Autumn on the Forest

We recently bought Little dog a coat to keep her warm and dry after she caught a bit of a chill during our long wet walk in the Downs a couple of weeks ago. Mrs C wanted to buy her a vibrant pink one, but as I take Little dog for most of her walks I refused to be seen with a dog mincing around in public in such an effeminate colour. Therefore we came to a compromise and bought her a purple coat, which is much more regal. Today that coat got it's maiden outing when Little dog and I went for a walk up on the Forest.

This is my favourite time of year, the long hot days of summer have been replaced by cooler weather. I love autumn, as the leaves on the trees begin to change colour to various shades of yellow and brown, the mornings are misty and the weather is wet and blustery. It has certainly been wet over the past couple of weeks and now it is becoming blustery. In fact according to the Met office there is a storm forming out in the Atlantic ocean that is due to hit England sometime tomorrow night and Monday morning. They are saying that it will be the worst storm to hit us for many years and are even comparing it to the great Hurricane of 1987 (I slept right through that one).

I thought that today would be a great day to visit the Forest to take some photographs of the autumnal colours. In the UK we don't get the bright reds that are seen in New England unfortunately, as we don't have the sugar maples that they have in the USA and Canada. Our trees are only just beginning to turn, what we need is a sharp frost to help them along. Apparently we will get this frost around about next Wednesday or Thursday, the problem is that if this storm is as damaging as predicted there won't be many leaves left on the trees.

Dressed in her new coat Little dog and I set off in pouring rain from Gills Lap car park. Our route took us into Wrens Warren with panoramic views northwards towards the Greensand Ridge and the North Downs in Kent. The Conservators of the Forest have introduced some Exmoor ponies to this valley as an experiment in grazing the bracken and gorse that quickly covers the heath if left unattended. They are fenced in behind an electric fence to stop them wondering off as they do on Exmoor and in the new Forest of Hampshire. It is really great to see them up here on the Forest, even though they bully the cattle and sheep.

This part of the Forest is 'Winnie the Pooh' country, the author A A Milne lived just north of here at Cotchford farm near Hartfield. The setting for the '100 aker' wood in his books was the Ashdown forest; Gills Lap is Galleons Lap and the Enchanted place, Eyores gloomy place is a swampy area in Wrens Warren and a couple of kilometres away is Pooh sticks bridge. A few weeks ago I was walking in this part of the Forest when I met an American woman and her children who asked me for directions to the North Pole. This seems a strange request on the face of it as normally an arctic explorer from the US would not take a detour via East Sussex. Luckily I knew that she was in fact looking for the North Pole which Christopher Robin, Pooh and gang launched an 'exposition' to find, so I was able to point her and her children in the right direction. They wandered off muttering to them selves something about how unusual it was to find an Australian citizen walking about the Ashdown Forest.

We crossed over the road and followed the hill up past Gills Lap view point and memorial to A A Milne and E H Shepard who illustrated the books so superbly. We passed by Kanga and Roo's sandy pit on the way. The nearest car park to this place is actually called 'Piglets' also as a dedication to the author. In fact all the car parks on the Forest have picturesque names such as Shadows, Smugglers, Roman road and King standing for example. Now safely back at home Little dog is sleeping soundly on the sofa (much more comfortable than her bed apparently) and I am about to go and batten down the hatches ready for tomorrows impending storm.