A walk on the forest

Today, because it was sunny and I truly honestly had nothing else better or more pressing to do, I decided to take myself off for a hike on the forest. This is just a short bus ride from my front door. With a little backpack, into which I put a warm top (just in case), a sausage roll, a bottle of water, a packet of crisps and some chocolate (just in case), I set forth:


From the bus stop, about 45 minutes of walking, down and up the hill in the previous photo, I got to this view, out across to the South Downs in the distance:


From afar, I saw two very precisely circular patches of much darker green than the surrounding areas. I decided that these were two fairy citadels (I know there's a "rational" explanation for what they "really" are, but I don't care what that is; they're fairy citadels and that's as good an explanation as I need). Because they were close together, I decided they must be bitter rivals, probably with a feud lasting generations. One of them was higher up the slope. The other had a tree in it. I realised that each was jealous of the other for these reasons (the one without a tree wanted a tree; the one that was lower down the slope wanted to be higher).

When I got closer, this is what the first one looked like, with the very pale grass surrounding the raised central structure:


The landscape is a working landscape, and the forest is used for open grazing of sheep and cattle. The forest is managed and maintained by a group called the conservators, and part of that management is the grazing. Scenes like this one (minus the metalled road surface) will have been a part of this landscape for many hundreds of years:

Drivers are expected to show caution!


Not much further on, I glanced back over my shoulder in the direction I'd come from, and saw this:


I decided I had better head back for home and shelter, which by now was about 90 minutes away on foot. As I started to head back, I felt the first few drops on my face.

Then, it started to rain:



As it happened, the rain didn't last very long, maybe half an hour to an hour, tops. I was able to finish my journey back to the bus stop in bright sunny weather, just like when I started my walk. By the time I got there, most of the dampness on my clothes was my own sweat (did I mention, HILLS!) and not the rain that had been falling.

In all, I spent just over 3 hours yomping across the contours of the forest, and boy, I was sore by the end, but it was definitely worth it, and it felt very good once the aches had eased out of my thighs and shoulders.