are no street names. They would help in a town, but here I only have my memory to guide me, As I start to walk the paths, that memory starts to wake up, and I find I do know the way.
9.30am
oh yes, I was going to write about the slope up out of the woods, from the main ride onto Oldbury Hills. It's gradual, it's tarmac, it's easy. I remember when it was sudden and steep, a stream at the bottom sometimes, icy sometimes. The icy makes me think of Christmas walks. All the excitement of Christmas as a child, pillowcases,chocolates, carols, pudding. And now, in the bottom of St Lawrence's Wood, near a place where we found footprints, blood, in the snow, fox and chickens, on a cold Christmas day.
10.56am
At the carpark now. So far I haven't seen anyone without a dog, but I guess that may change as the day progresses. The weekend, a lie-in, people will start arriving later. The kiosk opens soon. I will get a cup of tea and introduce myself. The car park is filling up.
I just got distracted, diverted. I got to the end of St Lawrence's Wood where I write about Christmas, then I thought, I'll just have a look at that path that goes over to Mancetter. Then I found I was going there. I walked over to Purley Chase Lane, up the lane, back alongside the quarry, with a short diversion to the pond at Purley Chase. Strange, strange. The rhododenrons have grown so much they hide the pond, it's like the jungle surrounding the Sleeping Beauty. A bit hazy like something from a dream. I bit spooky too.
It's not really got any brighter since dawn.
Cloudy, hazy, like the whole day is a dream really, starting in the dark wood with the deer and the sharp smell of wood. Then I walked by the quarry. I now have a cup of tea and a treacle tart and the information that Mike the ranger is here somewhere in the woods with some volunteers. The girl at the kiosk seemed like someone with a Saturday job, so I didn't introduce myself.
The quarry was scary, as it always was, the works surrounding it, spoil heaps, machinery. Also exciting.
I thinks it's not as deep as it used to be. Anyway, it was a diversion, it is not woodland, but it was a good thing to do. The place where the reservoir used to be - the big trees at the end of the garden at Purley Chase. I wonder if any of my family ever go to the pond.
After this beak I'll head back into the woods, choose some random paths, see if it's possible to get lost at all.
12.30pm
Sitting on a fallen tree to write this time. I have met Mike the ranger, who is very nice, fifty-five, married. loves his job and is very chatty. Today he is working with a group of volunteers to clear a pond, get some mud out to repair the wounds in the ground made by the foresters. I can smell the wood here - quite a lot has been cut up - piles everywhere. But Mike said you can always smell things more in the dark because you can't see, you're other senses kick in.
The wood is wounded and many trees are being removed- it was too crowded. Last time I was here I remember thinking that it needed some clearance. Next time I come, in a month, the work should be finished. So far i haven't got lost, partly because I chatted to Mike for a while. But also because even if I don't know the exact path I'm on, I know before long I will recognise where I am. This is not a wood I can get lost in. Not big enough, and I know it too well. I've been out now for five and half hours. My plan was to stay until after sunset - after four. Let's see how that goes.
1.45pm
Back down at the bottom path again, and now I think I remember when this was a new path, that it wasn't here when I did the sponsored walk. Then we walked on a path through the bottom of The Hollows that isn't there anymore. At least I don't think so. Maybe I'll go and have a look in a bit. I haven't been into The Hollows yet. I could go there, then up to the Green, then down the castle path to the cemetery and visit Mum and Dad. I've not managed to get lost, though I have found myself back on paths I'd walked before. I've found some more red clay down in the bottom of the woods.
Some things I've liked - makeshift crossings over muddy patches and tiny streams and ditches - made of sticks and other vegetation;
the orange colour of wood in a felled pine - so bright;
Muntjac - I saw one a little while ago vanishing into the scrub. The deer this morning seemed bigger. Are there deer here other than muntjac?
I've eaten all of my food. All I have now is water. I would like a cup pf tea quite soon. I might go to AK's then do back into the woods for dusk/dark. Maybe walk up to the carpark and back along the road. Sounds like a plan.
5.30pm
Back at Bethany now. I've walked nearly fourteen miles. At AK and Chris's for two hours. They talked about local news, and I was reminded that this place has an underbelly of darkness. Murders, suicides, attacks. After I left i walked through the woods, and it was later than I'd planned, half an hour after sunset. I wasn't sure if I was brace enough. I walked very quickly, racing the dark. Very different from the morning, welcoming the light.
In the carpark at the top there were some people, a woman, a man, a crying child, a an. Probably all very innocents, but I started to have fantasies about kidnap, other horrible crimes. Could be food for my novel.
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