Happy New Year!!

Dave and I went up on the Ashdown Forest for the first walk of the year. Cold and bracing, but beautifully crisp and sunny. Gorse in full bloom – bright yellow everywhere.

A year ago, almost to the day, we attempted the harbour walk at Rye, through the bird sanctuary. Dave hadn’t been able to walk 50 yards before he had had to stop. His knee was crippling him with arthritic pain. A year on, and a full knee replacement later, the challenge he set himself was a 5 mile circuit on the forest. Mission accomplished. Well done that man!

It was a glorious walk too. Although the car park we usually use – Gill’s Lap (ooh err!!) was rammed full of your once-a-year ramblers, we kept on trucking to the next one: Piglet’s.

In fact, we went the opposite way to our usual trail – and what a smart move that was! There are definite walking trails – circuits – on the forest, and as we were walking in the opposite direction to pretty much EVERYBODY ELSE, we must have greeted and called out Happy New Year to dozens of families, couples and dog walkers. There were plenty of riders on horseback too. Check out these magnificent creatures.

Anyway, there’s a point to this rambling blog today. As we were walking, we stopped and spoke to a few couples and families too. Everybody was very chirpy and chatty. One couple in particular stopped to talk. I mentioned that Dave had had a knee replacement less than 10 months ago, and was now able to walk this up hill down dale course with ease. So they then opened up, and told us that the husband, who was walking with two sticks, had recently had a brain tumour operation. Gulp.

“You’ve just got to keep going” he said “This won’t beat me!”

They then went on to tell us that they had set themselves the challenge of using every single car park on the forest as a different starting point for a trek.

“That way, we discover parts of the woodlands we have never been to.”

As we parted, waving and wishing each other all the very best from the heart, Dave and I walked in silence for a while.

Then Dave spoke.

“Someone always appears, without fail, to rightsize your world, to give you a message, don’t they?”

“They sure do”, I responded, “Give me a knee replacement over a brain tumour any day of the week”.

Then we talked about their idea of using each car park as a spring board for a different walk. And made a decision: that’s what we are going to do too.

I have already looked up the car parks, and all their names. Here’s a list of all the paying car parks

• 1. Forest Centre – RH18 5JP
• 2. Broadstone – RH18 5JP
• 3. Lintons- RH18 5JP
• 4. Townsends – RH18 5JP
• 5. Dumpys (summer) – RH18 5JP
• 6. Ridge (summer) – RH18 5JP
• 7. Pooh – TN7 4EX
• 8. Wrens Warren – TN7 4WW
• 9. Piglets – TN7 4WW
• 10. Quarry (summer) – TN7 4WW
• 11. Gills Lap North (summer) – TN7 4EU
• 12. Gills Lap – TN7 4EU
• 13. Four Counties – TN22 3JD
• 14. Reserve – TN22 3JD
• 15. Lodge – TN22 3JD
• 16. Church Hill – TN6 1XD
• 17. St Johns – TN6 1XP
• 18. Wood Reeves (summer) – TN6 1XE
• 19. Black Hill – TN6 1XE
• 20. Pines – TN6 1XE
• 21. Bushy Willow – TN6 1XE
• 22. Kings Standing -TN6 1XE
• 23. Waterholes – TN6 1XE
• 24. Pylons – TN6 1XE
• 25. Smugglers – TN22 3JB
• 26. Roman Road – TN22 3JB
• 27. Poundgate – TN22 3JJ
• 28. Duddleswell – TN22 3BH
• 29. Shepherds – TN22 3BJ
• 30. Ellisons Pond – TN22 3HU
• 31. Hollies – TN22 3HU
• 32. Box – TN22 3HU
• 33. Friends – TN22 3HU
• 34. Stonehill – TN22 3HU
• 35. Millbrook East – TN22 3HW
• 36. Millbrook West – TN22 3HW
• 37. Pippingford – TN22 3HW
• 38. Vachery – TN22 3HW
• 39. Trees – TN22 3HW
• 40. Long – RH18 5JN
• 41. Reservoir – RH17 7TT
• 42. Churlwood -RH17 7TT
• 43. Warren – RH18 5JH
• 44. Hindleap – RH18 5JH
• 45. Twyford – RH17 7DH
• 46. Goat – RH18 5JQFR
• 47. Recreation Ground — RH18 5LS

We pay an annual fee to use any and all of the car parks on the Ashdown Forest. Most folks know it from Winnie the Pooh – and rightly so! We walked in the 100 acre woods today. In fact, this is pretty much we trail we took! See the Quarry car park? Well Piglet’s is the next one along from there. So we crossed the road and went to the North Pole. It is a very steep incline indeed. Then we turned right at Eeyore’s Sad and Gloomy place, and walked all along the top ridge, looping back towards Gills Lap.

Then we crossed over the road in the direction of the AA Milne Memorial. But we cut into the Enchanted Place, and went a bit off piste…

I was the pathfinder, and Dave was bringing up the rear, so to speak. These are deer tacks, not human paths, I could hear him moaning in the distance…😂😂😂

Great walk, and a lovely plan. We’ve decided to explore a new car park each week, and I’ll blog all about it as we go. That way, you can come with us up on the Forest too — even if you live too far away to make the journey physically.

And I will pick a meaningful Pooh quote, from my lovely Pooh book, which sits right where I do. Today’s feels particularly fitting:

“You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you.
You have to go to them sometimes.”
Winnie-the-Pooh.

Ain’t that the truth. So off we go — one car park, one walk, one small adventure at a time.

Love & Clarity

Barb x x x