Tuesday December 12
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| 5 km for a 3 hour walk! |
We started at Theydon Boiz station and made it to the oak trail head at the cul de sac of Forest Drive. It is an icy start and I would have fallen a hundred times had it not been for the walking pole.
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| Our starting point |
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| Epping area is quite a upper middle class residential area |
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| Forest Drive |
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| Trail head at the end of Forest Drive |
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| Going to be caught between a fence and an icy stream soon |
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| On the right track, the straight and narrow road |
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| And then there was light! Snow in the sun is fantastic |
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| Just 100m and it was too much for Mr G. Snow walking is tough |
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| We had 100 pictures of this tree in the glittering snow. An old oak tree, dead but not quite. |
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| When I grow up, I want to be the first toy giraffe that advertises a XiaoMi Note 4 and a human |
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| Besotted with a lone oak |
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| I promise this photo will be one of the last lone oak |
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| Not yet noon but the sun is already low |
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| Beyond Gregories Green and onto mushy, iced mud |
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| This is an oak leaf, a lesson from Runnymead |
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| Almost dislodged the gate until we figured out how it worked |
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| Way markers, the last of this until we got out. What an oxymoron |
Mud on the trail was frozen so our shoes were spared from being soaked. We spent time at Gregory's Green taking photos of the snowy landscape. It was something to brag about that day because London has thawed out. Snow and ice walking took a toll on my ankle so we decided to shave off some 5 km by not walking past the highway. At the golf course, we made a loop around the top of the greens and headed to the forest in the north west where we landed on the forest's green trail. It was moderate walking on a frozen carpet of oak leaves and skirting icy patches until the main green trail. I made slow progress due to the poor ankle and difficult terrain.
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| All roads in Epping look alike and it is easy to get lost |
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| This hiker has trouble reading the map. No, 2 maps. Sorry! |
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| Follow the forerunner. Or fore biker. |
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| Made our escape from the forest. Next time, I will do it in summer. Easier that way! |
The path was snowed in and trail has practically disappeared. Panic overcame me when we had to choose between sinking into slushy streams covered by leaves and snow or get shredded by Holly bushes. I got disoriented by the detour but P's excellent map reading skills got us back on track again.
By the time I got on Coppice Row, I was sore and tired. It was past 1pm when we took a train to Westfield.
After lunch at my favourite Lebanese food place we bought a pair of Adidas and a silicone Madeleine case. It sort of compensated for the earlier lack of achievement in the forest a bit.
Another late dinner and before we knew it, we knocked off from sheer exhaustion. I wonder if we had been too ambitious regarding our walks and should tone down a little?
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