3 men on a walk 2015: Around Bedgebury

Bedgebury Loop

Whilst we have often incorporated bits of previous tracks into the days hike, today was the first time we have done an exact replica of a previous walk. It came about because last week we slipped and slid across the terrain sometimes with mud up to our ankles and we promised ourselves a gentler walk this week. The walk through Bedgebury Pinetum and Forest is mostly on hard-packed wide trails suitable for the tree clearing equipment that keeps the forest tidy. Whilst the base is hard the trails are mostly water and mud free and this was a big attraction after the heavy rains we had endured the previous few days. So none of us complained when this suggestion came up for today's exercise.

We parked up on the A21 and walked down to the trail that leads to the forest. Smart followers of the web links to our walks might spot a "gap" of about 1.5 miles in our progress as we became distracted by the smell of cooking bacon from the roadside cafe we passed and just had to stop to taste that bacon in a sandwich. So good was it that we forgot to switch the walkmeter log back on when we left! Still, we did get most of the walk tracked and the Google Earth track is identical to the one we walked last time.

After the weekend rain it turned out to be a nice sunny day but with a bitter cold wind and without too much mud to navigate we had a thoroughly enjoyable walk. Having completed the loop we made our way to "The Royal Oak" to celebrate making a good walk choice.

Wildlife: Amazingly, we saw very little of note throughout the forest walk. The best we could manage was one small Coal Tit looking for seeds on a fir tree.

Today was the three year anniversary of our first walk together. We started leg 1 of the Wealdway Trail in early March 2012. Trevor was heard to say when we discussed this feat that we still walked aimlessly, not knowing what we are looking for! He clearly forgot that what we are looking for is a decent pub!