Old ways

We'd not walked along Black Water, between Black Water Bridge and the Vinney Ridge ford, for an age.  It's section of stream which had never been straightened and has a wild feel to it; its woodland environs are dense with flora in the summer and waterlogged during the winter, making it hard to traverse.  Even this early in the season the woodland is tricky.  Below the ford Black Water used to be a straight drain, turning into Fletchers Water at the Rhinefield Bridge, another straight drain, a really straight drain, though about a decade ago they began remodelling sections of it.  Now, some years on, they've completely remodelled the stream from the Vinney Ridge ford all the way to Highland Water. I'd say it's the most remodelled stream in the forest to date (as the stream above Black Water Bridge all the way to its upper reaches has been restored), and for the most part it looks better for it. Now it meanders again, following through its older course, and like the other restored streams in the forest it's a considerably more diverse environment. It'll take some years more before it completely naturalises, and the stream side paths consolidate. A lovely bit of the forest.