Kenwick Woods Trip - Day 1

The journey up to Kenwick Woods was, well let's just say... flat. I'd forgotten just how flat the Fens were. England's best aricultural land was criss-crossed by the famous dykes and the dark, dark soil which seemed black compared to the tan coloured clay soil where I live.

After 3 hours I started noticing a hill or two which heralded the entrance to the Lincolnshire Wolds. Sparse woodland became a little more prolific and Doris shouted "You have reached your destination."

I turned into the Country House Hotel car park and booked in. Half a mile down the road were the log cabins and I grinned at the site of cabin No 10; a long Scandanavian style lodge. Inside was as plush and cosy as you could imagine with every utility you could want. Without Mrs P
to tell me what white appliance was what I confined myself to stuffing the contents of my food box into the coldest interior assumed to be the fridge.

I roamed around the expanse of the interior of the cabin wondering which toilet and bathroom to use for what function. I settled on putting hygiene stuff in the en suite and the other facility would be used for ...well let's just say it was well away from the sleeping quarters.

The weather had been atrocious on the way up and it wasn't much better during the course of the afternoon. Very strong winds and heavy rain. Nevertheless, I consulted my cut down 1:25000 map of the area, got my bearings, changed into bushcraft kit and headed along the side of the woods. It wasn't too long before I encountered a barbed wire fence and realised that this was probably the limit of the local woods.

I could see the fir plantation which was evident on Google Earth when I looked up the area. I cut across to the south and followed a track along the outskirts of the wood.

The wind was now blustering and it was raining quite hard. I considered putting on my poncho that I had with me, but decided to carry on. I needed the exercise after being in the car. On a couple of occasions I went off the track and into the woods. It wasn't much different to the
woods at home although the trees were planted mainly in straight lines making it look a little sterile. I saw little evidence of any wildlife and certainly didn't notice any tracks springing up from the ground.

I completed the circuit after about an hour and ended up at the back of the cabin, noticing someone's attempt at a shelter on the way round.

The sky was darkening even more and I decided that this might be it for the day. I settled down for an evening reading my book, listening to the howl of the wind. I was actually grateful I wasn't in the hammock tonight.

More next time.

Pablo.