Well that’s what I’ve been doing, well trying to when I get the time. I’ve been managing to get out a couple days a week at lunch time when time and weather permits. I’ve been keeping a walking log which shows the route I’ve walked and distances as well as a my total walking distance. You can see the spreadsheet by CLICKING HERE.
On May 1st I managed to get a few hours to get out alone and go walking. I’d planned a 3.5mi walk but it turned out to be a 5.5 mile walk. What a great place to go walking. There were two separate wooded area’s. Once was Archers Wood
About this wood
Parts of Archer’s Wood are believed to be remnants of the original British wildwood, a ditch and bank in the northern section is a scheduled ancient monument and, true to its name the wood was a sanctuary for highwaymen. Even today you look to the north and imagine a 14th century Cistercian monastic grange that once stood there. Flat and easy to access, the site is dominated by oak, ash and field maple and served by a figure-of-eight network of rides so it’s great for gentle walks. Be sure to stroll along the main ride to spot the rare and beautiful wild service tree – and look out for foxes, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
The other was Aversley Wood, both just outside of Sawtry, Cambridgeshire.
About this wood
A woodland gem in England’s least-wooded county, expansive, impressive Aversley Wood is well worth the steep trek (sometimes boggy in winter) required to reach it. Believed to date back to the Ice Age, it is one of Cambridgeshire’s largest ancient woodland sites and a full tour is not for the faint-hearted – but very rewarding, with impressive fenland views.
You can see the full route of the walk with notes along the way by going to www.stepwhere.com. I’ve been using this site for storing and planning my recent walks. You can see all my public walks by going to my user name, M1XZG. The process I’ve been doing with the site is planning the walk online and loading the track onto my GPS, then, when I’m out walking I record the actual track I walk and upload that to www.stepwhere.com.
To see some photos from the walk of the woods you can CLICK HERE for my www.flickr.com gallery. Here are a couple of the photos.
If you get out walking why not share your routes? Also, why not check out www.walkingforum.co.uk – it’s a fantastic site for all manner of walking discussions.
A detailed account of the walk …
I started by parking in the small lot that services a large open park and allotment area off St Judith’s Lane. Walking out of the car park I turned right and followed the road to a “T” junction, 1.6 km (1 mi) This is where you can enter Archers Wood. Just inside the wood is a map, I had a quick study of the map and planned my route sort of through the wood. I figured I’d walk the outside route around the wood. The paths were mostly dry and in very good condition. There was one detour put in place due to some flooding of the path but that was it for any sort of problems. The wood is mostly on an incline and that was at the lowest end of the wood. The rest of the wood was very dry with only a few muddy spots from the recent rains. Through out the wood there are very nice benches placed in excellent locations providing nice views through cuttings or paths in the wood. I didn’t find any wildlife except birds while walking through this wood, however there was plenty of evidence of small game by the number of rabbit runs. If it weren’t for the din of A1(M) very close by this would be a perfect place to come and reflect on life and enjoy the quiet.
Exiting the wood by the same gate I entered by, I turned left and continued to follow St Judith’s Lane for just about 1 km (0.6 mi), just past a large farm on the right side of the road you’ll find the Public Path sign. Follow the path for 1.7 km (1 mi) and that will bring you to one of the entrances to the Aversley Wood. About 260m before the entrance is a park bench. This is where I’d stopped to break out my stove and kettle and make a cup of tea and some lunch. After about a 30min break or so I packed up and headed into the wood. This was another spectacular wooded area. The paths were well maintained and very wide with ample chances to sit on benches and reflect and enjoy the quiet. Because of the geography of this wood there was pretty no noise from the outside world at all. The only thing to be heard was the rustling of leafs and the birds. Again, I didn’t see any wildlife but it’s clear it exists from all of the small game runs. I did see what I think might be badger tracks, I meant to take a snap of them to check it out but meh, forgot :) After quite some time walking around the wood I finally left via the North Eastern most corner with a gentle ascent up a hill then down the other side right back to the park where I started off.
The total distance was 8.9km (5.6mi). The weather really couldn’t have been more perfect, it was sunny but a little cool so it made walking not too hot. Sitting idle you could feel the cold after a while, but it was very nice.
I’m looking forward to future walk and hope to plan for a number of them to be through wooded areas like these.
