Berry Beeches

We've not walked this way for at least two or three years, it's good walking your less frequented routes.. Berry Beeches stand on the northern edge of the expansive South Oakley enclosure, an unenclosed old beech, oak and holly woodland in a mostly open setting, nestled below Backley Plain on the border of the wider plains which run through the upper central forest. It feels, as you'd imagine, an isolated and exposed place, but also has a touch of the weird and creepy about it. It's the sort of woodland I remember filled with fog from the pulp horror movies of the 60's and 70's, especially the  Hammer films. As is common throughout the forest there are a number of closely paired oak and beech dotted about.  One pair certainly had that creepy movie aesthetic, an oak, now a shadow of his former self in his final trimester and his healthy beech partner, continue to dance entwined, oblivious as the rigors of times march on old oak. As I sat in the woods the weirdiness was accentuated by Geoff, a few meters from me, as he stood alert and fidgety looking off into the woods as if something scary was approaching, suddenly spooked he ran towards me, scared, looking back as he ran, sitting at my feet, again his ears up and alert nervously looking off into the woods. There was nothing there, or rather, nothing I could see. As I sat awhile Geoff periodically looked off through the stands for whatever he sensed, though eventually he appeared content that there was nothing there and relaxed. It's funny how the rational mind retreats leaving your primal mind to step forward, and you can't help but feel a shiver when your hound's spooked by the invisible.