As I mentioned earlier these woods are being prepared for the arrival of European Bison and fences are being erected and the old ones being taken down. These older fences were from the previous era when Konic Ponies and Highland Cattle grazed in here. The enclosures for these had covered large areas and many woodland tracks I knew were shut off and inaccessible, shut off within the enclosures, and have been for about a decade.
Now these old fences are being removed as the new fence layout is installed. This provides the opportunity to re-walk old pathways I had not been along for 10 years. I have been enjoying re-discovering these paths and trying to match them to my original map. Today I set off along one of these forgotten paths into the interior of a section of woods I had not been in for so long. After several hundred yards the path dissolved and I was just walking through woods with no reference points at all. Large areas of bracken seemed to encroach from all sides. But in the end a series of fence posts emerged, no fence just the posts. This was a slight relief as things were getting dense and difficult to pass through. A machine/vehicle had passed through removing the wire and the enclosure edge was easy to follow. I knew if I followed these posts, I would come out somewhere I recognized eventually and sure enough I came out below the pylons. The bracken or is it Lady-Fern was really established combined with the brambles this fence corridor was the only way to navigate through the ‘interior’ there were no pathways at all. The sun was out and I enjoyed the colours and the early morning light. I was blissfully empty of thoughts just walking in a green and golden natural cathedral really.
Then it all went horribly wrong!
