And breath

Our walk through the forest was undertaken at a fair pace; we completed 5.3 miles in 79 minutes; not bad eh. We took the all weather forestry track from Wood's Corner through the broad leaf and conifer mosaic of South and North Oakley enclosures, which finishes 4 miles later atop Mogshade Hill; although we only made it as far as Smokey Hole before turning back on ourselves. But for the chatter of birds high in the canopy the forest was all very quiet and still; walking was proper meditation this morning. A reliable walking surface allowed me to work on my breathing; practising what I'd describe as my version of box breathing on the flat, breathing through my nose, inhale 3, hold 2, exhale 3, hold 2 (more like rectangle breathing), and inhaling through my nose and out through pursed lips on the climbs; all the time trying to maintain a calm relaxed posture whilst sustaining reasonable cadence. I found myself a good rhythm; legs and breath working in harmony. A good walk.

Minor voyages of rediscovery

Watering and weeding are daily jobs at this time of year and I've been undertaking increasing convoluted cycles to the allotment to ward off the boredom of the short urban rides there and back, and to rebuild my cycling capacity. The rides aren't that long, 14/15 mile round trip, but each has been minor voyage of rediscovery. I used to regularly walk and ride the network of paths, tracks and back roads that criss cross the Avon Valley. I used to know all it's hidden ways and how they all connected, although I've not traversed them for maybe 15 years. Their rediscovery has been a real joy, some have changed nought, whilst others are like different tracks having been renewed and restored; and since we suffered months of flooding a few years back all the ditches and small streams have been cleared too.  Taking the bore or my chore. 

Walking through time

Green Lanes are a loose network of unmetelled grass tracks which criss cross the countryside and have their origins in the routes travelled hundreds, if not thousands of years in the past. The countryside and land usage around them may have changed, though you know their well trodden route's have not altered for centuries, if ever. If you allow your imagination to wander, you can walk through time along them.

Commoners' Passage

The forest can be a challenging landscape to navigate in the winter.  The plains, whether high or low, are for the most part waterlogged, and the hidden boggy hollows of this undulating world are thoroughly sodden. It's easy for your walk to turn into an arduous soggy trudge. The forest would be impassible without track-ways like 'Commoners' Passage', which would have been serving locals and travellers for centuries. It says on a commemorative plaque the track was restored in 2004 (you'd not have known), it just shows how such passages weather, as although the short causeway over the bog remains in fair condition, the track itself has been heavily degraded in places by countless walkers, riders, cyclists and ponies. On the ridge above, a well preserved, though robbed out, Bronze Age Round Barrow is testament to the history of human activity in the area, and the sanctity of these isolated wet places to our ancestors.  

Burley Old ride

One of the rides through Burley Old.

Wooden trackway

I followed a feint track through Burley Old, the track maybe feint, though it's old too and I've trodden for years, it winds around woodland features and obstacles, and also appears to have been recently and deliberately cleared of leaves in sections, or maybe I'm seeing what I want to. The track continues to wind on through the stands, over one of the grassed forestry tracks where it crosses the head of a shallow, and seasonally wet, hollow. When it's wet you just deviate the path and avoid the damp patch, merely another wind in the track, I've done it many times. No, someone has purposely, and with effort and consideration, build a short section of wooden trackway. The track is made of branches roughly the same gauge, and the same length. A lot of unnecessary effort, to my mind anyway. Another woodland anomaly, I often come across them, just someone taken with an idea. Though in this case maybe not, as after the hollow the track leads on towards the deliberate clearing I came across a while ago. I wonder if the track winding through the stands, freshly cleared, the wooden trackway and the clearing are all connected? It's possible. Maybe, as I mused, an eleborate and romantic marriage proposal. Maybe something more pagan, maybe someone's creating a ritual pathway, a symbolic journey of some sort, whatever it is, these things are being created for a reason, connected or not, though I feel the former. I'm going to be extra vigilant as I walk, see if I can find anymore bits of the puzzle, if there are any to be found.  Whatever, it just adds another layer of magic and mystery to my already wondrous forest roams.

Cranborne Track

When you're out walking the byways and ancient tracks which criss-cross Cranborne Chase it's easy to lose yourself in the wonder of the landscape. No doubt the landscape has changed drastically over the last century, the industrialization of farming, societal changes, and all that. Though under the dappled shade of veteran trees, which line an ancient track, upon whose trunks a myriad of historical names and events are memorialised, the land appears timeless. It's a beautiful place, the Chase.