26 Sep. - Puzzlewood

 

Image: Light and shade creating magic among the trees and scowles of Puzzlewood

A hot breakfast! Bacon + egg, toast + jam, juice + a big cappuccino. A warm + relaxing start to a day of exploration.

'Puzzlewood' - Great Lambsquay Wood - a maze of 'scowles', exposed + mined + eroded + now reforested limestone caves - all twisted + tortured, rocks standing tall, damp, green sentinel over mini-canyons + deep holes.
Yew, ash, beech, oak, but all - rock + tree - thick with fern, moss, mushrooms + underfoot, bright-red, still iron-rich, soil making boot-clinging mud.
Showers blow overhead, above the tree canopy, making the wood alternately plip + plop with rain drops - then to come alive with bright, warm, dappled sunlight.
This is the forest or wood of stories + dreams that we sought in Dean.
This is the stuff of lost hobbits, frightful orcs, uncertainty, fear - but also, being safe, great delight + intrigue.

Notes: To some extent it is a shame that Great Lambsquay Wood has been commercialised as Puzzlewood - with all the somewhat naff accoutrements and crowds that such entails. But maybe the sad truth might be that if it were otherwise, this tiny parcel of rather magical woodland may no longer exist at all? The staff and food at Forest Holidays cafe near the entrance to Bracelands are wonderful!