A walk I avoid at the busy times is the tall trees arboretum, but it is a beautiful winter walk.
The sweet smell of pine as the resin spills out onto damaged trunks, and the moss is illuminated in the low winter sun pushing its way through the stillness of the trees.
I walked the verge of the gravel tracks to quieten my footsteps, where I was surrounded by flooded woodlands, which reflected back the beauty and poise of the bare trees.
Not a walker or a cyclist to be found. Just me, with the trees and wildlife. Vibrant blue skies and cotton wool clouds. Even the waxing moon watched me as I walked.
Fallow deer grazed the rides, and robins and wrens tided amongst the wood stacks. A blackbird paused his leaf tossing to watch me pass, and I obviously passed the time of day with him.
Stepping between freezing shady woodlands and warming winter sunshine, I had forgotten the route I was out to recce and continually added length, love, and paths to my walk until I knew I couldn't anymore. A song thrush serenaded me with joy of my thoughts of 'I'll stay out just a little longer.'
My last gift from nature as I returned to the carpark was a treecreeper too busy foraging through a mossy tree to concern itself with me. The magic in that moment is the very little time I spend in this particular part of the forest, I see a treecreeper on this very tree every single time!
You can come and experience the beauty of the tall trees with me during February on the Blackwater walk.
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