Tranquillity

Some evenings everything is just right in the forest, so it was for tonights walk. The sun still shone as we strolled through Brinken Wood, its rays just warming, though starting to fade as it sank towards the horizon, casting long shadows through the stands of ancient Beech. Ponies gathered out in the shade, as did the deer, neither noticed us passing by, or showed they had, both grazing with contentment. It's July but still the ground is soft under foot and areas of standing water persist, particularly through the younger section of Brinken Wood, where the woodland floor is carpeted by thick lush grass.  A large bird alights from one of the older trees and glides towards a denser part of the wood as we approach, it's a bird of prey though I can't make out which type. It's so quiet out here, checking your foot falls you too can move through the stands silently, so not to interrupt the tranquillity.  We cross Highland Water, still flowing well, although now a dark colour like ruby ale, the consequence of the heathland peats. We're now in Great Huntley Bank and a world of ancient Oak and Beech. It's still soft under foot and grassy, though as we move onto slightly higher ground it dries and the grasses are replaced by thick swathes of shoulder high ferns. It's easy to become disorientated, and has an added sense of wild about it. A couple of times in quick succession a solitary deer darts out of the ferns, glances and then swiftly disappears again.  The sun is lower still now, and the layer of tranquillity has thickened and now covers the woodland like the eiderdowns I remember as a kid.  We stand still. It's only when you stop like this and really listen that you hear the song of the forest, particularly at this time of day.  Yes, it's tranquil, but the song never stops and as we listen, our ears tuning in, we hear twilights verse in the forests song. Birds sing their good-nights, the nocturnals waking at the start of their day and distant ponies calling and then the sound of hooves as the dispersed come together for the night.   

Walking is peaceful, the quiet washes over you and through the jumbled thoughts and distractions of the day. Life can be filled with negativity, and it's hard sometimes not to be consumed by by it, or at the least distracted by it. The forest is a counsellor who walks with you and listens as you churn over your problems and worries. And even if those problems and worries persist, which they often do, your walk amongst the stands is respite enough for you to return to them a little bit clearer and with renewed strength.