After lunch, Hubby fancied a field trip out to the woods where we used to take Maggie every day, sometimes twice, when we lived in the cottage.
It’s about 20 miles away and although the weather was a little uncertain, we put our yellows in the car and set off with the camera to hand.
Traffic was pretty light going in our direction so there were no hold ups, and we were pleased to note that the road leading to the woods had been resurfaced…….. not a pot hole in sight for about two miles!!
The car park entrance had also been resurfaced, but the car park itself still had the usual caverns in the usual places, despite being filled and refilled with gravel and chalk dust!
The car park was quite full, but as there are so many different tracks you can follow, this was never offputting because most times you wouldn’t meet up with anyone. Saying that, on another day you could be one of two vehicles parked up and bump into the other owners at least twice.
We were cautious because of Hubby’s knee, but managed to cover quite a distance on familiar routes. Memories of lost bulls, long walks, pensive moments, and Maggie’s natural curiosity came to the fore, and both of us fully expected her to come running out of the undergrowth so excited at what she’d found and wanting us to follow.
Some of the woods have recovered, but we remember the devastation before we left the area where trees had been felled destroying natural habitats for birds and animals. Now areas where we used to walk are overgrown with brambles and the little ‘side alleys’ Maggie loved to explore hardly visible.
Humphrey’ stump is still there, but only half the size it was due to rot and worm. 
All these were taken on two visits made in January 2018.
I didn’t take any pictures today as quite honestly there wasn’t much to see. We did meet up with two ladies and three labradors, all of which knew which pocket the biscuits were in.
Memories of happy days.
Maggie on the wall ruins April 2014. She so loved to climb.
pensitivity101 